Michael H Fuchs: The latest Iran-Saudi flare-up exposes Trump's bankrupt Middle East policy
The fact that the
United States is up in arms over an attack with no reported casualties on an
oil refinery in Saudi
Arabia – while at the same time supporting Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen
that has killed tens of thousands – tells us everything we need to know about
how messed up US priorities in the Middle East are…. Trump summed up
why he always sides with Riyadh, even after the Saudi leader ordered the murder
of US journalist Jamal Khashoggi: “Saudi Arabia pays cash.”
One of the most
devastating results of US policy has been the humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
Because Saudi Arabia entered the war on one side, while Iran supports the
other, the United States has blindly followed Saudi Arabia in fueling this
conflict that is starving children and killing innocent civilians. The conflict
has taken the lives of at least tens of thousands of people, and a United
Nations panel recently said that
all sides might be committing war crimes.
Israel – and Trump’s
relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu – are at the center of this as well.
Israel is a close and important ally, but Trump and Netanyahu have
personalized, politicized and radicalized the US-Israeli relationship. While
Trump attempts to use the relationship as a political wedge by falsely painting
his opponents as enemies of Israel, Netanyahu pushes for conflict with Iran and
takes steps that make peace with Palestinians all but impossible – steps that
Trump openly supports. The two feed off each other and support one another’s
agendas, which are bad for the region....
Trump's deference to Saudi Arabia