Some reviews of visions and situations raise eyebrows and draw new maps and relationships.
Who would have imagined that French President Emmanuel Macron, as soon as he assumed office, would throw into the international political arena the idea of a European army, presuming if he had not sufficiently stated that a third world war would inevitably occur between America and Russia. In such case, it would be in Europe’s interest to adopt neutrality and strengthen the defenses of a European army that would repel grievances on the Old Continent.
President Macron’s vision is close to that of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement in the 1950s: Pandit Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Marshal Tito, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sukarno.
Those believed that the best position that could be taken regarding the conflict - which was on the verge of turning into a heated war between the Soviet Union and the United States - was to devise a formula that would be distant from the NATO coalition and from the Warsaw camp - these two alliances that adopt challenge as a method and confrontation as a goal.
The founders declared - or let’s say pretended to suggest - that their movement was neither against America and its Atlantic coalition, nor against the Soviet Union and its communist alliance. They suggested that their goal was safety.
The Non-Aligned Movement continued to expand, and became a refuge for the powerless, who saw the coalition as a club of the weak and the wise at the same time...
This is because the principles of the movement are attractive and protect the affiliated members from harm if they adhered to its spirit.
We say this on the grounds that what the founding leaders wrote down in the form of an initiative, or let us say the movement’s constitution, 63 years ago in Bandung, did not prevent the powerful members from overstepping the principles, including, for example, the non-interference in the affairs of others.
Today, six decades later, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is taking the initiative to address what the spirit of neutrality has always longed for. As part of his innovative vision, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman sponsored an unprecedented international security consultative conference, on August 5, in Jeddah.
The importance of the conference lied in the fact that the participants were the closest to those at the top, with accurately calculated trustworthiness.
In addition, the gradual treatment of crises and stormy disputes that these people performed, and for example but not limited to, what happened in Beijing and paved the way for a gradual détente in the Saudi-Iranian relationship, makes one hopes for more motivation on the part of the decision-making class in the Islamic Republic.
Thus, a breakthrough may find its way in Lebanon. The Gulf people, who are keen on the country in its difficult crises, will not have to take decisions that can be reversed, as the lover reproaches and gets angry, but leaves a way to restore affection.
The Atlantic-American-Russian-Ukrainian solution had entered the tunnel of intractability, and needed someone to address international complexities and stubbornness in a way that does not make the situation escalate further.
The Saudi initiative was entrusted to those who have the confidence of the participants at the consultation summit. What they say to each other, those at the top usually avoid saying it. Practical results are not usually achieved in summit meetings.
From now on, the security consultation formula - as we followed and cheered its announced results - has become a soothing and healing remedy if things are taken patiently. Such a qualitative step will reflect positively on the regular annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in a few days.
Such a step was achieved through the vision of an international-regional reconciliation, the features of which were drawn by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and implemented by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, whom balanced relationships with the major countries and his truce initiatives of the Russian-Ukrainian war, transformed Jeddah, through its conference, into an arena for a possible resolution of conflicts and an end to confrontations that burn the land and kill people.
From now on, it will be said that two pivotal roles were associated with the Arabs for the benefit of the world: The contribution of President Gamal Abdel Nasser through a qualitative relationship with international leaders in the 1960s, resulting in the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement in Bandung; and the very distinguished role towards world peace, which was drawn by King Salman and translated by his crown prince. It will be said that the nature of the conflicts after the Jeddah Conference is different from what it was before it.
Whoever does well shall see it, O Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques... O Crown Prince.
Fouad Matar
