Mohammad Bahareth is radiant waiting in a golden ballroom of the Saudi court of the arrival, on May 13, of the American president accompanied by the heir to the throne and true reigning, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. All around the dignitaries are dressed with the white tunic and the red and white checkered kafia. Bahareth, invited for his 1.5 million followers on Instagram, prefers the hat with the slogan “Trump 2028”, which hopes for a third election of the Tycoon. “He says what he thinks and does not care about what people think” explains the Saudi influencer, pro Trump, to the New York Times, fascinated by “his ruthless pragmatism”.
In the first and historic visit to the Gulf from his settlement, from 13 to 16 May, Trump cleared former terrorists such as the self-proclaimed Syrian president Ahmad al-Shara/Al Joulani. And close economic and political pacts of steel with reigning “Tenbuons” from Bin Salman to the Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar. Not to mention the axis with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the proponent of a unscrupulous neo -ult policy. “” Whoever had, had / who has given, gave / scurdámmoce ‘or past “, says the post -war Neapolitan song … Here, Trump acts in the way” Let’s start from scratch “” reflects the former ambassador Carlo Marsili. «The approach may appear politically incorrect, but it is effective. The total customs clearance of the Gulf leaders also has a not indifferent economic aspect. And Erdogan is the great winner on the Syrian chessboard with the fall of Assad and diplomatic weaver that hosts the first face to face between Russians and Ukrainians after three years of war in Istanbul ».
MBS, the prince of the Saudi crown, welcomed Trump like a pharaoh. The presidential limousine was escorted by the knights of the royal guard with more stars and stripes flags than Saudi. The omnipresent luxury and pomp of the court served to honor the super guest. MBS accompanied the American president in the “Memory Gallery”, which exhibits the memorabilia of friendship with the United States, including the desk given by President Truman to the founder of the Kingdom, Abdulaziz al-Saud.
Bin Salman was considered by the previous administration a half pariah, after a critical journalist, Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, was literally made to pieces in the Saudi consulate of Istanbul. The bombs of the kingdom have massacred civilians in Yemen, in support of the Sunni government tacitly allied with the al Qaida fringes. Abdullah Alaouh, who lives in exile in Washington and works at the Middle East Democracy Center, critical harshly Trump for the “cover -up” of the reputation of Prince Mohammad “an authoritarian leader who brutally silenced all dissent”.
The US leader slept at the fabulous Ritz-Carlton known, however, as “the five-star prison” where Bin Salman in 2017 had locked ministers, members of the royal house and entrepreneurs considered opponents. The American president has enhanced the new generation of Gulf leader who “are overcoming the old conflicts” and building a Middle East “trade and technology, not of chaos and terrorism”. Just in Riad, in front of a crowd of American and Saudis company heads, he has filed not only the previous democratic policies, influenced by human rights, but also the neocon of the “so -called nations manufacturers” who “destroyed many more countries than they have built”. In practice, he filed the era of American interventionism not only in the region by adding: “I never believed in the possibility of having permanent enemies”.
Music for MBS ears, in continuous search to clean up their image. It is no coincidence that Trump has collected 600 billion in the US investments in the USA including 142 billion in arms defined by the president “the largest sales agreement of products for the defense of history”. Arduino Paniccia, an expert in strategy and security, observes that “the godparents of the Holy War or the protagonists like the Syrian at Joulani have understood that jihadism, terrorism did not bring them anywhere. The strategy of the clash with the West has brought countries such as Syria and Iraq to the breakdown ».
Trump’s return to the White House was an opportunity to put out the cards. “The president went to tighten his hand to Joulani,” Paniccia underlines. “Not only that: he has sought after the democratic line in the gulf and also the neocon of the export of democracy. An abstract and failed strategy on the field ».
The surprise blow was the handshake with the president of Interim Syrian Ahmad al-Shara in front of MBS, on May 14, defined by Trump “a real tough”. The Talibono, or presumed such, who commands Damascus has a respectable terrorist curriculum. For the FBI it was a refined with a size of $ 10 million on the head. Until the lightning fallen of the Assad regime he lived in Idlib, the rebellious “capital” of the Syrian mini caliphate caliphate where all women turn with black burqa, there is no lack of monuments that praise the traveler attack of Hamas on 7 October and on the street you can meet the volunteers of the Holy War and Terror from all over the world. Joulani’s battle name, in fact, the new “statesman” made the bones with Al Nusra, a rib of Al Qaida in Syria and even earlier he had sworn loyalty to the Caliph of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The agreement with Trump led to the cancellation of US sanctions against Syria followed by the similar decision of the European Union.
