DAR AL ISLAM: THE NEW CALIPHATE

Mideast needs a new alliance
By Duraid Al Baik, Foreign Editor

The looming war in the Gulf, if it breaks out, will not provide a solution to regional issues, nor will it help to resolve Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Strategists who met last week in Abu Dhabi to discuss the challenges facing the Gulf region, agreed that such a war would rather complicate the situation even further, rather than solve the issue. It will cause damage beyond repair and plunge the region into yet more chaos.

The good news that can be perceived in this gloomy picture is: All parties, including the US have realised that the extent of the problems the region is facing require them to act differently.

The realisation represents a great achievement. The question now: What could these parties do to solve the situation? And are they ready to grab the chance now?

It is evident that the region is suffering from a strategic imbalance or power vacuum resulting from the destruction of the Iraqi regime in 2003. Although Saddam Hussain's regime was not without its defects, it at least acted as a buffer among the conflicting parties.

These parties are finding themselves allied with each other for the first time in their history and having to deal with each other within a perceived balance of power that does not exist.

The failure on the part of the US to rebuild Iraq, as promised, has added to the bitterness of the nations in the region and prevented the US from becoming the godfather of the new Middle East.

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Political agenda

Four major countries can play constructive roles in moulding the core of a new regional system. Leaders of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey can form a sort of alliance or security and development association for the defence and development of the region.

They have first to reconsider the way they previously pursued their political agendas and establish a new foundation for cooperation.

But where would Iraq fit in the new picture? And what can the so-called elected leaders of the country offer to the new regime?

Unfortunately, the new leaders of Iraq, especially those who came with the US after the fall of Saddam Hussain's regime, can do nothing to help their nation. They failed at every step, right from the beginning of the occupation to the recent law enforcement plan in Baghdad.

As such, the Middle East needs an organisation that can be founded on the model of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Middle East.

It is the need of the nations in the region. The US can act as a guarantor in this system rather than invovling itself in day-to-day issues and its durability and strength can be put to the test in Iraq.

Iraq needs a different formula and a different plan that can be reached through dialogue amongst Iraq's neighbours and through interaction with different components in the country, including the insurgents.

The Baghdad Conference can achieve nothing if the regional powers fail to act on building a viable set-up and the jihadists resort to violence and mayhem.

Iraq can not play a role in the proposed regional system unless its factions agree on who truly represents Iraq and who the legitimate representative of the nation is.


Pertinent Links:

1) Mideast needs a new alliance