Three countries – Russia, Turkey and Iran – are currently trying to
reassert their former influence and glory, harking back to the power and
greatness of the former Czarist/Soviet, Ottoman and Persian empires,
respectively. In many ways these three imperial states, led by
autocratic leaders – President Vladimir Putin, President Recep Erdogan,
and Ayatollah Khamenei, respectively – are similar and have found it
convenient to collaborate in some matters. But, in most ways these
leaders and their putative empires are very competitive.
The difference between these three intended empires and the USA is very
stark. While the US is really the only superpower, President
Donald Trump
has enunciated a policy of withdrawal from the Middle East, the main
area of big power conflicts, even though his mantra is “Make America
Great Again.” In this policy he continues that of his predecessor,
Barack Obama, who also had a policy of retraction from the Middle East.
By contrast, Russia, Turkey and Iran are all in an expansionist phase,
particularly in that region.
The difference between these three intended empires and the USA is very
stark. While the US is really the only superpower, President
Donald Trump
has enunciated a policy of withdrawal from the Middle East, the main
area of big power conflicts, even though his mantra is “Make America
Great Again.” In this policy he continues that of his predecessor,
Barack Obama, who also had a policy of retraction from the Middle East.
By contrast, Russia, Turkey and Iran are all in an expansionist phase,
particularly in that region.
They see the Arab countries as weak and exploitable, and two of them,
Iran and Turkey, seek to reassert their former spheres of control there.
Russia, it is said, has always sought a warm water port in the
Mediterranean Sea, and in fact Obama’s incompetence gifted that to
Putin.
When he declared his
red line over the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons, and then
instead allowed Putin to come into Syria to mediate the removal of those
weapons from Assad, he released a monster. Putin got his port at
Latakia and then an airfield, and then participated in the fighting with
Assad’s regime and saved it from the brink of defeat and brought it to
victory, at the cost of millions of lives.
Syria is now effectively a
vassal state of Russia, and Putin will decide its fate.Iran has also been active in Syria, through its Quds Force of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (
IRGC), whose former leader, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated by the US.
There
is a relationship between Assad, who comes from the Alawite minority in
Syria, and the Shia from Iran. But we should see that as an ideological
excuse to justify Iranian expansionism into the Arab world. Although
they would be loath to admit it, Shi’ism is a cloak for the reassertion
of Iranian power in the region formerly part of the Persian Empire. Its
influence now extends to Yemen, where Iran supports the Houthi rebels;
Iraq, where it controls the Popular Mobilization Forces; and Lebanon,
where Hezbollah is its dependent proxy.
Turkey under Erdogan has been veering away from the democratic
Westernized Turkey that Kemal Ataturk foresaw, toward a Sunni religious
format. In doing so, he has taken on the dubious role of reconstituting
the Ottoman Empire. He has entered the Syrian morass, defeated the
Kurdish forces and occupied a 30-kilometer stretch of Syrian territory
where he claims he intends to settle some of the millions of Syrian
evacuees in his country.
He
controls northern Cyprus, and his latest move is into Libya, where he
has agreed to support the supposedly legitimate government in Benghazi
in exchange for oil exploitation rights in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile
Russia is supporting the insurgent army of Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who
controls Tripoli and much of Libya.
The
reduction of American presence and power in the Middle East, coupled
with a reluctance to use that power, has resulted in the proverbial
power vacuum. This has enticed these three states to exercise their own
expansionist dreams, fueling their own versions of “Make X Great Again,”
where X=Russia, Turkey and Iran. How these imperial designs and
competitions will play out remains to be seen.
Note EU-Digest: Russia in fact has now taken over the US leadership position in he Middle East, assisted by Assad and Erdogan. As a result Erdogan has thereby created a major breach on NATO's Southern flank, by aligning himself with Putin, making the creation of an independent EU military force, and kicking Turkey out of the NATO an urgent requirement... .
Read more at: Russia, Turkey, Iran reassert glory of past empires in today's Middle Eas - The Jerusalem Post
