President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia walk along the presidential portraits on the White House Colonnade in Washington. (New York Times)

Seven years after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia was effectively banished from Washington after the murder of a prominent Saudi dissident, he returned on Tuesday to a welcome meant to signal that he sat at the center of President Donald Trump’s effort to build a new Middle East.

It was, perhaps, the most astounding geopolitical restoration of modern times. The de facto leader of the largest and richest of the Arab states, who President Joe Biden said should be treated as a “pariah” six years ago, reset relations on his own terms.

The crown prince got a commitment from Trump for F-35 stealth fig

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