Yes, like the ISIS slogan mentioned in the title, the approach of former US President Barack Obama to contain Iran on the basis of the nuclear agreement is “here to stay and expand.” We see it in every statement and political move around us. We are indeed in Obama’s third term.
Is it an exaggeration? Not at all! When the current US administration describes the Iranian terrorist militia as a “backed Shiite militia,” without mentioning its affiliation to Iran, we are facing misleading, and to be precise, we are facing Obama’s approach.
Is this Shiite militia supported by Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, or Switzerland?! How absurd!
Washington’s description of the Iranian Shiite militia as a “supported Shiite militia,” is like Obama’s portrayal of the Syrian crisis as a “civil war”, even before the Syrians took up arms, in order to spare his administration the embarrassment at the time, and avoid declaring a position that would anger Iran, with which he sought a nuclear agreement.
The proponents of the “here-to-stay and expand” approach do not realize that the region has gone beyond the war of proxies. In fact, those who complain about Iran’s terrorism and its intrusiveness are now the region’s Shiites in Lebanon and Iraq, not the Sunnis alone.
The advocates of this absurd approach do not realize that an exit from the Middle East is never easy.
For example, the Syrian crisis alone caused a refugee crisis for Europe, which Turkish President Erdogan used as a pressure card on the Old Continent.
Well, you made an agreement with Iran and you want to devote yourself to China. But who is Beijing’s main ally in the region? Certainly Iran. Did you forget the Chinese veto? Are China’s values the same as yours, or are Iran’s values the same as your Western principles? Will Tehran change? It’s an illusion!
These are serious questions addressed to naive researchers; I am saying this in an understatement, but rather for an accurate description.
Obama’s approach failed in the face of real challenges, the most important of which was the fake Arab Spring. Arab countries rose up to reject political Islam, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Emirates, and against Sunni political Islam; so how would they accept Shiite political Islam?
How is it possible for some to demand Saudi Arabia to deal with the Houthis, and to demand that Egypt deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, while no one is demanding Israel, or even daring, to deal with Hamas or Hezbollah? Well, you pressured Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Can you pressure Israel to deal with a nuclear and terrorist Iran?
You cannot; because the region is changing, and Israel is now more “rational” than Washington. The golden political rule says, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Arabs must remember this.
What kind of madness and naivety is shown by some of those who describe themselves as researchers in Washington?
The Trump administration may have ignored the etiquette of eating with a fork and knife, but the Biden administration does not know the etiquette of being at the Middle East banquet, where the hunter does not sit with the prey.
Accordingly, it is clear that the Biden administration is an extension of the Obama administration that is “here to stay and expand,” and will collide with a dead end.
As for our region, as I wrote here in 2013 an article entitled, “Act as if America does not exist,” we must act again as if it did not exist.
It is true that difficult days are ahead, but they will pass. Our countries are ours… Our region is ours, and the wisest will win.
