Written by Devansh Agarwal
Democrat Joe Biden became the new President of the most powerful and ubiquitous country in the world, The United States of America, by defeating the Republican Donald Trump in the ballots. The change of ruling party in the Senate usually leads to some changes in the foreign policy, but the changes generally remain marginal, and the core policy remains rigid. However, the most appropriate word to define the policy shift from Trump to Biden would be ‘drastic’. It will change many strategies and circumstances inter alia. The world is apparently anxious to see the impact on Middle East.
THE MIDDLE EAST
After witnessing the scorching fire of the World War II, the world, to a greater extent, learned that ‘peace’ is the most consummate way to move the world forward. The offensive approach is replaced by a defensive one and the way to address belligerence is diplomacy. It would not be wrong to define Middle East as the most troubled region left in the world now. There is ongoing civil unrest in five countries with other countries being significantly involved in proxy wars. The current situation is a consequence of deep-rooted grievances and a turbulent history. Notable conflict in the region includes the Israel Palestine issue, Hezbollah in Israel, Houthi rebels of Yemen, power struggle in Syria and Iraq, etc. But, at the heart of these is the bloody rivalry between the two most powerful players of Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Although peace between the two countries seems highly unlikely in the near future, such a feat would pacify most of the aforementioned ongoing conflicts because many of them are results of the brazen fight of dominance between the two. Because of the mighty oil reserves in these countries, they have perennially been the attraction of superpowers and developed countries.
THE SAUDI-IRAN RIVALRY
There are not just two or three reasons of the fight between the two Middle Eastern rivals. The altercation between the two nations includes the race for more powerful military and military budget, nuclear arms, dominance in the Muslim world, dominance in the Middle East etc. One claims the presence of two holiest sites, Mecca, and Medina as holiest and other claims its Islamic Revolution to be holiest. One has the support of large population and big army and other has big military budget and the foreign backing to show. Their fight has now out shadowed that of USA and Russia.
THE REIGN OF DONALD TRUMP
The reign of Donald Trump reflects the traditional and conservative Republican foreign policy, but in an extreme way. The Republican party of US for very a long time have the reputation of being pro-business. For such business, they do not mind joining hands with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other kingdoms of the Middle East. Trump even supported Saudi Arabia in Yemen in because Saudis being the heavy and potential buyer of US missiles and other weapons. The other policy of Republicans is being very pro-Israel. Although the Democrats are also not considered anti-Israel, Republicans because of their evangelical beliefs align themselves extremely to help Israel. Trump’s tenure, especially, was so pro-Israel that some reports claim that his tenure helped Israel more than it helped United States itself. This is because of the chain of decisions taken by the US President Trump like recognizing the holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and thus making Palestinian claim sound bogus, recognizing Golan heights as Israel’s territory, and even legitimizing the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian areas. The animosity between United States and Iran is also contributed to the interests of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump, shortly after entering the White House, pulled US out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, which is going to help Iran to make use of their Nuclear power peacefully. Trump claimed, without any evidence, that Iran is violating the deal by trying to enrich the Uranium to attain the Nuclear fission for the Nuclear weapons, and thus Trump severely sanctioned Iran. The belligerency between Iran and US reached its height when US forces killed the third most influential leader, after Ayatollah and Prime Minister, Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike in Iraq.
THE BIDEN WAY
With the change in American presidency, the psychology and mindset with which US used to see other nations, both rivals and allies, has taken a turn. Biden, a Democrat with a liberal viewpoint, has stringently contradicted Trump’s policy. When it comes to Middle East, Biden negates the previous policy on almost every aspect.
Let us first talk about the policy of adoring the Middle Eastern Kings and their democracy-less rule. While Trump was termed by many as pro-business, Biden is widely considered pro-democracy. He detests Saudi Kings irrespective of how much business they are going to provide to the US Defense manufacturers. Biden exhumed the issue covering the assassination of Saudi-journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which was blatantly ignored by Trump, and made it a point to sanction Riyadh. He also recently pulled out US from the Yemen civil war, which US joined to help Saudis to counter Iran-led Houthi rebels.
When it comes to Iran, Biden shares a common viewpoint of that of former Democrat President Barak Obama. He believes in renewing the Iran Nuclear Deal, from which Trump pulled the US out. Unlike Trump’s ruthless attacks on Tehran by the way of sanctions, words, and proxies, Biden is of the belief to encounter Iran diplomatically. Biden detests Trump’s policy and think that Iran could be kept away from the Nuclear weapons through the Iran Nuclear Deal and not by accosting and threatening Iran. It appears that he is going to revisit the sanctions that are currently imposed on Iran.
Although Biden will not be against Israel, it is indeed apparent that Israel will not get the magnitude of US-backing as it was receiving in the Trump’s reign. Trump orchestrated the Abraham Accords in which Israel and United Arab Emirates established formal diplomatic relations. But it appears that Biden is not interested in solving the Israel-Palestine issue by giving an empty cheque to support Israel and ignore Palestinians.
SYRIA
Syria is another contentious hotspot about which the world has been concerned for over a decade. Promise to bring back the US soldiers back in the country from warzones is one of the significant promises made by Donald Trump that helped him win the 2016 elections and he was considered successful in delivering this one. Unlike President Obama, Trump made it clear ab initio that he intends to bring back the US soldiers and drastically reduced America’s military presence from Syria. But Biden will not bother to keep the presence of US soldiers in the power struggle zones like Syria to keep the dominance of United States and have a say in this country’s politics.
POLES APART
It is clear from the above mentions that the geopolitics of Middle East are again taking a turn. The Saudi-led alliance which is appearing to get a stronghold in the region after Donald Trump hamstrung Iran with sanctions, is again looking livid and weak. Palestinians again got their voice against a very aggressive Israeli policy because Joe Biden started the aid for Palestinian Government blocked by Trump. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman now seems inclined to resolve the dispute with Qatar (even though it is not clear yet if he will give this foreign policy win to Trump or Biden) and ease relations with Turkey; he is also more cautious about normalization with Israel. MBS is aiming to defuse tensions so he can start on the right foot with the Biden administration. Unlike Trump, the Biden presidency will most probably be reactive instead of proactive in the Middle East. (Macaron)
References
Macaron, Joe. "Trump is leaving Biden a landmine field in the Middle East." n.d. Al Jazeera.
The opinions expressed and suggestions made in the article belong solely to the author themselves. Diplomania and O.P. Jindal Global University do not endorse the same.
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