Eyes on Ankara after Tehran Summit
The fifth Turkish military operation in northern Syria may start at any moment. But Ankara did not take what it wanted from Russia and Iran at the Tehran summit. What happened was just the opposite. We have seen more stubbornness and intransigence in the positions of the two countries (Iran and Russia). Washington, Tel Aviv, Berlin and other capitals joined in rejecting the Turkish operation against Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) groups. Now is the time to wait and watch how Turkish leaders would proceed? Strategic agreements and pacts between Russia and Iran say that coordination and cooperation between them is at its peak.
The atmosphere and regional variables give the Tehran summit additional importance. But it is the Iranian-Russian-Chinese rapprochement in the region and the outcomes of the expanded Jeddah summit which worries Washington, not the Turkish-Russian-Iranian tripartite summit in Tehran.
Washington failed to bring the Turks and SDF together in Syria. The Syrian Kurdish leaders have rejected the American offer conveyed by Senator Graham to withdraw and hand over some areas to Turkish forces. Will Moscow and Tehran succeed in rapprochement between Ankara and the regime in Damascus? Is it sufficient to say that the arrival of the regime’s foreign minister hastily to the Iranian capital, and before the delegations leave, carries messages of a shift in attitudes and policies? Are we on the verge of seeing a new political game and military moves over Syrian territory?
[by Samir Saliha in Syria TV]
Changing Equation after Jeddah Summit
After the Jeddah summit, everything will change. The agendas and interests of the countries in the (Middle East) region have become a priority for decision-makers in the major powers around the world. The issues of energy prices, food security, arms deals, development and security will be dealt with new standards, priorities, partnerships and relationships of a new nature.
It’s an old Arab saying: “Whatever scratches your skin is like your own nail.” Today, Arab countries are investing all the elements of their power, individually or collectively, and their regional and international alliances, according to their priorities, interests and that of their peoples. They have comprehensive visions, practical programmes, and tight plans for decades to come. World powers have to deal with them under new rules and changing balances of power.
The nails of the ideological attacks carried out by the Western governments, civil, human rights and media institutions against the Arab and Gulf states have been trimmed. Talks have become frank and direct about political legitimacy and the nature of systems and regimes, communities and peoples which are hugely different from the West. These differences are a source of strength, not a source of weakness. The different civilizational perspectives have become a clear philosophical, cultural and policy statement which everyone must deal with without equivocation or shame, when discussed scientifically and philosophically. The Jeddah summit was the moment when the realities were exposed to new equations and different balances of power which will remain present in any future international or regional conflict.
[by Abdullah Al-Otaibi in Asharq Al-Awsat)]