United States (US) President Joe Biden is on his first visit to the Middle East. He managed to get a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Jeddah after the opening up of the Saudi airspace for Israeli civil aviation. President Biden may boast of this achievement but despite his efforts he may find it hard to reshape the much-divided Middle East against Iran.
A noticeably cold welcome was given to Joe Biden at the Jeddah airport compared to the one enjoyed by his predecessor Donald Trump. These gestures from the Saudis are clearly indicate that the Saudis are aware that this time it is the US that needs Saudi Arabia instead of the other way round.
Joe Biden stated that he is in Saudi Arabia to meet with the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members to fill the vacuum and to further strengthen mutual cooperation. But the major objective of his visit is to beg the Saudis to increase oil production to bring down global oil prices that are drowning the US economy and becoming Biden’s worst nightmare.
Biden is implementing the Israeli agenda in the Middle East by pressing Arabs. The US may believe that the acceptance of Israel by the Arabs will create a strong and united Middle East that will be a more effective proxy to serve US interests. The reality, however, is that the US has lost a lot of influence in the Middle East. The internal differences within the GCC have also widened in recent years. To keep a united Middle East that can serve as the US’s proxy in the region is very hard. It is not a rational approach given the developing world order. An emerging, multipolar world has already divided the Middle East while the US defeat in Syria is the most recent proof of the fact that the US is no longer the only player in the Middle East.
The US portrays Iran as a potential threat to Saudi Arabia and the other GCC member states. On the basis of this exaggerated threat, the US offers to protect the Arabs from Iran, but in reality, this is nothing more than a hoax intended to gain easy and cheap access to the oil reserves of the Middle East.
The US has been milking Saudi Arabia through its so-called Iranian threat while engaging in defense deals worth billions of dollars.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also plans to visit Iran next week, in a strategic move aimed to offer a counterbalance to the political climate in the region. Putin will meet with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in Iran with the situation in Syria being the top agenda item for discussion.
US policies to push Iran through an Israeli-led Middle East order may turn things more volatile. The US wants to make Israel the gangster of the Middle East by whipping around the Arab nations, which is not possible. This Israeli-led Middle East policy will badly backfire and will create a new string of proxies engulfing the entire Gulf region.
