Dear Editor,
More than one year ago as the war between Russia and Ukraine raged with hefty political, diplomatic and military support to the latter from the European Union, NATO, the USA and other western powers, the general view that still obtains is that Europe can once again be the theatre for another world war, only that this time, it can be a nuclear war.
That view is compounded by opeds, and columnists associated with established media houses in the West who speculate that If Russia gets its way with Ukraine, China would be emboldened to invade Taiwan and strengthen its military and naval presence in the South China Sea.
But the focus has now shifted from the European to the Middle East theatre principally because of the hellish war unleashed by Israel on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The Middle East has always been considered a simmering cauldron, it was not surprising therefore to observe the hectic diplomatic efforts and conferencing that took place over the past week to achieve three fundamental objectives; 1) a halt to the bombing by air and sea killing thousands of civilians in the Gaza; 2) to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza unimpeded; 3) to prevent a full-scale ground offensive into the Gaza Strip; and 4) to prevent the Israeli-Gaza conflict from escalating into a regional conflagration.
Of the major western powers, the US is known for its diplomatic and military activism in that region. This was witnessed not so long ago by its intervention in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The umbilical relationship between the US and Israel is the world’s best kept secret. Small wonder that US Secretary of State Blinken, Defense Secretary Austin and President Biden travelled to Tel Aviv to remind the world of America’s support to Israel.
While there has been some success in the US’ efforts to promote normalization in relations between Israel and a number of Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Blinken’s diplomatic efforts to cool the political temperature and growing anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East, did not bear fruit. His efforts were rebuffed by Arab leaders who made it clear that they will not sacrifice the Palestinian cause for the sake of the Arab-Israeli normalization process.
The collapse of a mini-summit between Biden and Arab leaders clearly demonstrated that notwithstanding the hubris of governments in Middle East they were not prepared to stand by and do nothing in the face of the slaughtering of their Palestinian brothers and sisters, children and babies by the Israeli military.
Repeating the mantra of ‘shared values’ between the US and Israel, President Biden justified the need for increased military spending to support Israel and Ukraine claiming that America cannot ‘turn its back’ on its allies. Ukraine is now viewed as the Israel of Europe. But it is difficult to imagine how Hezbollah or Hamas can stand up to the world’s fourth heavily armed and sophisticated military especially when it is backed by the US unlike Russia who has stood up to the NATO alliance in its war with Ukraine
In the meanwhile, the U.S. has deployed a significant naval presence in the region, Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missiles toward Israel, and a de facto state of war now exists in South Lebanon between Israeli and Hezbollah. Significantly, the Israeli government has decided not to rush and enter Gaza, fearing a large-scale conflagration
While some in western capitals are calling for unimpeded access of humanitarian aid to Gaza, not a word was uttered in support of a ceasefire save for a ‘cease pause.’
In the meanwhile, on the world stage, save for the wars in Europe and the Middle East, in other parts of the world, peace and stability reigned notwithstanding the occasional flashpoints that appear-ed from time to time in some regions.
In this regard, we witnessed China’s hosting a successful summit marking the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing, China; India became the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the moon’s South Pole; the World Bank-IMF held its annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, the ASEAN – GCC Summit met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the CARICOM-Canada meeting was held in Ottawa, Canada. COP28 will meet on November 30, in Dubai, UAE. against a backdrop of a possible ground offensive in Gaza.
Nearer home, the maintenance of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace must not be disrupted nor trampled upon by belligerent and war-mongering forces in Venezuela who, by way of a national referendum scheduled for December 3, 2023 will ‘ask five questions that according to the Government of Guyana, ‘amounts to nothing less than the annexation of Guyana’s territory, in blatant violation of the most fundamental rules of the UN Charter, the OAS Charter and general international law.’ ‘Such a seizure of Guyana’s territory’ the government said ‘would constitute the international crime of aggression’. Clearly, Venezuela seems determined according to the GOG to; ‘incite violence and to threaten the peace and security of the State of Guyana and by extension the Caribbean region.’
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
