A post-US Middle East prompts an age of New Isolationism, self-help
3 Min Read
In an op-ed to Modern Diplomacy, Sedat Laciner writes how the political shifts in the Middle East are pointing toward the Gulf nations moving away from the United States.
-
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jeddah on June 7, 2023. (AP)
According to Sedat Laciner, Anthony Blinken's most recent visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the intention of "repairing strained relations" was not met with much of the usual hospitality, highlighting how the news of Karim Benzema moving from Real Madrid received more press coverage than the Blinken visit.
The top US diplomat's visit came a couple of months after a Chinese-brokered agreement that restored diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the restoration of relations between Riyadh and Damascus, 12 years after the war on Syria erupted.
In an op-ed to Modern Diplomacy, Sedat Laciner writes how the political shifts in the Middle East are pointing toward the Gulf nations moving away from the United States.
The author emphasizes that the US interests in the region are not only with Saudi Arabia but rather with all the Arab nations in the Gulf, noting that the relationship between them today is as far as ever from its golden years.
Laciner added that the words of the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan essentially summarized the visit by stating that they had "differing opinions" and that they were actively looking to collaborate on using the right mechanisms.
He adds that if countries in the region could not see that the US is willing to promise security, stability, and prosperity, then they will look for other partners.
He writes how in the past, the US would ensure that oil flowed safely to the West while protecting Arab states since they were "extremely fragile", causing them to be regarded as puppet states for the US.
According to Laciner, the US failed to understand the many transformations the region underwent. He believes that the setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan sparked a New Isolationism in Washington, prompting the US to avoid active engagement in Middle Eastern matters. Even when fighting ISIS, local forces were backed, and the number of American soldiers on the ground was kept at a minimum.
This New Isolationism, he argues, has shown to be disastrous and resulted in a "significant power vacuum" that other nations like Syria, Russia, and Iran are trying to fill.
Read more: Efforts to distance Russia from Middle East to fail: Russian diplomat
In addition, he believes that the US push for normalization with "Israel" backfired on the US, as Arab states have realized that the primary concern is "Israel's" security.
Laciner sheds light on the past statement of US President Joe Biden when he called Saudi Arabia a "Pariah state", noting how his visit to Saudi Arabia was received not as a US president but as any regular visiting president.
The author concludes that beginning from the war in Iraq to the present-day Middle East, the US is no longer able to end wars and establish peace, and most importantly it is no longer capable of establishing any order in the Middle East.
