... confident in their own power and resilience.
It is still possible to maintain a limited military presence near and far, as Recep Tayyip Erdogan does in Syria and Libya. But repeating the experience of the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions wounded, is now a no-go: Middle Eastern societies have changed too much over the past 40 years, and the region has advanced too far down the path of postmodernity. It is hardly a coincidence that the strongest proponents of ...
... countries are no strangers to American betrayal. Over the past couple of decades, they have witnessed
Washington use false accusation as casus belli to attack Iraq,
leave their Kurdish allies at the Turks’ mercy
and
abandon Afghanistan to the Taliban
... ... and prosperity to the rest of the world, yet it has only seen the Middle East consistently set ablaze.
Regional powers such as Saudi Arabia continue to strike Faustian bargain with the U.S., as it is the only country in the world both capable and willing ...
... trade and economic cooperation, provoking new tensions with the United States.
Yuliya Alekseeva:
China in the Mashriq: New Best Friend
As a key trading partner of the Gulf states, China has more than
doubled
its oil imports between 2010 and 2020. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE act as key oil suppliers to the Middle Kingdom. Chinese companies are expanding their footprint in infrastructure and technology projects of the region. Chinese banks are
providing
funds for major projects,...
... showing signs that is it changing. It would not be an overstatement to say that a lot of what is happening now would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago.
The greatest of these changes is the China-mediated rapprochement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Given that these countries are regional “centers of power”, their new and improved relations may help reduce regional tensions in certain countries like Yemen.
Another significant factor that is driving ...
How to ensure security and freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf?
In recent weeks, the world’s attention has been riveted on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. On May 12, four tankers owned by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attacked by unknown forces when entering the Strait off the coast of Fujairah. On June 13, this time near the Iranian coast, two more tankers flying the flags of the Marshall Islands and Panama were attacked....