Stalled dialogues risk turning Middle East into ‘failed region’
By Seyed Hossein Mousavian
International
affairs analyst
One of the primary reasons for the increasing complexity and danger in the Middle East is the weakness of the United Nations Security Council. This council, as the highest authority responsible for ensuring international peace, stability, and security, has unfortunately performed very weakly in fulfilling its commitments and duties, to the extent that it has become an ineffective entity. The Security Council’s role in ending the numerous wars in the Middle East over the past decades—such as the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO’s intervention in Libya, or Saudi Arabia’s attack on Yemen—has been virtually nonexistent.
When the highest authority responsible for ensuring global peace and security becomes ineffective, the second option is the global powers, which can end crises through their initiatives and cooperation. Unfortunately, part of the Middle East’s problems is due to the competition among these global powers, which has entangled the region in instability and prolonged wars, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, followed by the US invasion of Afghanistan.
The third problem is the imprudence and disputes among regional powers. While the region is on the brink of collapse, regional powers like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, and Turkey do not have serious dialogue and cooperation to solve the problems. Worse, some of the problems are due to the competition among these regional powers. These three voids have put the region on the verge of destruction.
Page 7