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Opinion


AMERICA CAN BENEFIT FROM THE NEW MIDDLE EAST | OPINION

Joshua Jahani , lecturer at Cornell University and New York University
On 3/25/21 at 1:30 PM EDT

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Opinion Iran Middle East Joe Biden UAE


President Joe Biden's first moves in the Middle East—bombing Iran-backed
militias in Syria, trying to resuscitate and broaden the Iran deal and releasing
a controversial and inconclusive report on journalist Jamal Khashoggi—neglect
the bigger picture of a region that is leading the world out of the pandemic.

The Gulf states and Israel in particular provide an opportunity for the U.S. to
participate in a global economy that will be more centered on the Middle East
than it was before the coronavirus. This future must be a cornerstone of U.S.
policy.

COVID has threatened the mature economies of the U.S. and Europe, accelerated
China's inevitable rise and given opportunity to the region's often more agile
and adaptable countries.



There are few countries in the world who have (almost) put the pandemic behind
them and are on good terms with both the U.S. and China. Those are the countries
who are set to lead the world in the 21st century. They are almost exclusively
in the Middle East.

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The rise of the Middle East as a gateway between the U.S. and China presents an
opportunity for Biden to re-engage with Beijing through the neutral soil of
Israel and the Gulf states. Biden should not be afraid of celebrating and
building on the diplomatic progress achieved under the Trump administration
through the end of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rift and the Abraham
Accords.

Increased diplomatic and commercial links in the region—and its resilience in
the face of the pandemic—reaffirm Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman's 2018 statement that the Middle East can become the "new Europe."



COVID may be the milestone where this possibility became more apparent,
especially as Europe struggles to form a coherent pandemic exit strategy.

Being the "new Europe" is something that Middle Eastern leaders are
understandably motivated by, particularly in light of their relations with both
D.C. and Beijing. The middle ground that Europe was for the Soviet-U.S. Cold
War, the Middle East is for the China-U.S. relationship—geographically,
politically and economically.

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It is a position the Middle East is poised to exploit: While the pandemic has
significantly impacted the U.S.' major cities, the Middle East has evolved
through it. The region's investments in technology, infrastructure and growth
have positioned it to be the new gateway between East and West.

Rather than continue to fight yesterday's conflicts and ignore today's
achievements—perhaps focused on distancing himself from former President Donald
Trump's policies—Biden should craft policy based on the reality that the Middle
East is transitioning from a 20th century defined by conflict to a 21st century
where the Silk Road is once again the social, economic, cultural and political
center of the world.


This picture shows an aerial view of the Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai, with the
man-made Palm Jumeirah archipelago seen in the background. KARIM SAHIB/AFP via
Getty Images

This is a future into which the Middle East is rapidly progressing. Three of the
top seven countries with the most vaccinations are in the Middle East, namely
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Israel and Bahrain. In addition to a successful
vaccination campaign, total death rates in these countries and others in the
region from COVID have remained low.

All this while key industries, including tourism, have often remained open. This
success is not a coincidence; it is the result of long-term forward thinking and
planning.



Saudi Arabia has been working to almost triple its non-oil revenues and is
investing billions into futuristic cities like NEOM and "The Line." The UAE
successfully completed a mission to Mars during the pandemic and recently
announced plans to nearly double Dubai's population, all while commentators in
London and New York discuss the "death of cities."

Gulf economies also benefit from a low debt to GDP ratio, which will allow them
to maintain growth while more developed and leveraged economies struggle in the
wake of the pandemic. The U.S. currently has a debt to GDP ratio of over 100
percent; in Saudi Arabia and the UAE the debt to GDP ratio is closer to 30
percent, meaning those governments will have spending power well into the future
for public and private projects.

China is busy building deeper links in the region, where doing business is more
important than talking politics. It is important to Biden's legacy that U.S.
policy makers and investors do the same, and foster both cultural and economic
connections to the new Middle East.



To this day, many political and business leaders in the U.S. are driven by
impulses that impacted actions between them and the Middle East at the start of
the millennium. Twenty years on, the region's leaders and populations are
looking to the future, not the past.

The White House must do the same—and accept that young, less populated countries
have dealt with the pandemic better than the U.S. It must also adapt to the rise
of China, by utilizing the Middle East's neutral ground to increase cooperation
with Beijing.

It's high time an American president looked to the Middle East for its
entrepreneurship, adaptability and its e-governance, as well as its oil.



Joshua Jahani is a lecturer at Cornell University and New York University, and a
board advisor at the investment bank Jahani and Associates specializing in the
Middle East and Africa.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

Request Reprint & Licensing, Submit Correction or view Editorial Guidelines








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