Dr Marwan Kabalan
It was a wise decision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to cancel a trip to the US for the bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama that was planned before the Gulf-US summit at Camp David.
Most probably, Obama would make use of this meeting to strengthen his position against the Congress which opposes his policy towards Iran.
During his meeting in Paris where he met with foreign ministers of the GCC, US Secretary of State John Kerry succeeded in coming up with a final statement expected for the Camp David summit, that “reaching an agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme is a common interest for the GCC countries and the United States.”
Now comes the role of President Obama to end the scene after the Camp David summit by addressing the Congress, saying: “Do you want to be more royal than the King.” This refers to King Salman, who agrees to deal with Iran and is the most aware person on this issue, as he senses the burden of its neighbouring country and the threat it poses to the security of his country.
In Syria, the United States is leading a war of attrition against all its opponents through establishing a balance of power that does not allow any party to gain victory over the other. There is a depletion of Iranian arms and tools, as well as draining out of the jihadists of various groups and organisations.
Regionally, Washington through being open to Iran while closing its nuclear programme, is trying to integrate Tehran in the regional balance of power rather than continuing to isolate it. By then, the Iranian influence, which America will lose hold of after the overthrow of Iraq, will be contained by the USA.
That forms the arc of influence, extending from Iraq to Syria, and then to Lebanon through the establishment of an opposing camp to include Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others.
In Europe, the United States succeeded in exploiting Russia’s control over Crimea to compensate for the fall of Ukraine into the arms of the West. The US is doing that to alert Europe of the historical fears of Russian policies, in turn to put an end to the German-Russian rapprochement, which had been based on the equation of integrating between Moscow and Berlin, whereas Russia offers cheap energy and skilled labour to Germany in exchange for advanced technology and large German investments in Russia. Because of the Ukrainian crisis, the opportunities for a Russian-German strategic understanding were missed out, as long as it is a matter that raises fears for Washington.
Since the advent of the Obama administration, Russia began to focus on the Pacific region.
In the midst of the Bush administration’s marginal war against “terrorism” in the Arab and Muslim worlds, China that constitutes a strategic threat to American interests in the Far East, had a chance for rapid ascent. But Washington, which is tired of wars that drained it in the Muslim world, does not want to engage in any new confrontation with an opponent like China.
Obama administration is attempting to return to this policy and sought at Camp David to get the approval of the Arabs to be part of the management of the conflict in the Middle East that differentiates this region from all parts of the world due to its sectarian flavour, where the balance is between Sunnis and Shias.
On the other side, all balances of forces in the world fall in the framework of regional collective security arrangements with the nation state as the basis.
King Salman has the courage to reject Obama’s efforts in this regard and also refuse to use sectarian rhetoric in the battle of a political essence with Iran, but clings to his principles that summoned by announcing distrust towards American intentions.
That requires Saudi Arabia to become self-reliant to defend its Arab interests and it should not hesitate to use all its available means to achieve that regardless of the American stance and policies.
The writer is a columnist and academic researcher.
