Turkey has finally loosened its alliance with the West and ‘turned its focus toward its former Ottoman neighbors in Asia and the Middle East.’ Pursuing this trend, ‘it will be as strategically significant for the balance of power in the region as the emergence of Iran as a preeminent power thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the later destruction of Sunni dominance in Iraq by the US invasion.’

Over the past dew months, Turkey has been signing new agreements with such countries as Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia. These new alliances unmistakably reflect a ‘commonality of political vision,’ as well as ‘joint economic interest.’

This ‘northern tier’ of Middle Eastern states now becomes ‘the principal supplier of natural gas to central Europe once the Nabucco pipeline is completed – thus not only displacing Russia in that role but gradually eclipsing the primacy of Saudi Arabia as a geostrategic kingpin due to its oil reserves.’

Therefore, the US and the West now ‘need to adjust accordingly.’ A different strategy should be crafted with this new Middle Eastern power shift in mind, especially when attempting ‘to mobilize the world for a new round of punitive sanctions against Iran.’

Besides the fact that Russia and China ‘won’t go along in any serious way’ with these sanctions, ‘the much touted “alliance of moderate pro-Western Arab states” is turning out to be a paper tiger.’

Image

Via The Christian Science Monitor