US, Israel building a ring of fire around Iran: Former American diplomat

By J. Michael Springmann

In my view, the basis for Jared Kushner's trips to the Middle East can be divided into two parts:

One,  of course, is his support for Israel and his efforts to end the Palestinian problem for the Israelis by getting Arab states to disavow support for the Palestinians and to ensure that their interests -- their rulers' interests, rather -- are best served by trade and diplomatic deals with the Israelis. The Apartheid Entity has been working for years to establish relationships with the United Arab Emirates, and, apparently, from what I've seen, they've been trying to do the same thing with a number of other countries in  the region. Certainly, there's been plenty of cooperation between the Israelis and the Saudis. It wasn't that long ago that the Saudis permitted EL AL overflights to India, and they permitted the overflight of the plane carrying Israeli officials and Jared Kushner along with US national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former U.S. envoy for Iran Brian Hook, and envoy for Middle Eastern affairs Avi Berkowitz to the United Arab Emirates.

But, Two, I think the major point of all this, for the which Palestinian problem is simply a cover, is that Trump is reacting to his repeated defeats in the United Nations.  He is attempting to put more sanctions on Iran and trying a snapback of the weapons sanctions against Iran that are going to expire in October, just next month. So I think what they're trying to do is show Trump is opposing Iran and bypassing the United Nations, bypassing the wishes of many Americans.  Although I think there are too many Americans who support Israel and its goals.

The  real issue is to ring Iran with a group of hostile Arab States under the flag of Israel, with United States and Saudi Arabia support. Certainly the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council, set up by the Saudis back, I think, in the 1980s, comprises some of the most repressive, repulsive and medieval governments in the world. And they oppress their own people. They object to any kind of democracy. They object to giving any kind of aid and comfort to their Shia populations. And they all detest and despise Iran and will do anything to harm Iran. And Trump and Israel are  working hard to present a United Front against Iran throughout the Arabian Peninsula. You've got American bases, of course, in Kuwait, and in Bahrain - the home of the Fifth Fleet, which has no business being in the Persian Gulf. So, I think you're going to see American bases or Arab bases all along the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, and they're all going to be aimed at Iran. Certainly, at Al Udeid Air Base, there's some 10,000 American servicemen and it has runways long enough for the largest American bombers like the antiquated B52. So the whole purpose, then , is to ring Iran with fire, either American fire or Israeli and Arab fire. I can't see how any Arab states can do this but then these are not Arab states. They're statelets. They are leftover from the British occupation of the region in the 19th century, and they are basically lines drawn on the map rather than real countries. Prior to discovering oil, the primary basis for their economies was pearl diving.

So, I think that you're forging  alliances with countries that are divorced from their own people. Hopefully, in the future, the people will rise up against their oppressive rulers and put an end to this nonsense the American  cooked up. Unfortunately, now, the  program seems to be going very well and Kushner and company are bragging that they assume more Arab states will be joining the United Arab Emirates.  Obviously you'll see Saudi Arabia in there.  While they  have been coy about what their plans, they are the controlling force in the region and they've been negotiating secretly with the Israelis for years. I think that they will eventually get control 0of the entire Peninsula, with the exception of Yemen, that the Saudis and the UAE have not yet destroyed. Unfortunately,  it's a very bad future from a very bad scenario.  We can only hope that the people will rise up in the Persian Gulf countries and overthrow their corrupt,  incompetent, illegitimate governments, thus putting an end to this (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council.

Kushner tours Arab states to push for more normalization deals with Israel

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, is on a tour of Persian Gulf Arab countries to push them follow in the UAE

J. Michael Springmann is a former American diplomat, and political commentator based in Washington, DC.  He had formerly worked at the US Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration and as a diplomat with the US Department of State. He had been assigned to Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in Washington, DC.  

He’s the author of two books, Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked the World: An Insider's View and Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos?: Merkel's Migrant Bomb.

He recorded this article for Press TV website.

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