The United States (US) President Donald Trump’s first international visit as the world’s most powerful man was to the Middle East—a break from tradition, as American presidents have historically chosen Europe, more specifically the United Kingdom (UK), as their first foreign port of call. This time, however, it was Riyadh that won the lottery, as Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) courted Trump with trillion-dollar deals. After years of tensions and fractures among the Gulf states, there now appears to be some semblance of cohesion in what the region seeks to achieve geopolitically—even with former foes. Trump’s speech in Riyadh partly exemplified why these reconciliatory shifts are taking place. In this speech, he declared that the Middle East was entering an era defined by “commerce, not chaos”, where the region would be known for exporting technology rather than terrorism. He further added that America, under his leadership, would not preach or give lectures—emphasising that the successes of Abu Dhabi and Riyadh were not products of the Pax-Americana worldview pushed by neocons and so-called ‘nation builders’ who spent trillions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and yet failed to foster sustainable development. “In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built,” he remarked, much to the delight of those in attendance.
Arab Coalition Seeks Renewed Leverage in Washington I(Kabir Taneja – Observer Research Foundation)
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