Mervat Diab
As the US President Donald Trump heads to the Middle East, many in the region have been wandering if his visit will carry hopes to end the ongoing two-year Israeli plan to unsettle the whole region, not to mention the genocide in Gaza.
Citing the deals that Trump is looking forward to strike with the three Gulf States he is planning to visit, one should expect that their demands will be executed even before reaching there. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has pledged one trillion dollar to Trump administration, meantime the United Arab Emirates already said they are willing to invest 1.4 trillion dollars over the coming ten years. So far, on one knows how much Qatar will offer Trump on visiting their territories, yet Qatar Airways is poised to make the biggest splash: the carrier is putting the final touches on an order for around 100 Boeing widebody jets, with an option for as many more, according to people familiar with deliberations.
Including corporate deals that span defence, aviation, infrastructure and technology, the accords may approach US$3 trillion, far outstripping the haul that Trump managed on his first tour of the region in 2017.
In total, Mr. Trump visit will cost these Gulf States at least five trillion dollars, if not more. The question is why they are investing that much with the Trump administration. Do they have special demands that only Trump can make true. It is known now that the three states have been competing to play a bigger role in the US- ME policies, some of them led the Arab spring but failed, the other have been managing ME ports to block China’s silk road initiative in the region but to no avail, meanwhile the third is looking forward for a mega development plan to preside over the whole region but has been stumbling on Israel’s plan that reduced the whole region into a war zone.
Before reaching the region and even before being elected some American billionaires have done their homework and got their share of the presidency cake for far less than what the gulf- states have been pleading to pay. Miriam Adelson, the Jewish- American billionaire paid only $250 million for Trump to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and terminate the Iran-US deal during his first term. Paul Singer, one of the Republicans mega donors, paid $50 million for Trump to support Israel settlements in the occupied territories.
The American- Jewish billionaires do not only fund the Republicans but the Democrats as well which may explain the unconditional support of Joe Biden’s administration to Israel despite the global outcry against the war in Gaza. Biden had also to keep his billionaire donors happy rejecting all UN resolutions to end the war.
It is clear now that US billionaires are getting more while paying less. Then it seems fair enough for the three gulf- states that are looking for a bigger role in the region and badly in need for peaceful environment for their development plans to better serve the US, to ask for more. Why don’t they call for a Palestinian state to stop the headache of Israeli fighting the Palestinians over a tiny piece of land, why don’t they call for better regional ties with the US that is not based on Israel’s military edge over the whole region, why don’t they call for fair distribution of US support militarily and economically to US Arab allies. They are paying more, why not ask for more?
