A humiliating treatment
In his address at the Riyadh gathering, Trump lent strength to autocratic tendencies among the Gulf rulers and their allies and encouraged them to continue the proxy war in Syria and initiate hostilities against Iran when they are ready. The call by Trump to drive out terrorism from their countries would be pleasing to the Arab rulers’ ears as they consider anyone opposing their authority a terrorist. This would be seen by the likes of the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Bahrain’s ruler Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as a license to hang political opponents. Condemnation of Iran will be seen by the Saudis as a signal of support for proxy wars against Shia movements and communities in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and beyond. Iraqi leaders in Baghdad have been concerned that a deeper confrontation between the US and Iran will further destabilize Iraq, just as the Iraqi security forces are getting control of Mosul. The proposed Arab NATO is likely to destabilise the Middle East and unleash a massive war in the region.
At a gathering arranged to bring petro-dollars from the Gulf to the US, it was understandable why Trump had one-on-one photo ops with valuable customers of American military hardware. Ivanka Trump even praised Saudi Arabia on “women’s rights” after a Saudi donation of $100 million to her cause. There was no mention of human rights, democracy, pluralism and other American values at the gathering on Sunday.
Nawaz Sharif had come prepared to address the moot after having been told that his meeting with Trump on the side-lines of the conference could not be held. Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country. What is more it has sacrificed 70,000 civilians and more than 6,000 army personnel while fighting the war against terrorism besides being a US ally for the last 70 years. Not only was Sharif denied the opportunity to address, there was no mention of Pakistan in Trump’s address. India was however described as a victim of terrorism. The attitude does not bode well for Pak-American relations in days to come.
