Russia is an underdeveloped, technologically backward, and nondemocratic country, where Russians and their neighbours often face calamities caused by the unjustified imperial pretensions of the government. But I cannot agree that there is some “bright pole” in the world to be in hopes of.
When the United States says, “human rights”, “freedom of speech”, “right to vote”, “fair governance”, “western values” and so on, a very natural question arises: “Honourable leaders of the free world, and who is your closest ally in the Middle East? Saudi Arabia? How does this country resolve all the mentioned problems? Perhaps there is freedom of, and maybe the king and the princes profess western values. Or perhaps they respect human rights. Or does it not matter in this case? As the saying goes, “Money talks”. Especially those billions that are paid for weapons. When Rogozin says, “this is a business,” it sounds cynical, but when Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, does a business with one of the world’s most brutal monarchies, isn’t it cynical?
Oh, I forgot, they sell weapons of 110 billion to Saudi Arabia, so that the latter can fight against Sunni extremist groups. But as far as I know, this country is the homeland and the main sponsor of these extremists. So, the USA does not care about the fight against the terrorist groups. It cares about the business and the “sphere of influence”, exactly as Russia does.
But it is not said directly. For this type of countries, it is not comfortable to live without the “role of an enemy”. And Trump found such an enemy, which is Iran. Although there have been no terrorists from Iran so far, but have been as many from Saudi Arabia as you wish. Of course, neither Trump, nor any other American officials believe that Iran is a threat to the world. It is only nominally announced like that to give an imaginary shape to the world. Besides, the common attitude towards Iran unite Saudi Arabia and Israel who are hostile towards each other. In short, seeking another “bright pole” opposite to Russia is a sign of naivety and lack of pragmatism.
The only welcome moment in the US president’s visit to the Middle East is that among the other countries Azerbaijan also took part in the anti-Iranian gathering “sponsored” by Trump. We need to take advantage of our neighbour’s imprudent step.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
