Within Trump's 100 days as President of the United States, the world has entered a period of increasing unpredictability. Global challenges are multiplying, and the international order is visibly under grave threat. President Trump's recent visits to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Vatican City did not focus on any sort of coordination or understanding among Abrahamic religions-Islam, Christianity and Judaism, as is perceived in certain quarters. Conversely, his speech at Riyadh deliberately divided the Arabs and the Muslim world to a point of no return. From the very day one of his Presidency, he showed all the traits of his ultra-nationalist character with a visible bearing of anti-Islamism. However, President Trump might have his own reason which the so-called radical Islamists themselves helped him formulate by resorting to relentless terrorist activities or abetting to the same.
While external players have had a role in destabilising Muslim-majority states, the internal challenge too can hardly be overlooked. The invasion of Afghanistan to oust the hard-line Afghan Taliban has failed to produce a working state even after about two decades. Functional but autocratic regimes were ousted from Iraq and Libya, only to be replaced by a void thereafter filled by chaos and disorder. Syria is another tragedy, where an internal movement to dislodge a strongman was seized upon by external players to fight a grinding proxy war. The result has been over 300,000 dead and the rise of barbaric groups such as the militant Islamic State. Saudi Arabia is killing innocent civilians in Yemen. Palestine and Kashmir continue to be lightning rods with no hope of any solution in the foreseeable future. Obviously, all these scenarios engender a sense of victimhood in Muslim societies, and help extremists exploit people's sentiments.
When the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts have exacerbated sectarian divisions within Islam and while the Saudi-Iranian relationship is at its lowest point, President Trump, a businessman by profession, visited Saudi Arabia not with any other motive but to sell arms worth billions of dollars and arouse anti-Iran feelings among the Arab nations so that arms deal with them could be a continuous process. On the other hand, he visited two other cities to express solidarity with Christianity and Judaism. A sharp contrast indeed!
What about the leaders of other Muslim-majority states including Pakistan (which has an important defense arrangement with Saudi Arabia)? They were just sidelined and even not allowed to speak in the Trump's meeting. However, it seems that Bangladesh could manage a sort of cosmetic relations with the USA. PM Sheikh Hasina had the opportunity to invite President Trump and get a positive response. But that's a different story, not related at all with the geo-political situation of the Middle-East. President Trump has no reason to have a soft corner for Muslim-majority country like Bangladesh, though his shirts and trousers are reportedly made in Bangladesh. Does it matter at all? Those could be made in Vietnam also. Further, it is said that there is no reason for the Bangladeshi leader to be not in the good book of the American President for the simple reason that the relations between Bangladesh prime minister and former secretary Hillary Clinton could not be developed to a cordial level, thanks to Professor Yunus factor. Such reasoning also does not hold good until Bangladesh gets some tangible results in terms trade liberalisation and development of bilateral relations.
On the other hand, Bangladesh has a long history of effective friendly relations with Russia and Iran. While Iran has always been a good friend of Bangladesh, but for the active support from the former Soviet Union in the war of independence, Bangladesh could hardly see the light of freedom. In recent years, the relations with Russia became even more important because of the Russian loan and technical assistance on military modernisation and the first ever nuclear power plant project of Bangladesh. The bilateral relations are mainly based on trade activities, military co-operation, cultural exchange etc. Therefore, despite all the trumpets of President Trump, the bilateral relations of Bangladesh with Iran and with Russia are expected to grow from strength to strength in the coming days.
Notwithstanding all these, America's political strategy towards the Muslims in general and Arabs in particular remains as usual. Trump's position on Iran and Syria is meant to serve further schism in the Muslim world and to cast Iran as a patron of extremism and terrorism. First it was Iraq, and then Libya, and now it's the turn of Iran and Syria to be neutralised by the United States, a strategy highly favourable to Israel and also to Saudi Arabia, but risky enough to lead to another world war. The plain truth is that there can't be any peace in the Middle East without the positive participation of Russia and Iran.
The writer is a former civil
servant and a freelancer. hafeej2002@yahoo.com
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