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Vol. 81/No. 44 November 27, 2017
(lead article)
Tehran, Saudi rulers contend over Mideast
Kurds fight attacks amid growing conflicts
Mustafa Abdi
Protest in Brussels Oct. 25 against assault by Iraqi army and
Tehran-backed militias on Kirkuk and other Kurdish areas. After Kurds
voted for independence, Washington gave green light to attacks in name
of “preserving united Iraq.” Kurds in Syria fear similar attacks by
Assad regime.
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Deepening disputes between the capitalist regimes in Tehran and Riyadh
are increasingly shaping politics in the Middle East today. The
capitalist rulers in Iran have made significant gains in wars in Iraq
and Syria, moving to secure a land bridge to their ally Hezbollah in
Lebanon and access to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Saudi monarchy is seeking to counter Tehran, taking steps to curb
the sprawling network of emirs and other princelings pursuing their own
interests and to deepen alliances with other bourgeois Arab regimes in
the region.
With the defeat of Islamic State in all but a few isolated areas in
Syria and Iraq, Washington — and Tel Aviv, Cairo, Ankara and other
capitalist regimes there — are also looking to position themselves to
advance their interests.
Tehran has made the most gains. Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers,
Hezbollah fighters and Shiite-based militias, backed by Moscow’s air
power, have pushed back the efforts of the Syrian people to bring down
the dictatorial rule of Bashar al-Assad. And Guard leaders and the Hashd
al-Shaabi militia have strengthened the rule of the pro-Tehran rulers in
Iraq.
They have pushed back the Kurds as well. With a green light from
Washington, these forces seized Kirkuk and pushed the Kurds out of more
than 30 percent of the territory they have controlled and defended
against assaults from Islamic State.
Tehran is one of the most developed capitalist countries in the Middle
East, with increasing aid from Beijing and Moscow in getting credit and
expanding trade.
In contrast, monarchical rule and a backward social structure in Saudi
Arabia have held back capitalist development in the kingdom, despite its
massive oil reserves. In a move aimed at altering this situation, Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of the king, has led a deep-going
purge against other ruling family members, including current and former
ministers, as well as steps to reel in the semi-autonomous power of the
Wahhabi Muslim ministry there.
Riyadh has announced plans to solicit investment in government-run Saudi
Aramco, the largest oil producer in the world, worth an estimated $2
trillion. The British government has promised a $2 billion loan
guarantee to Saudi Aramco if the oil company’s stock offering is made on
their exchange, while President Donald Trump has urged Saudi rulers to
remember that using the New York Stock Exchange for the offering is
“important to the United States.”
The regime is also promoting more modern bourgeois social relations,
including ending restrictions on women’s right to drive and participate
more broadly in public life.
The Saudi rulers immediate focus is on preventing Hezbollah and Tehran
from strengthening their position in Lebanon. Riyadh has charged Tehran
with attempting to start a war there. They got the pro-Saudi Lebanese
Prime Minister Saad Hariri to announce his resignation from the Saudi
capital, saying he feared he was targeted for death. Riyadh also called
for its citizens in Lebanon to get out “as soon as possible.”
U.S. rulers pursue imperial interests
The propertied rulers in Washington, far and away the strongest
imperialist power worldwide, back the Saudis drive to stem Tehran’s
advances, as they seek to impose a measure of stability for their
interests in the region.
The Trump administration is planning to strengthen Washington’s
position, as well as that of Riyadh, Tel Aviv and its other allies, by
pressing for what the president calls “the ultimate deal” between Israel
and the Palestinians.
Washington is getting help from the rulers in Egypt as well as Saudi
Arabia in pressing both the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and
Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Washington finds the moment “ripe” for this push, the New York Times
reported Nov. 12, because these Arab regimes want to “refocus attention
on Iran.”
Trump is getting bipartisan backing for the effort, with former Barack
Obama Mideast adviser Dennis Ross saying his team has “done a very good
job.”
Washington has set up some 13 military bases across Syria, most of which
were aimed at collaboration with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces in beating back Islamic State, while simultaneously attempting to
prevent Hezbollah and Syrian troops from connecting a route for Tehran
from the Iraqi border across Syria to Lebanon.
The Assad regime now says they plan to push the SDF out of Raqqa and
parts of Deir el-Zour province they have taken from Islamic State. The
question is whether Washington will “negotiate” this territory away from
the Kurd-led forces.
Meeting in Vietnam as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
summit Nov. 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump
agreed to maintain the “deconfliction” channels between their militaries
in Syria. Opposing Kurdish independence, they both reaffirmed backing
for Syria’s territorial sovereignty.
U.S. weapons used on Kurds in Iraq
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Kurdistan’s former
President Masoud Barzani elaborated on the role played by Washington in
ensuring Kurdistan’s independence referendum, which was approved by over
92 percent, would not be implemented and after the vote permitted the
use of U.S. weaponry in attacks against Kurdistan by Iraqi forces and
Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militia.
“I was not surprised that the Iraqi forces attacked Kurdistan,” said
Barzani. “But what surprised me greatly was the people whom America had
listed as terrorists [Iranian militias], attacked us with American
weapons under the eyes of American officers and officials.”
The 30 million Kurds living within Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran are the
largest nationality worldwide without their own state.
Barzani said Tehran and Baghdad were planning to attack the Kurds
whether they conducted the independence vote or not. “If we would have
lost our will, it would have been much bigger than losing some of the
areas temporarily,” he said.
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