IASbaba's Flagship Course: Integrated Learning Programme (ILP) - 2024 Read Details
TOPIC: General Studies 2
- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
Ties between the two countries go back to the end of the Second World War and the relationship has evolved over the decades. Trump's choice of heading to Riyadh first marks a new era of relationship between U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, was looking for an opportunity to again claim its space in the Islamic world. Saudi attempt to garner regional support in all these years was falling flat whether it was Pakistan, Turkey or Egypt. So Riyadh was eager to reset relations with the new US administration after feeling shunned by President Barack Obama, who crafted the 2015 nuclear deal with their Shiite rival Iran. The kingdom is also embarking on plans to diversify its economy away from oil—including the sale of a stake in Aramco—after crude prices slumped by half over the past three years. President Trump's visit to the nation brought in the opportunity for Saudi Arabia to reclaim its power in Middle East.
Key takeaways
Defence Cooperation:
Change in rhetoric:
A U-turn in Iran-US relationship:
Strategic regional calculus:
What it means for India?
President Trump mentioned India amongst nations there are victims of terror and that is a welcome step, however the list of nations was a laundry list.
Sanctions on Iranian economy, if imposed by U.S. could be detrimental for India. As during the sanctions under Obama era it was China who took the advantage by carrying on the business with Iran while India's trade with Iran went a downhill.
President Trump gave fighting terror a very very religious context. He spoke that if all Abrahamic faiths (kitabi religions) were to come together there will be peace in the world and he was referring very specifically to Christianity Islam and Judaism, this reference is certainly not helpful particularly for a multi-religious country like India.
By putting a religious flavor to this uniting of the world means we are working into troubling territory over. The comments about Iran take on not just religious sort of differentiation but also sectarian differentiations.
Overlooking the Saudi Pakistani role as far as the ideology of terror is concerned and the sectarian dimension being added is disturbing turn of events for India.
Conclusion
The major cause of instability in West Asia is not just Iran, as Mr. Trump mentioned in his speech, but the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. If US wants to be peacemaker and make West Asia a more secure place, he has to reach out to both sides and appeal to them to dial down the tensions that have already spilled into Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Instead, he appears to have taken sides. The Saudi petro- dollar muscle is hard to resist for an American President desperate to create more jobs at home. But merely supplying weapons to Riyadh and its allies will not bring peace to West Asia, or help defeat terrorism.
“Furthering more enmity with Iran, rather than seeking common ground and interests at a time when Iran is ready to reach out diplomatically on the region’s long-term problems, is going to work against the long term aim of a peaceful and stable Middle East.
All the indicators point to a further arms race in the region and on the rhetorical level we are on a path of escalation. It just need a small trigger that can escalate the situation on the ground.
Connecting the dots: