Opinion

The key question is how Biden will deal with the region’s issues

November 09, 2020

Tariq Al-Homayed



At a time when the Democratic candidate Joe Biden is all set to assume the presidency of the United States of America, some of the American leftist media and the media around us have begun to ask some questions.

This is mainly about how Biden would deal with the region, and its countries, especially the countries of Arab moderation?

In this respect, everyone tries to instill some sort of reassurance among his followers, whether they are the leftists or those associated with political Islam.

First and foremost, Biden is a political candidate whose main concern and goal is the American voters and their interests and not the region, especially since the US foreign policy had not figured in the recent presidential election campaign.

Now, Biden has come to power with a political career spanning over 47 years after becoming a Senator, representing the Democratic Party. And hence, we can’t say that he formed his points of view overnight.

Also, he comes from a sharply divided country where nearly 69 million people voted for Donald Trump.

While entering the White House, Biden does not enjoy an absolute majority in the Senate. Here, the most important thing is that America’s relations with its allies are dependent on institutions, and not on the personal dimension of the relationship.

There are dimensions of security, military, and economic cooperation and issues that cannot be ignored with the stroke of a pen.

Yes, there is a challenge in the form of the Iranian nuclear issue. But Biden is coming to a region that is changing, and it has in fact changed.

What some people forget — and this is what I said in a television interview, and I explain it broadly now — is that the real change in our region began since the Arab Spring, when Biden was vice president under President Barack Obama and that was not during the period of Trump.

Here, there is a point that some ignore, despite everything that has been said about Trump’s relationship with the moderate Arab countries. However, this did not prevent the Gulf-Arab rupture with Qatar, which occurred during the Trump era.

The Trump administration was unable to convince the Gulf countries and Egypt to restore relations with Qatar because of the latter’s failure to abide by its previous pledges.

And the pledges made by Qatar were not during the Trump presidency, but rather during the presidency of Obama.

At that time, King Abdullah was the Monarch of Saudi Arabia during which, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim came and signed the pact without pledging any commitment to abide by them, and everybody knows the rest of the story.

Therefore, we are in front of desirable analysis of the situation, and not serious political ones. I think that the most pressing story for our region is how Biden deals with Iran; will he be going back to the nuclear dossier, and how?

Here, too, the region has changed, as Biden will find a solid Israeli stance toward Iran, equal to the hardening of the Gulf position, where the UAE-Bahraini-Israeli peace process has now started moving ahead.

We do not know if this peace camp would expand further perhaps with the arrival of the new occupant at the White House.

In conclusion, the final say is in the language of interests, and so is politics. As for what is being proposed now, it is quibbling, and the season of incitement will soon end.


November 09, 2020
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