Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Pavel Golovkin/Pool
Cyril Widdershoven, OilPrice.com: Is This The Geopolitical Shift Of The Century?
The geopolitical reality in the Middle East is changing dramatically.
The impact of the Arab Spring, the retraction of the U.S. military, and diminishing economic influence on the Arab world—as displayed during the Obama Administration—are facts.
The emergence of a Russian-Iranian-Turkish triangle is the new reality. The Western hegemony in the MENA region has ended, and not in a shy way, but with a long list of military conflicts and destabilization.
The first visit of a Saudi king to Russia shows the growing power of Russia in the Middle East. It also shows that not only Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but also Egypt and Libya, are more likely to consider Moscow as a strategic ally.
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WNU editor: When it became known that the U.S. was negotiating with Iran on a nuclear deal .... without consulting and informing America's allies in the region .... it fundamentally changed the U.S. - Saudi alliance of the past 70 years. I remarked at the time .... and I believe it even strongly now .... that for the Saudis this was an act of betrayal that threatened their national security interests, and there had to be a response. We are now seeing what that response is .... the old alliances that formed and shaped the Middle East for years are now over, but more importantly we are now seeing the U.S. being relegated to a lesser role. Years from now historians will look and debate if the U.S. outreach to Iran was worth the cost of these alliances .... and while we will not know the answers until then, it does not look very promising today.
