Another of the countries not invited to last year’s Summit for Democracy was Saudi Arabia. Without naming names, U.S. Pres. Joe Biden said in his opening remarks at the Summit that autocrats “seek to advance their own power, export and expand their influence around the world, and justify their repressive policies and practices as a more efficient way to address today’s challenges.” He tried to soothe relations in July of this year with Saudi Arabia because he wanted more of its oil, only to have the Saudis come back last week and reach a deal with Russia to cut petroleum output. Biden warned last night that the Saudis will face consequences for this. Czechs who have mainly been worried about higher electricity and natural-gas prices must now also worry about what retaliation against Saudi Arabia will do to fuel prices. Punishing autocrats in the name of democracy has its costs, and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger as Joe Biden advances his own version of democracy.

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