scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeGlobal PulseGlobal Pulse: The Middle East is going through some realignment, and Pakistan...

Global Pulse: The Middle East is going through some realignment, and Pakistan is trying hard to control its own narrative

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Pro-peace with India voices are being stifled in Pakistan as the security state tries to control a narrative. While a last-minute alliance might be emerging between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East at the end of the year, 2017 has been particularly good for France, which has made significant strides towards progress as a country.

New year, new alliances

Sure, we live in a time of geopolitical transition, writes Joschka Fischer in Project Syndicate. But now, the regional order in the Middle East is seriously changing.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement to divide the Middle East might have been the first instance of deliberate realignment, but now more organic forces have begun spinning the wheels of change. The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the biggest rivalries, but so is the rivalry between Iran And Saudi Arabia.

“Against this backdrop, the unresolved Israel-Palestine conflict seemed to have been downgraded to the status of a fringe dispute. That remained the case until US President Donald Trump’s administration decided unilaterally this month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”

But now, all that is set to change. Could there be a real alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel?

“For the Saudis, countering Iran is the top priority. And because Saudi Arabia is too weak to win that fight on its own – particularly in Lebanon and Syria – it will continue to strengthen its ties with Iran’s other rivals, especially with the region’s military superpower: Israel.”

“The emerging alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, once unimaginable, will likely become one of the driving forces of the new Middle East. Only time will tell what the price of such an anti-Iranian alliance will be?”

The Iranian response to Israel

Meanwhile, Israel is preparing for showdown using the “North Korean Playbook”, writes John Hannah in Foreign Policy. Drawing on several parallels, Hannah compares Iran’s pattern of behaviour with North Korea when it comes to protecting their nuclear weapons.

“Instead of just over 100 missiles per day, the next war is likely to see Israel experiencing barrages of up to 1,500 rockets and missiles per day,” Hannah writes. “Among those longer-range missiles that it has acquired from Iran, Hezbollah almost certainly possesses some that can be classified as “precision” missiles, with advanced guidance systems capable of midflight corrections and a high degree of accuracy.”

“Of the more than 100 strikes that Israel has conducted in Syria against convoys, factories, and warehouses, the vast majority have almost certainly been to constrain what it has called the Iranian/Hezbollah “accuracy project.””

“To foil Israel’s attacks on its extended supply lines to Hezbollah, Iran is now also building factories in Lebanon as well as Syria that would provide the group with an indigenous capability to produce large quantities of precision missiles closer to home. At least some of these factories are being buried deep underground — as much as 160 meters — in an effort to make them immune from aerial attack. Senior Israeli officials have been ringing alarm bells about the factories since last summer — with a strong hint that if the United States and the international community don’t take action to stop them, Israel is prepared to act pre-emptively to destroy the facilities before their production lines open. Indeed, there is evidence that several such factories have already been destroyed in Syria.” writes Hannah.

The country of the year

In its annual “country of the year” pick, The Economist has declared France to be this year’s winner. Strong contenders included Bangladesh, Argentina, and South Korea, for reasons ranging from providing humanitarian assistance and undergoing massive reforms. “In most years, that would be enough. But in 2017 France defied all expectations,” argues The Economist.

Emmanuel Macron’s win for “not merely a stunning upset. It also gave hope to those who think that the old left-right divide is less important than the one between open and closed. Mr Macron campaigned for a France that is open to people, goods and ideas from abroad, and to social change at home. In six months he and his party have passed a series of sensible reforms, including an anti-corruption bill and a loosening of France’s rigid labour laws.”

Of course, there are plenty of critics. “Perhaps they forget how, before he turned up, France looked unreformable—offering voters a choice between sclerosis and xenophobia. Mr Macron’s movement swept aside the ancien régime and trounced the ultra-nationalist Marine Le Pen (who, had she won, would have wrecked the European Union). The struggle between the open and closed visions of society may well be the most important political contest in the world right now. France confronted the drawbridge-raisers head on and beat them,” the Economist responds.

“For that, it is our country of the year.”

Indo-Pak Relations: State vs. People

The disappearance of people like Raza Mahmood Khan and Zeenat Shahzadi are because of their apparent crime of working for improved relations with India, writes Beena Sarwar in the Washington Post. “There is a political consensus in Pakistan for this goal that many political and social activists, writers, journalists, artists, and others openly support.”

Khan and Shahzadi were vulnerable because they are regular citizens who do not operate from a group, writes Sarwar. “But their views of India — which they saw not as an enemy but as a neighbor with fellow humans and similar problems — ran contrary to Pakistan’s dominant ideological-security narrative.”

“What religious militants, nationalists and peace activists have in common is that they challenge — although from different perspectives and through different means — Pakistan’s dominant ideological-security state narrative.”

Sarwar writes that the security state has always targeted politicians, poets, journalists and activists in Pakistan. “Twin accusations of blasphemy and treason have become an additional silencing tool,” she writes.

“What’s new is the targeting of peace activists from ordinary backgrounds. The phenomenon signals a growing desperation to control the narrative on the military, religion and India.”

“This is not just about Raza Khan. It is also about reclaiming spaces for a more pluralistic, inclusive discourse of peace. The story reverberates beyond Pakistan to other areas where such tactics are used to silence dissent.”

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular