They didn’t see them coming, as a popular phrase goes Italia. Nor the Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu nor the US president Joe Biden they had received signals that two bitter enemies such as Tehran e Ryad they had decided – with the guarantee of Chinese – to reopen diplomatic relations after seven years of freezing and bloody proxy wars as in Yemen. Visible surprise of Netanyahuvisiting Roma more for a wedding anniversary than a decent diplomatic proposition, when his national security adviser whispered the news in his ear.
The dream of Israel to form an Arab alliance against theIran it went like this shatter last Friday with the news that l’Iran and theSaudi Arabia have agreed to restore the diplomatic relations within two months. It is certain that the announcement is loaded with meaning will reshape the policy of Middle East, redefining friends and foes, and will have global reverberations. The deal gives Iran much-needed legitimacy in the Arab world and could lead to further agreements with Arab states such as Egypt after those with Kuwait e Abu Dhabilead the way to the end of the war in the Yemenoffer a viable solution to the crisis in Lebanon and even lead to a resumption of negotiations to salvage the nuclear deal with the West.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal had written that theSaudi Arabia had asked for guarantees of safety and assistance to the United States to build his civilian nuclear program as a condition for normalizing ties between the Arab kingdom and Israel. But the US Congress has blocked such assistance.
So it seems that Saudi Arabia has quickly found a solution in Chinese, with which it signed a memorandum for the construction of a nuclear reactor in 2017. In any case, i Saudis they placed the United States a serious dilemma: help theSaudi Arabia with its civilian nuclear program and potentially win its support for a deal with Israelor let the Chinese reap the economic and political fruits.
Taking credit for concluding a peace deal in Middle Eastthe Chinese president Xi is taking advantage of the decline of American influence in the region and presents the leadership cinese as an alternative to an order driven by Washington which he describes as leading the world to a new “cold war”.
The vision of Xi is the one that rips the power to Washington in favor of multilateralism and of the so-called non-interferencea word that the Chinese uses to support that the nations they should not meddle in each other’s internal affairs, criticizing the violations of human rights, for example. Also there Chinese it is interested in the stability of the region. Beijing receives over 40% of its own imports of crude oil from the region. Also, the Gulf has emerged as a key node along the trade routes of the Belt and Road Initiativeas well as a major market for Chinese consumer goods and technology. Chinese telecom giant Huawei provides 5G networks in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Beijing also tried to emphasize a plan called Global Security Initiativefirst introduced by Xi a year ago, which he describes as an effort to apply “Chinese wisdom and solutions” to the world‘s biggest security challenges. The initiative, which takes up the language of the era Mao on the promotion of “peaceful coexistence”, requires a new paradigm in which global power is distributed more equally and the world pushes back”l’unilateralismconfrontation between blocs and hegemonism” – a clear reference to the United States and military alliances such as the Nato.
The Chinese has become an important strategic ally of both theIranwith which he signed a economic cooperation agreement $400 million over 25 years. But be there Chinese that theIran they know that realizing the potential of their alliance depends on signing a new nuclear deal. There Chinese entered the fray as a mediator between Iran e Saudi Arabia to build an alliance that serves the interests of all three without needing the services or assurances of United States. More importantly, the Chinese is taking the place of United States as an economic and strategic power in the region. A power on which Israel it has decidedly little influence. Benjamin Netanyahu who has based all of his politics in recent years by waving the specter of Iran in order to give up arms from the USA, who in 2012/2013, again as prime minister, was one step away from bombing Iranian nuclear sites, suddenly finds himself without an enemy , with a Village in revolt over the “coup” laws it wants to impose with its allies of the ultra-right and the West Bank on fire from the army’s continued operations against new Palestinian armed groups. “Tha Magician”, as his worshipers call him, this time he may no longer find the rabbit in the hat.