Okaz

NEARLY a month before the expected visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Saudi Arabia, the Middle East does not look at its best. Tehran and its allies, Doha and Ankara, are playing with the region because of the vacuum left behind by the former US President Barak Obama. Despite the efforts by current US President Donald Trump to reposition America in regions that serve its interests to restore the needed balance in terms of strategy and security, the damage done by Obama is heavy and difficult to deal with, especially with the wars the president is facing with the deep state.

The symptoms in the Middle East show that Syria has not healed yet. The Russian concern is met by an Arab understanding, with the exception to Qatar and Turkey. Damascus is an important Arab capital and it should not be neglected any more.

Saudi Arabia is waging a special type of wars. It is trying to restore the national Arab governments to Yemen, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Tunisia. At the same time, they are working hard to protect national security internally and abroad.

Russians at the time are managing their new imperial project, taking advantage of the security vacuum. They do not leave anything for chance when it comes to anything that tampers with their regional security. Their quick deployment in Syria to prevent a possible gas pipeline is just one example. Their vision of development is derived from “controlled democracy”. They do not have the Western model of democracy, but they have created their own unique model that envisaged development, at the same time safeguarding the present and future of the country by preventing all possibilities of chaos. This model can be experimented in Syria, Algeria, Egypt and other Arab states.

Saudi-Russian relations have never been at its best. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, and President Putin managed to use this historic relationship in an unprecedented manner.

It is coincidence that Moscow was the only state capital that stood by Riyadh in one of the biggest storms it faced in the past 80 years.

Moscow had quickly recognized the newborn Saudi state in the Najd region at a time when the great nations of the world were not even looking toward this barren desert country with not resources.

This Soviet stand was important because it gave the Saudi nation political weight internationally. We have to remember here that the Soviet Union was one of the countries that emerged victorious after World War II and became a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Second, Moscow stood against the defamation campaign led by Turkey and Islamic organizations against the rising new power in Najd when it took over Hejaz with the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. They spread rumors that Saudis had destroyed the green dome of the Prophet Mosque in Madinah. That was a huge lie. King Abdul Aziz denied the allegations and called an Islamic summit to reassure the Muslims around the world. The Soviets participated in that summit with a huge Islamic delegation and announced support for the Saudi custodianship over the holy cities.

A third example is the Soviet stand during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The legend of Saudi politics, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, succeeded in convincing the Soviet Union, the greatest ally of Iraq at that time, to stand against the aggression. That stand was a political shock, especially in the backdrop of the cold war rivalry between the two superpowers of the time, Moscow and Washington.

Fourth is their important stand against the open and well-orchestrated campaign against Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Moscow understood the Saudi position and announced its support for Riyadh, while expressing trust in the Saudi judicial system.

The relationship between Riyadh and Moscow will not stop at politics. The historical visit of Putin to Saudi Arabia will pave the way for a special alliance the ground for which was prepared three years ago during a meeting between Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and Putin, and which was inaugurated with King Salman’s visit to Moscow last year. The two countries in the coming years will be the polar of gas and oil in the world and two strategic allies. It is understood that a new power center is being conceived in the womb of current international politics. They also understand that the West is passing through economic and social crises, which means the Western influence in the region is diminishing.