Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The US Senate endorsed Michael Ratney, who was nominated by US President Joe Biden for the position of Washington’s ambassador to Riyadh, at a delicate time marred by many speculations and questions about the nature of relations between the two countries in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Saudi rapprochement. The Chinese and previous statements made by Biden about “punishing Saudi Arabia” and making the kingdom a “pariah”.
According to the US State Department, Michael Ratney is dean of the School of Language Studies at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute and has been a longtime foreign service officer since 1990.
Ratney served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Levantine, Israeli, and Palestinian Affairs, and from 2015 to 2017 he served as the United States Special Envoy for Syria.
From 2012 to 2015, Ratney served as Consul General of the United States in Jerusalem, where he led a delegation of 600 Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians responsible for American political, economic, and cultural relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
Until 2012, Ratney served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Information in the State Department’s Bureau of Public Affairs, where he oversaw a network of global media centers responsible for foreign language media engagement on behalf of the United States government.
He served as the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Spokesperson, as well as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Doha, Qatar, in addition to tours to Mexico City, Baghdad, Beirut, Casablanca, Bridgetown, and Washington, D.C.
Ratney is from Massachusetts and holds a BA from Boston University and an MA from George Washington University. He speaks Arabic and French.