The purely economic deals look equally impressive. In a bid to support the plan of the Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman that is boldly called Vision 2030, put forward as a way of diversifying the Saudi economy, the parties signed a deal worth 15 billion dollars. Now General Electric is going to assist Riyadh in developing such areas as oil and gas production, petrochemistry and medicine. Additionally, a number of deals was signed in such areas as joint investment projects, high-tech development, infrastructure and the housing sector. Saudi Arabia is going to improve its transportation capabilities, therefore it’s planning to by new liners for Saudi Airlines from Boeing. And the list goes on with such companies such as Neibors, McDermott, Honeywell, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Weatherford, Baker Hughes and Emerson all getting involved in the Vision 2030 program.
Saudi Arabia has gone as far as to announce plans to invest up to 40 billion dollars in various infrastructure projects in the US. In total, as Donald Trump announced, both countries agreed to carry on cooperating in various areas, investing up to 400 billion dollars in bilateral deals in the foreseeable future.
The results of the political discussions held during the visit look equally optimistic. In the Joint Saudi-US Declaration adopted at the end of the visit of Donald Trump to Riyadh it’s been announced that Washington and will confront joint challenges together with the Kingdom, especially extremism that presents a threat to the stability and security of the Middle East. The parties confirmed their alleged desire to start implementing a new initiative to develop defense cooperation, fight extremist ideology and put an end to terrorism financing in the region.
Suddenly, the renewed friendship between Washington and Riyadh looks so crisp and bright. There’s an explanation for this fact, since back in the days of the Obama administration Saudi Arabia was considered a weak link in the line of Washington’s satellite states. Unsurprisingly, the Al Saud royal family regarded Barack Obama as traitor who turned his back on the strategic partnership between the decade-old allies. He refused to launch an invasion of Syria back in 2013 and held behind-the-scenes negotiations with Tehran in Oman in 2015 about the future of its nuclear program. For sure, the ruling Al-Saud clan hesitated to propose an all-out cooperation with Donald Tramp, since he made a number of pretty harsh anti-Muslim statements back in the days of his election campaign, yet Riyadh needed a powerful ally in its rapidly aggravating geopolitical confrontation with Iran. But it’s safe to say that the parties are equally interested in cooperating with each other,s since it was imperative for Donald Trump needs to secure Saudi Arabia as an important geopolitical ally of Washington, while selling the maximum amount of US-produced weapons. These steps fit perfectly in the so-called Make America Great Again program that was proclaimed by the 45th American president, which means he must be creating jobs in the US constantly.
By bringing billions of dollars to the table Trump expects to silence his domestic enemies who have already sharpened their knives in a bid to impeach him under pretext of him undermining national interests. It is far call to state that Trump’s strategy will work, since similar steps did not save George Nixon back in the days, but the deals will make him an number of powerful allies among US military contractors.As for Saudi Arabia, it’s imperative for its own survival that Washington renews the security guarantees that started to look unconvincing back in Barack Obama’s days in office.
Of course, Riyadh and Washington will sacrifice some positions and temper their appetites, which involves some risk. When the Al Saud clan decided to bet big on Donald Trump it knew that the sitting American president can lose the internal political battle with the globalist elites, so it must sacrifice certain positions and do it quick. After all, Donald Trump has already announced that Saudi Arabia was not always honest with the US and that he now awaits it to take the toughest stance in the fight against radical Islamism. This constitutes a 180 turn from the positions occupied by the Obama administration, that used to flirt with Islamism.
And it seems that Riyadh is willing to pay the price. As it’s been announced by the Foreign Minister of the Saudi Arabia,Adel al-Jubeir in the course of a joint press conference he held with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the strategic partnership between Riyadh and Washington would strengthen the resistance to extremist groups operating in the Middle East region. Al-Jubeir stressed that the parties agreed to strengthen anti-extremism efforts and make every effort to put a stop to the financing of various terrorist organizations.
After all, the US president have said during his visit what the Saudi royal family wanted to hear the most. He has not just dissociated himself from Obama’s policies of imposing democracy across the globe, but has also labeled Iran as the breeding grounds for Islamic. His criticism of Tehran was pretty harsh and pretty unrestrained in the typical Trump’s style. He went as far as to accuse Iran of spreading violence on religious grounds across the region, namely in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, pointing to the conclusion that Arab and Muslim countries must work together to” isolate “Iran.
Of course, the American president will also have to repay the broad gestures on the part of the Keepers of the two Muslim shrines. It is clear that American companies will be banned from doing business with Iran in the coming years, which eliminate a lot of competition for both China and Russia.
It’s also not evident that all the Arab countries will obediently go in the wake of the Saudi policies of opposing Iran, which are being perceived by the Arab world as an example of “Israeli meddling”. The so-called Sunni coalition remains to be torn apart by internal disputes and contradictions. If Turkey and Qatar defend the Muslim Brotherhood, then the Saudis themselves and the UAE, as well as Egypt, are opposing this group categorically. There are also Iran’s neighbors, such as Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, who will not want to spoil relations with Tehran for the sake of following somebody else’s lead. It is next to impossible to assemble a join military force under these conditions.
In addition, the American president will be forced to provide lip service to the ill-planned and overall inhumane Saudi aggression in Yemen, covering the war crimes of the anti-Houthis coalition, while trying to distract international attention from the humanitarian catastrophe that unravels in Yemen, with millions of its residents being on the bring of starvation.
The big question is has the Saudis succeeded in persuading Trump into continuation of anti-Assad posture in exchange for the generous military contracts? If not, did they agree on joint actions in Syria that will be aimed at limiting Iran’s influence by pursuing balkanization of this battered war-torn country.
While the pros from the Trump-Al Saud alliance are obvious, there’s a long list of disadvantages to be found within this union. Yet, Riyadh wields a lot of influence in the Arab world, which means it can assist Washington into returning in the regional anti-terrorist struggle in the region and the world, which is being led by Moscow these days. Such services are not to be forgotten easily…
Maxim Yegorov, a political observer for the Middle East, exclusively for the online magazine ‘New Eastern Outlook’.
No comments:
Post a Comment