The first international flight landed in Damascus, on January 7, with the advent in the power of Al Sharaa/Joulani was from the Qatar Airways … And the second stage, a triumphant of Trump’s journey in the Gulf, was in Doha, welcomed with open arms by the Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Tani. The Qatar services led by the Fedelissimo, Abdullah Bin Mohammed al-Khulaifi, have always maintained reckless contacts with Al Qaida and ISIS and then be part of the international coalition against the Caliphate. In Doha, the real Taliban opened the first and only embassy served to deal with the previous Trump administration the exit strategy by Afghanistan, then transformed into Caporetto by the accelerated retreat of President Joe Biden. The leaders in exile of Hamas are still hosted today in Qatar, who paid thirty million dollars every month to the terrorist movement in the Gaza Strip.
“If there is no Doha, it cannot be done” is the motto that has taken hold in the most complicated crises of the Middle East. The capital of Qatar is the crossroads of all the most difficult mediations starting with that for the liberation of the Israeli hostages and the truce in the Gaza strip.
In Doha, Trump found himself at ease holding baptisms for 1.2 trillions of dollars. The renowned Airline of Qatar will acquire 210 Boeing and will invest significantly in the drones. Not to mention the Emir’s super gift: the Boeing 747 of the royal family, which will become the new Air Force One, the now old presidential plane. The market value is around $ 150 million, but you have to spend a billion to equip it sophisticated safety technologies, starting with the anti -missile shield and encrypted communication. «The Trump administration is looking for immediate successes with state visits such as Saudi and Qatar Arabia. But there is no overall picture, a wide -ranging and long -term strategy for the region “observes Nicola Pede, director of the institute for Global Studies. And he adds that the last country visited in the pharaonic journey of Trump, the United Arab Emirates “is worried because it considers the opening to any Islamist faction an existential threat”. At Sharaa, to keep them good, he granted Abu Dhabi the management of the great port of Tartus, which provides for an investment of 800 million dollars, canceling the contract for 45 years with the Russians, who however maintain their naval base.
An Italian who has lived with his family in Dubai for years and makes money with cryptocurrencies thus describes the “enlightened” regime of the Emir Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum: “You don’t pay taxes, there is no crime, everything works, just don’t talk about politics and religion.” The Emirates had announced a ten -year investment of 1.4 trillion dollars in the USA last March. The main objective is artificial intelligence. The greasy states guarantee Abu Dhabi, who wants to become global pole of the AI, the import from this year of half a million nvidia chips, the most advanced in the sector. On the American territory, a new aluminum foundry and Emiratin Mubadala Energy is expected to invest in the production of gas in Texas and in a louisian louisiana gas terminal.
Trump, through his mediator on various tables Steven Witkoff, is carrying out a difficult negotiation with Iran on nuclear power. This week the fifth round of talks in Oman should start. On May 20 the supreme guide, the great Ayatollah Alì Khamenei, said they “will not work”. Israelis are planning an air attack on Iranian nuclear power plants, as a pressure weapon also on the USA. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu sees American openings in the Gulf as smoke in the eyes. And Trump is irritated for the crease of the war in Gaza, an obstacle for his Middle East “defined by trade and not by chaos”. Ha’aretz, the Israeli opposition newspaper, writes that the White House intends to change consolidated balances: “It is an axis in which Saudi Arabia is the guided state and Turkey a strategic ally, while Iran is presented with an offer to join the club”.
Corps, great connoisseur of Iran, points out that “US messages are contradictory to the e -creasement of uranium or not, but the tones continue to be conciliatory. If they arrive at an agreement it will not be much more than Obama’s, then rejected by the first Trump. “The latter returned home from the mission to the Gulf with a” booty “of a thousand billion dollars in contracts. “Everyone has already forgotten what the” ladies “of the region have combined,” says Paniccia. «They too, however, have changed strategy by setting the hard line against Israel and finding a strong bank with Trump. The new mantra is less bombs and more business ».
