This diplomatic process, which is crucial to avoiding further conflict in the Middle East and allowing President Biden to focus on competition with China, will falter unless the Biden administration moves quickly. American negotiators should list the sanctions that the United States is prepared to remove in exchange for Iranian compliance.
Read Here | NYTimes
Stability in Jordan is certainly of interest to the wider Middle East and the international community at large. Jordan, which has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since 1994 and is considered a crucial U.S. regional ally, has weathered a series of dire challenges in recent years, including the hosting of millions of refugees and new stresses brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read Here | The National Interest
As they, like China, have undergone an authoritarian shift in recent years, some Middle Eastern countries that are long-time US allies have endorsed China’s hardline stance on human rights and political dissent. It has had a dampening effect on the global backlash against China…
Read Here | South China Morning Post
Shaking hands and signing deals from Abu Dhabi to Ankara, Tehran to Riyadh, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent Middle Eastern tour once again demonstrated China’s growing influence in the region. Yet, while the trip saw some impressive numbers talked and important political statements made, the visit may have had more to do with a country many miles from the region: the United States.
Read Here | Asia Times
Saudi Arabia is laying the foundations for another Gulf crisis – this time provoking its ally, the United Arab Emirates. Just weeks after patching up a years-long dispute with Qatar, the kingdom has announced a new plan to require all foreign businesses to have a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, or risk getting locked out of contracts with the government.
Read Here | RealClearWorld
Even if only a partial ban, the prospective policy could cost Saudi Arabia billions of dollars in arms import deals. The potential restrictions threaten a tentative Saudi contract for up to 50 of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters, as well as earlier Saudi efforts to procure over a dozen U.S. armed drones.
Read Here | The National Interest
The Carter that emerges from the historical record—including some recently declassified documents—is an Iran hawk: imploring the wobbly shah to forcibly suppress the revolution; trying to instigate a coup to save the monarchy; and, after the revolution, committing the United States to a policy of regime change.
Read Here | Foreign Affairs
President Joe Biden’s administration appears determined to separate America’s relationship with the Kingdom from the relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But this separation will likely prove impossible to sustain.
Read Here | Project Syndicate
Read Here | The Intelligence Report
An open question remains as to the source of this infatuation with Iran … The answer may have to do with some ideological affinity: the revolutionary character of the Islamic Republic may appeal to parts of the liberal Democratic spectrum, while the generally conservative Republicans are more comfortable with stable monarchies.
Read Here | The National Interest
Also Read | How Biden Will End the Trump Sugar High for Israel and Saudi Arabia
President Joe Biden is tired of dealing with the Middle East — and, barely a month into his tenure, the region has noticed. The signals are not meant to be subtle, his advisers say. The president has made only one call to a head of state in the Middle East — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday — which itself was delayed by more than three weeks and followed calls to other allies and even adversaries like Russia and China.
Read Here – Politico
