Nobody wanted to fight
When the Israeli–Palestinian conflict escalated dramatically in early October 2023, many observers jumped to a grim conclusion that, from then onward, the Middle East was hurtling at an ever-increasing speed toward another major regional conflict. The military operation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip was to be followed by fierce hostilities in the West Bank, then by a large-scale border ...
... region to assertions that Biden should be given time and that America still has chances to adjust its Middle East policy to the new realities in the world and in the United States itself. Looks like Biden took some not-so-heavy political baggage from the Middle East. U.S. attempts to present Saudi Arabia’s consent to overflight of its airspace by Israeli civilian aircraft as a breakthrough were quickly devalued by the Saudis’ official explanations that it was only about facilitating international air communications, not about normalizing relations with Israel. The Saudis have also made adjustments ...
... and prosperity (at a time when populism is rocketing in the West), thus threatening the whole world order. The tension between the ruling elites and citizens will reshape regional political geography.
With conflicting principles of superpowers, the Middle East will undergo a high risk of conflict in spheres of influence between Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and other rising regional powers which seek to play a pivotal role in local and global affairs, attempting to shape the multipolar world.
The persistence of conflicts and the absence of real effective political and economic reforms will ...
... 10-15 years diminish even slightly, this will only add to Israel’s problems.
Karsten Riise:
Opportunities for Europe, Syria and Russia with New Approaches
The US
similarly will over the next 10-15 years probably not face better conditions in the Middle East, than we witness today. Israel, the key US ally in the region, though basically maintaining a status-quo, will rather become relatively weakened than strengthened. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are next in close ties to the US in the region: both countries face a very uncertain political future. Any change in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan will only be for worse for the US. Iran will continue as it is – the US may “contain” ...
... third most significant city in the country (after Mecca and Medina), he is obviously wrong. Israel, and the United States in particular, have always underestimated the central place the Jerusalem issue takes in the eyes of Muslims. It is true that the Saudi Arabian rulers currently view Iran as a greater problem for themselves and the region than the Israel–Palestine conflict. However, the Saudi leader cannot possibly lose Jerusalem. James Dorsey, a well-known Singapore-based expert on the Middle East, believes that Mr. Trump’s recognition and any plan to grant Israel full control of Jerusalem would see the genie turning on the kingdom and its ruling family
It appears that the events in the region are giving Russia a window of opportunity ...
... countries and Israel. While Saudi Arabia has remained at loggerheads with Israel, recently both are part of the Anti-Iran alliance. Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia along with its GCC partners countries demanded at the Munich Security Conference, that Tehran is punished for propping ... ... Adel al-Jubeir further accused Iran in front of delegates at the conference. "It's determined to upend the order in the Middle East ... (and) until and unless Iran changes its behaviour it would be very difficult to deal with a country like this....
... promises only expenses. At the same time, judging by his campaign speeches, he clearly sees the threats coming to America from the Middle East, yet he is far from having expensive ambitions.
A pragmatic billionaire, as Trump bills himself, with his “America first” slogan, is less tied to the US’ traditional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, protecting and supporting whom has become a burden for the US tax payers. It has already led people to
call him ...
... Times journalist and writer, Stephen Kinzer. Kinzer's talk centered on Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, the countries he wrote about in "Reset: Iran, Turkey... ... America became intimate in the following decades, despite tensions following the Arab-Israeli war in the early 1970s. The reason why Saudi Arabia choose the U.S. as its major... ... Iraq" (2006), "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror" (2003), and "Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds"...