Now that the United States and its Western allies are finding themselves over-stretched, they are trying to wriggle out from the crisis elsewhere and concentrate mainly on what they call the Middle East. After all Israel is dearer to them–as it was their creation–than Ukraine and Taiwan.
They will have to make some kind of deal with Russia and China to put all their energies on the Israel-Gaza front. After October 7, both Moscow and Beijing have had enough opportunities to flex their muscles and are in no mood to listen to the United States.
Diplomatically too they have become very active. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were very much instrumental in holding the BRICS Extraordinary Summit on the Palestine-Israel crisis on November 21 which was hosted by South Africa. Six new BRICS members, which include Iran and Saudi Arabia were also invited. The speakers, in particular, Xi, Putin, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, denounced the US and Israel for war crimes. South Africa openly sympathizes with the Palestinian cause as Israel has an excellent relationship with a racist White regime which ruled the Black-dominated country with an iron hand till 1994.
The way in which Putin hosted a meeting between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani and head of the Hamas International Relation Office, Musa Abu Marzouk came as a shock to Washington.
Similarly, Chinese foreign minister Wang Li held talks with his Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian, and Indonesian counterparts in Beijing on November 20-21.
Biden a worried man
President Joe Biden has been a worried man ever since the news broke last year that the Russian army is using Iranian-built drones against Ukraine. On March 10, 2023, the Chinese brokered agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia also made the task difficult for the United States. The military involvement of both Russia and the US in Syria has made the situation more complex.
With the election due next year Biden is facing the heat of war in the Levant as his Democratic Party, which gets a big chunk of votes of Muslims, Jews, Blacks, Latinos, and other minorities, such as Hindus is a deeply divided house on the issue of Palestine.
Further breakup of Russia
Is the United States thinking in terms of giving some concession to Russia in Ukraine and China in Taiwan? It is easier said than done. This is simply because ever since the dismemberment of the Soviet Union in December 1991 the US has gone too far away in twisting the arms of Russia and to some extent even China. Some US policy-makers have even been advocating further division of Russia. The expansion of NATO to the former constituents of the then Soviet Union was done keeping this objective in mind.
Putin and Xi Jinping will extract their pound of flesh before accepting any US offer. To think that they would leave the crucial Middle East theatre so easily would amount to living in Fool’s Paradise.
The latest crisis has emerged at a time when several Gulf rulers, otherwise considered close to the United States, are adopting relatively independent foreign policy and somewhat distancing themselves from Washington. Ever since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has been feeling a bit uncomfortable in company with Biden. At the same time in the last three years distant Arab countries such as Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates restored diplomatic relationships with Israel. But the role of these faraway Arab states is not so crucial to the Palestinian crisis.
Geographically the region suits Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing were waiting for an opportunity for US attention getting distracted from the Black Sea and South China Sea. The attack by Hamas provided it.
Saudi Arabia and Russia has closer ties The war in Ukraine had brought oil-exporting countries together, in particularly Saudi Arabia and Russia.
As Russia has Rostov only major port in the war-torn Black Sea it badly needs Iranian ports for trade. Needless to say, China’s Belt and Road Initiative crisscrosses the entire region.
Turkey which had a diplomatic relationship with Israel and was somewhat neutral in Ukraine-Russia War has hardened its position against the former as well as against the US and its Western allies.
The Biden administration had repeatedly been asking Israel to provide Iron Dome technology to Ukraine. The purpose was obviously to distance Israel from Russia. But the failure of Iron Dome on October 7 came as a big blow to the US plan.
The West is isolated
The massive overreaction and senseless bombardment by US-led Israel on helpless Gazan children, women, and old have further isolated the West. It has now no moral ground to accuse Putin of war crimes and seek his persecution. If Putin can be tried why not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
So, at this point when several East European countries are distancing themselves from Ukraine, the United States is finding it extremely difficult to make any deal with Putin. In contrast, Ukrainians led by a Jewish president felt seriously let down by Washington.
As Chinese are not religiously inclined to favour any side in the Middle East conflict, as the West has in the case of Israel, it is much better position to play the role of peace-maker. It has already started playing
this role.
At the same time, Russia has a historical association with the region. As a majority of Jews who came and settled in Israel in the last century are from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus etc. still exists
a strong emotional bond with the Zionist state. At the same time, Moscow is not going to abandon Syria and distance itself from emerging powers Iran and Turkey.
The dense macabre in Gaza has left the West high and dry. Barring the US, not a single country in North America, South America and Africa are ready to accept the Washington-London position on Israel, though some of them may have condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas. There are more than 60 Christian-dominated countries in these three continents—yet they are not toeing the Christian Zionist line of the US and UK. Russia and China are fully capitalizing on this situation.
The widespread outrage in Western capitals against Gaza massacre and presence of a large number of Christians and anti-Zionist Jews—along with Muslims—in flotilla of 1,000 boats which sailed from Turkey to Gaza via Israel on November 22 -24 further pushes the United States and United Kingdom to the corner. Allies like France and Canada are giving enough signals to dissociate themselves from blindly supporting US-led Israel.
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