Why?
Because the world is uncoiling. Current structures and alliances have reached their maximum points of acceptable pressure and stress. The appeasement strategy towards Iran, instituted by the principal sovereigns of the world, has allowed Iran to exploit points of weakness in global society, resulting in the development of structural stress fractures. Saudi Arabia now realizes that an unchecked Iran puts the House of Saud in peril. Saudi Arabia purchased $110 billion of sophisticated weapons from the United States because they need them. Further, they want the United States as an ally against Iran.
Realignment is occurring right before our eyes.
We would expect Israel to lay out the red carpet for President Trump. The United States has historically been Israel’s one, true friend. The President prayed at the Western Wall. Again, a first. No sitting U.S. President has appeared at the Temple Mount. The President executed this sincere ceremonial gesture with great diplomatic acumen. No Israeli government leader accompanied him to the wall. This was for the purpose of reserving the discussion for whether the Temple Mount is in Israeli territory. This holy area was captured by Israel in the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War of 1967. The Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Israel claims Jerusalem as their historic capital dating back to King David. Neither President Trump nor Secretary of State Rex Tillerson addressed the issue of sovereignty over Jerusalem.
The President then met with Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organization. They embraced each other in a symbol of friendship. This gesture, immediately following a trip to the Western Wall, is most significant and extraordinary. President Abbas has recognized President Trump as a hope for future resolution in the Middle East. This hope surpasses his hatred of Israel.
The incredible thing is that President Trump’s diplomacy was accepted without question by all leaders.
In flying directly from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel, President Trump further demonstrated that he is determined to reset the protocol of the region. Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. No Israeli citizen can fly in and out of Saudi Arabia on an Israeli passport. There was no criticism or discussion whatsoever about the President’s itinerary. Further, President Trump posed for photo ops with King Salman and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt at the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. Egypt recognizes Israel and accepts passports with an Israeli stamp. The symbolism of this meeting, and President Trump’s departure from Saudi Arabia directly to Israel, establishes a new immediacy of purpose as a priority for Middle Eastern leaders.
In other words, President Trump plays by his own rules and intends to enforce them. Arab leaders of the Middle East are showing respect for his initiative. Iran is now faced with the proposition of being isolated as a Shiite nation.
Who will realign with Iran?
Not China. China has its own economic problems and internal political strife. President Xi is consolidating power. Over 1,000 communist leaders have been purged in recent months. The fight is over whether to double-down on communistic economic controls. President Xi believes in moderation and more cooperation with the West for banking and financial reform. Communist hardliners would close the borders, and by government dictate, demand that Chinese citizens trade only in yuan (the Chinese currency). This would result in an economic catastrophe for China. President Xi is opposed to such government controls. He has asked President Trump for help and is being given some economic cooperation. In return, the Chinese have agreed to open their markets to certain U.S. businesses. Also, China has agreed to pressure North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to stand down. China needs the United States more than the United States needs China.
Not Russia. Vladimir Putin’s strategy is based on regional control. The Russian economy is mid-sized at approximately $2 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By comparison, Germany is almost $4 trillion GDP, and the United States is approximately $18 trillion GDP. More importantly, Russia’s main export is oil, and oil is denominated in U.S. dollars. They may not be our friend. They may have meddled in our elections. But this is not the Cold War, winner-take-all strategy of the 1950s and 1960s.
Following a trip to the Vatican tomorrow, President Trump is on to Europe to attend a NATO Summit and a meeting of the G-7. This completes a full loop of all economic entities that can impact the world financial structure today. Every other country in the world is economically reliant upon actions taken by the United States, Europe and China. The U.S. has its differences with Europe on a few economic and social issues. But each is committed to the other, absolutely, on the issues of democracy, liberty and freedom.
President Trump may have struck a brilliant, strategic mission by weaving a cultural necessity, and therefore an alliance, with China, the Middle East and Europe. Iran and Russia may continue to exacerbate the situation in Syria. But there is no global strategic alliance between them going forward. Certainly, on the issue of extreme terrorism, Russia and Iran have different priorities.
It is important to recognize that the basic difference between Sunnis and Shiites is not religious theology. Rather, it is political conferment. A sovereign that attempts to use Islam as the basis for government purpose is blurred in comparison, by definition, to other less theological sovereigns with Muslim majority populations. This is why the rebellion of the Arab Spring did not result in more theocratic government rule. Instead, government accountability became more critical.
What the world is looking for is consistent leadership on issues that provide a hope and future for the world not controlled by despots or theological, religious dictators. What is at stake now is this. If leadership for which the world hopes is not provided, a strong man or dictator could rise to force compliance around a single decree of perceived justice. Such a consequence, even on a regional basis, will ultimately intensify world conflicts.
The world is uncoiling because the current structure of world alliances has not allowed for the free flow of people, ideas, and free enterprise. The coil has been maintained under pressure by anti-freedom forces. We have reached a point in history wherein world systems cannot be maintained by such forces and therefore will unravel. Whether this occurs without turmoil will depend upon leadership from the United States. We are the only country with the military, the banking, the wealth, the currency, and the Constitution to help the world reorganize and realign under the auspices and aegis of respect for the comprehensive, individual right to the pursuit of happiness.
The United States of America is the only sovereign country, in the history of the world, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, and that the government is established to facilitate individual freedom. We are one of only a few countries that is not threatened by the unrestrained fluidity of ideals, free enterprise, acceptance of diversity, and individual pursuits of happiness. In fact, America prospers because of these principles.
The answer to the uncertainty of the world’s uncoiling and realignment is simply the advancement of God-given rights. And it is a trust in the acceptance, impartiality, and receptiveness that, in the protection of freedom, the basis for solutions to all iniquities will emerge.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?