Experts tone down relationship between US admin, GCC states
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WASHINGTON, April 18, (KUNA): US experts have expressed concern over the level of strategic relationship the current US Administration and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members are having ahead of President Barack Obamas visit to Riyadh this week. Three GCC political experts from multiple think tank institutes in Washington D.C told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that this upcoming mission, due 20-21 April, to Saudi capital Riyadh, is crucial. It is “a signal that he still wishes to maintain some level of strategic partnership,” said the professor of political science in George Town University Nathan Brown. “The Obama Administration has had a more attenuated relationship with most GCC states than its recent predecessors,” Brown noted.
While lauding the nuclear agreement with Iran or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as “one of the Obama Administration’s accomplishments in the Middle East,” Brown mentioned that the US is engaged in an effort to see how much Iran can be engaged as a diplomatic actor in the region. That comes when “GCC states avoided splitting ways over the agreement itself (with the US),” nevertheless; “it is clear that there continue to be large differences between the US and leading GCC states over Iran,” said the professor, who is the author of six books on Arab politics.
Despite reports suggesting that the so-called Islamic State is in disarray, “the international coalition against it is still fractured and characterized by conflicting priorities over virtually every other issue,” criticized Brown, saying that “it is not really a coalition but a group of actors some of whom are able to coordinate on particular aspects of regional policy.”
Andrew Peek, a scholar on the conflicts and political transition in the Middle East and Iran, said that the upcoming visit is a way for the US President to “salvage the alliances to which he has done the most harm, with his inaction in Syria and nuclear deal with Iran.” “All of the GCC nations are skeptical of President Obama’s commitment to support them against Iran, and rightfully so,” claimed Peek who was an advisor to some US Senators on Middle East policy and to a top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan General John Allen. “The President is telling them that the American commitment to stability in the Gulf remains strong, but that they will not receive 100 percent of Americas support in territorial disputes,” he added.
Peek also criticized the US administrations policy on the IS as it has “made very slow progress,” because “He has been unable to win the unqualified support (from all Arab countries) on the ground in Syria, because he has backed away from removing Bashar Al-Assad.” Thus, he added “the GCC is concerned about the day after IS — when America goes home, Assad wins his civil war, and Iran is the most powerful country in the Gulf.” “It should be very important but raises the question whether Obama actually wants to repair the relationship,” Director of the Gulf and Energy policy program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Simon Henderson commented on the upcoming visit.
Henderson quoted an article from the widely recognized magazine the Atlantic in last months issues where it “defined his view which is incompatible with the old US relationship with the GCC.” On Iran proxy interference in the region, he said that the US administration “wanted to play it down last summer (GCC leaders visit to Camp David- May 2015) and it wants to play it down now,” Henderson said. A senior advisor to the president on the Middle East said last week “I think you’ll see progress has been made, much deeper cooperation between us and the GCC,” in comments on the upcoming visit to Riyadh.
AFP adds: President Barack Obama will make another trip to Riyadh to consult Washington’s Gulf allies on the crises in Yemen and Syria this week, but may not receive a royal welcome. The King of Saudi Arabia and his regional allies have long been offended by the US president’s tone and actions, and are now impatient to meet his eventual successor. Even before coming to office, Obama had dubbed Saudi Arabia a “so-called ally” and had made clear that his diplomatic priorities would be in Asia not the Middle East. He rubbed salt on those wounds by standing by as Saudi ally Hosni Mubarak was ousted in Egypt, then by his reluctance to back a similar revolt against Syria’s Bashar al- Assad.
And, most crucially for the Sunni monarchies, he cut a deal with Shiite power Iran to end its economic and diplomatic isolation in return for curbs of its nuclear program. So the public pomp of his visit on Wednesday to King Salman, will conceal much behind-the-scenes bitterness.
Then, on Thursday, he will face a stern audience at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit of leaders from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Oman. Last year, he brought the same monarchs together on his own home turf at Camp David outside Washington — and the Saudi ruler pointedly refused the invitation.
Then, Obama had wanted to ensure the traditional US allies were on board with his plans to fight the Islamic State group, and reassure them on his outreach to Tehran. But now with barely nine months of his time in office left — and Iran taunting the Gulf with its support of Shiite militancy abroad — he has little leverag
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