Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Petr Akopov
| No, it won’t be stopped by that, either. They’ve learnt the hard way that no sacrifice is great enough to appease those who don’t want them to exist. Not that there would be a pan-Islamic ultimatum — too many of Islamic nations want an open or quiet Abraham Agreement for themselves. So instead of looking like an idiot, Mr. Akopov, sit down quietly and shut up. |
[RIA] This weekend, two emergency international summits will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Because the massacre in Gaza, which has been going on for two months now, has become not only a regional, but also a global crisis, both with a constant danger of escalation and with almost guaranteed dire consequences. After all, we are talking not just about another bloodbath in the Middle East, but about a growing conflict between the Western and Islamic worlds. The “golden billion” and the two billion Muslim Ummah: three and a half dozen states on the one hand and fifty-five on the other?
Yes, but at the same time, the conflict of the West with Islam is also included in the broader conflict of the West with the Global South (representing the majority of humanity), as well as in the conflict of the West with the non-Western world (this is the South plus China and Russia). The Palestinian issue has divided the world for three quarters of a century, but only now has it become such a clear symbol of the separation between the West and the rest of humanity because it has exposed the bankruptcy of the entire model of Atlantic hegemony.
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Alternative models of global security architecture to the Atlantic are only in the process of construction - these are the SCO (potentially pan-Asian) and BRICS (potentially global). Therefore, the United States can still try to play according to the old notes: in Europe - according to NATO, and in the Middle East, rely on its own military superiority, at the same time using its favorite principle of “divide and conquer”. Who and how can counteract them?
Russia and China are clearly against the American policy of protecting any Israeli madness, but this is only part of the contradictions between Moscow and Beijing and Washington . It is the Arabs themselves and the Islamic world who must fight for Gaza first and foremost - and it is their leaders who are gathering this weekend at a summit in Riyadh.
First, today there will be a summit meeting of the League of Arab States , an association of 22 countries with a total population of half a billion. The Arab League also includes the State of Palestine, which is now being destroyed by Israel, and who, if not the Arabs, who fought with Israel several times for Palestine , should stand up for it?
Yes, half a century has passed since the last war (since then only Israel allowed itself to attack Lebanon ), yes, since then some Arab countries (including neighbors Egypt and Jordan ) have even established diplomatic relations with Israel, yes, there is now a Russian military presence in the region is not comparable to the Soviet one, and the Americans worked hard to make Iran the main enemy of the Arabs . But in order to protect the Palestinians, Arab countries do not need to fight with Israel - they need to deprive it of American carte blanche, unconditional support. That is, the issue is being resolved in the context of Arab relations with the United States (and the West in general), and not on the battlefield. Will the Arabs be able to change the US position?
Washington's pro-Israeli orientation has very deep reasons and roots, and the current American elite will not abandon it. However, in Europe, too, everything is far from being so clear: the majority of the population does not support the bombing of Gaza, and in some countries, leadership is already openly talking about the need to call Israel to account. Moreover, the continuation of the beating of Palestinians threatens European countries with internal political problems. Local Muslim communities are not ready to remain silent and not protest. Europe, experiencing economic problems and embroiled in the Ukrainian conflict, still lacked only mass unrest and clashes at home.
That is, Europe's position is much less pro-Israel, and if it soon begins to insist on ending assistance to Israel in the massacre, the United States will be forced to listen to it. Because America cannot now simply ignore the opinion of Europe, especially taking into account the Ukrainian situation, in which the Atlanticists are demanding that the EU increase its involvement. Can Arabs influence Europe? Of course they can, and not only because they bought up Paris and London.
The Arab League could call for an energy embargo against countries that support Israel, which would clearly make Europe a peacemaker. Just a hint of a repetition of the events of 1973 (when, during the Arab-Israeli war, the Arab-Israeli countries imposed a ban on oil supplies to Western countries) will have a huge impact on the West as a whole.
So far, the Saudi leadership does not want to resort to such weapons, apparently hoping that the Americans will be able to influence Israel anyway. After all, this is also in their interests, it seems, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed is arguing: neither Biden nor the United States as a whole now really needs a bloodbath in Gaza, which is destroying every day the remnants of trust and respect for Americans in the Islamic world. However, so far Washington has been unable to achieve virtually anything from Netanyahu, and there is no reason to think that the Americans will voluntarily decide to tighten their unofficial pressure on Israel.
But under the threat of conflict with Europe (due to the likelihood of an energy crisis), Washington may well put real pressure on Israel. Which will be quite enough for Netanyahu to lose power and the bombing of Gaza to stop.
But for this, the League of Arab States must take a tough and unambiguous position that meets its interests - not only tactical (saving Gaza), but also strategic (if we talk about the weight of the Arabs in the new, emerging post-American world order). The Arabs must present an ultimatum to the West.
And if they are also supported by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation , whose summit will be held in Riyadh on Sunday, then everything will become even more serious. The OIC unites 55 states with a population of two billion - this is the entire Islamic world, including Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia . By the way, Russia also has observer status in the OIC, because we are both a Eurasian and Christian, and partly a Muslim country. So now a lot depends on what is agreed upon in Riyadh - not only the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, but also the speed with which the process of de-Americanization of the Middle East and de-Atlanticization of the entire world order will proceed.
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