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11 November 2012 By Tariq Alhomayed I'm still convinced that
President Obama committed several mistakes in our
region during his first term. With regards to Iran,
Obama ignored the Green Revolution, helped to place
Iraq under Iranian influence, and overdid the soft
diplomacy with Tehran when it came to the Iranian
nuclear file. In the Arab world, Obama has made
mistakes in his dealings with the Arab Spring states,
particularly when strengthening the influence of
political Islam there. Finally, he neglected the
Syrian revolution and of course failed to accomplish
anything of note with regards to the Palestinian
cause. Now Obama has won a second term, what does this
mean, and how should we deal with him? To answer this
we must examine several important international
stances that came to light immediately after Obama's
victory. Obama winning a second term means that he
will be more liberated and powerful; he no longer has
to worry about another electoral campaign, making him
able to take tougher stances. Thus we must consider
the international statements issued immediately after
the announcement of Obama's victory, in order to
understand how many are now keen to promote their own
interests. The most significant of these statements
was issued by the British Prime Minister, who
congratulated Obama and said: "Right here in Jordan I
am hearing appalling stories about what has happened
inside Syria so one of the first things I want to talk
to Barack about is how we must do more to try and
solve this crisis". David Cameron's statement
effectively means: We gave you space throughout the
electoral campaign and did not complicate matters with
regards to sensitive issues, most importantly Syria,
and now it's time for action. The other important statement was issued by Russia,
where the Russian President welcomed Obama's
re-election, expressing his readiness to develop and
improve "initiatives in bilateral relations and in
Russian-US interaction on the international arena".
Furthermore, the Russian Foreign Minister said that
his country is ready to "to go as far as the US
administration is willing to go". If we add to that
Turkey's rapid moves to request "Patriot" missiles
from NATO, which suggests we are witnessing the
beginnings of buffer zones being imposed in Syria,
then we can note from all of the above that the wheel,
specifically with regards to Syria, has moved quickly
and everyone is now looking out for their own
interests. Washington issued implicit messages
effectively saying "wait until the elections are
over", and is clear that America's allies have waited
with restraint despite the suffering of the Syrians.
Now they are calling on Obama to move quickly. The question here is: What about our region,
specifically Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states? The
answer is that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf must pursue
rapid diplomatic action. Washington can't leave our
region, specifically the Gulf states, at the mercy of
hostile parties, whether they are the followers of
political Islam or those claiming to be activists, who
are actually advocates of division and
destabilization, serving the purposes of Islamic
groups and even Iran. This is what was proven in the
crisis of the Arab Spring, where the Arab "activists",
as Washington saw them, were nothing but facades for
the forces that eventually benefitted. Criticizing
Obama will not change anything, and waiting for the
unknown will be a disaster, so what we need now is a
diplomatic uprising with the best of expertise and a
clear vision. This is so that we do not come up
against any more surprises from Washington in the
future, especially since action is long overdue when
it comes to the Iranian nuclear issue.
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London. |
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