There is no vacuum in the Middle East, there is an overabundance
Biden said that the United States will not leave the Middle East and will not leave a "vacuum" that will be filled by Russia, China or Iran. The states think of themselves as the masters of the region, but they are losing influence, the author of the article writes. And this ensures the disintegration of the "American Middle East".
Mehmet Ali Guller
US President Joe Biden, who visited Israel and Saudi Arabia, said: "We have made progress in strengthening our relations with the countries of the Persian Gulf. We will not leave and will not leave a vacuum that will be filled by China, Russia or Iran."
Biden's statement was made in the context of the formation of an Arab-Israeli alliance against Iran against the background of the weakening of US influence in the Middle East. Signals in this direction were given even before the visit, and, in the words of Jordanian King Abdullah II, "the creation of an Arab NATO" even appeared on the agenda.
However, Biden's statement has a big problem: China and Russia's relations with Arab countries and Israel are developing and deepening.
Masters of the Middle East
On the other hand, Biden's statement "we will not leave a vacuum in the Middle East that Russia and China could fill" carries all the immorality of the "imperialist point of view." The United States considers itself the "master" of the Middle East.
So, Biden's "imperialist" statement from China was followed by a response with an emphasis on "respect for sovereignty." The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Wenbin (Wang Wenbin) said: "There is no "vacuum" in the Middle East, the masters of the Middle East are the peoples living on its territory." And he added: "The Middle East cannot be considered someone's backyard. China, which supports the sovereign rights of Middle Eastern countries, is ready to promote peace and prosperity in this region through joint efforts with the international community."
We can add: there is no vacuum in the Middle East, there is an overabundance, and this is an overabundance of the imperialist USA.
Two achievements of the USA
But also note: this overabundance is not eternal, the United States is losing influence in the Middle East every day. And Biden's latest visit to the Middle East, even if he has some achievements, strategically indicates a loss of influence.
Following bilateral talks with the leaders of Israel and Saudi Arabia, Biden failed to achieve an alliance between them, but the American leader was able to achieve two important results:
– Saudi Arabia has opened its airspace to civilian flights of all countries, including Israel;
– Saudi Arabia has increased daily oil production from 12 million barrels to 13 million, but Crown Prince Salman openly warned: "Unrealistic energy policy will lead to high inflation."
"There is no Arab NATO"
And what about the "Arab NATO", about which they talk so much?
A suitable venue for this topic was the Jeddah Security and Development Summit. The meeting was attended by members of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, as well as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and the United States.
However, the "Arab NATO" or the "alliance against Iran" did not arise. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Feysal bin Farhan, summed up the results as follows: "There is no such thing as an Arab NATO, and nothing like this was discussed at the summit. The issue of creating an anti-Iranian defensive alliance between the Gulf states and Israel has not been raised."
Answering journalists' questions, the Saudi Foreign Minister noted that the opening of airspace for civilian flights does not mean the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel and Riyadh also hopes for negotiations on the normalization of relations with Iran with the participation of Iraq.
In other words, there was nothing in that part of the summit regarding "security"? The joint statement of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United States noted that "the parties welcomed the creation of joint task forces 153 and 59 in the field of defense against threats at sea." However, this topic is not new either. Thus, the commander of the US Fifth Fleet, Admiral Brad Cooper, previously announced the creation of a "Joint Task Force 153" in the Red Sea.
Thus, we can say that the weakening of the US hegemony ensures the disintegration of the "American Middle East", and the "new multipolar/polycentric world" contributes to the conduct of a "multilateral" foreign policy by the countries of the Middle East.
