China is about to eat America’s lunch in the Middle East
By: Rachel Marsden
PARIS — China signed a 25-year, $400 billion cooperation agreement with Iran
late last month that could result in Chinese bases in the Middle East and
increase Beijing’s global economic hegemony. All because the Washington
establishment couldn’t bring itself to stop drinking its own anti-Iran Kool-Aid.
There are few special-interest causes in Washington as persistent as the
anti-Iran lobby. Journalists are regularly bombarded with rhetorically loaded
press releases, statements and op-eds from think tanks and former establishment
fixtures about the so-called dangers of even engaging with the Iranian “regime”
— which would simply be labeled a “government” if these insiders weren’t so
hell-bent on marginalizing Tehran because perhaps one day it could have nukes.
Meanwhile, these same anti-Iran critics — better known as neoconservatives,
whose identity is rooted in 1960s leftist interventionism, which has now
infected both sides of the political aisle — don’t seem to mind that Iran is
surrounded by foes that are already well-equipped in that regard. Israel has
nuclear weapons, and it’s widely assumed that Saudi Arabia does, too.
Look, if the Iranians ever did manage to develop a nuclear weapon, it’s not like
Iran could ever use it without being turned into a parking lot by the U.S. and
Israel. Why does everyone in Washington assume that Iran is that suicidal?
Neoconservatives probably don’t believe that. They’re simply naive, or
misinformed, or deliberately lying, or in the pocket of special interests funded
by one Iran’s regional foes.
While Washington has kowtowed to neocon puppets and their foreign
string-pullers, China has been busy stealing America’s lunch. Iran has long been
a key part of China’s plan to expand its economic imperialism through its Belt
and Road Initiative. Blocking China from making this move would have been as
easy as a 5-year-old placing an “X” at the end of a row in a game of
tic-tac-toe. With regard to Iran, America has scored an own goal in its ongoing
matchup with China.
Why doesn’t China care about Iran’s nuclear potential as much as the U.S. does?
Some might answer that China isn’t a target of Iran’s ire, while America is. But
why is the U.S. so much more fearful of Iran when it’s on the opposite side of
the planet, whereas China, which is almost next door, not only shrugs it off but
considers Iran a potential military partner?
Iran could have become a strategic partner of the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks. Most of the terrorists responsible for those attacks were
from Saudi Arabia, which is Iran’s sworn enemy. Instead, the U.S. buddied up to
the nation from which most of the terrorists hailed, invaded Afghanistan and
overstayed its welcome so long that Iran started to think that it was turning
into a foreign occupation.
China doesn’t have the same complicated history of Middle East military
adventurism, which the U.S. has long used as a lever to pry open the door to the
ultimate goal of expanding its economic footprint. Ginning up conflict, crying
about the humanitarian need for military intervention, then going in and
overthrowing the bad guy and installing a puppet who’ll help the U.S. conduct
business there and turn a profit: That’s the well-worn blueprint. China is
upending that model by going straight to the last step.
Not only will China benefit from doing business with a resource-rich nation with
an educated population whose literacy rate has exploded in recent years, but it
will create a new foothold for China — not just economically but militarily.
Have U.S. leaders considered the full implications of this? China and Russia,
whose space agencies are linked to their militaries, announced plans last month
to build a joint base on the moon. What makes anyone think they won’t cooperate
with Iran to counter the many U.S. bases in the Middle East?
Normalizing relations with Iran in light of the existential threat of Chinese
economic dominance was one of the few praise-worthy accomplishments of former
President Barack Obama’s administration. Then, Donald Trump canceled Obama’s
Iran policy when Trump bought into the neocon propaganda himself. It’s
inexcusable that establishment Washington is still giving in to the warped
mindset of neocons, to the detriment of much more critical American interests.
COPYRIGHT 2021 RACHEL MARSDEN