July 22, 2022: Global News Roundup
US Government escalates conflicts overseas as crisis of legitimacy deepens at home
The Global News Roundup collects news stories from entirely international (non-US) media sources on global political and economic issues and events.
This week, with domestic problems mounting, the US Government continued to stoke tensions abroad, further hardening the international alliances that will shape global politics for the foreseeable future.
On his Middle East tour President Biden stopped in Israel and signed the Jerusalem US-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration alongside Israeli PM Yair Lapid. The Declaration is intended to emphasize the “unbreakable bond between the US and Israel”, said US Ambassador Tom Nides. Combined with Biden’s extensive efforts to cozy up to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Sultan (i.e. the oil quid pro quo), the overtures to Israel drew the ire of Iranian leadership, stoking fears of a regional war as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to limit Iranian nuclear capacity also stalled. Iranian state news reported: “The Biden administration appears to be eager to show that its relationship with Saudi Arabia has benefits far beyond oil, with Biden making strenuous efforts to mend fences with the kingdom's leadership… Noteworthy that before the beginning of Biden's regional tour there were reports on the Joint efforts of Tel Aviv and Washington to create an anti-Iran regional alliance with some Arab states.” The South China Morning Post reported that “the Biden administration is discussing the possible lifting of its ban on US sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia”, even as the Saudis played both sides, simultaneously increasing oil imports from Russia (Saudi Arabia burns heavily discounted, sanctioned Russian oil at home which frees up the more expensive, unsanctioned Saudi oil for export to the US and elsewhere).
For its part, Iran, which has been subject to US sanctions on and off for decades, was busy shoring up its own alliances, including working to finalize its membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and meeting with leaders from Russia and Turkey in Tehran this week. At the meeting, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asserted the legitimacy of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in a comment to President Putin: “War is a violent and difficult endeavor, and the Islamic Republic is not at all happy that people are caught up in war. But in the case of Ukraine, if you had not taken the helm, the other side would have done so and initiated a war."
Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the US committed to selling to Ukraine four additional US-made precision-guided rockets (HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, manufactured by Lockheed Martin) to use against Russian forces. The US is also negotiating weapons sales to European countries fearful of Russian incursions, including Estonia and Norway. And, after Turkey dropped its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, the US “indicated a new willingness to sell Turkey upgraded F-16 fighter jets”, which are also manufactured by Lockheed, reports the Middle East Eye. After some signs from the US that the sale would be predicated on Turkey’s commitment to not use the jets to violate Greek airspace, the Daily Sabah reported that there will be no conditions on the sale after all.
The US was also busy in the Asia-Pacific region this week. On July 16, a US navy destroyer made another pass through the South China Sea near the disputed Spratly Islands, and on July 19 the USS Benfold passed through the Taiwan Strait, an apparent response to China’s claiming of the waterway as its own territory last month, a claim which is disputed by Taiwan. “The back-to-back transits have angered China, which had called the U.S. naval activities ‘an escalated provocation’”, reported IBT. The US also announced its fourth arms sale of 2022 to Taiwan last Friday. “The US' strategic goal is very clear now, which is to contain China's development. This means the promises that the US made during high-level talks are not trustworthy, and it will bound to continue provoke China on China's core interests including the Taiwan question…”, concluded military expert Song Zhongping in the CCP-controlled Global Times.
Things I’m keeping an eye on:
1. US bellicosity, including arms sales, military exercises, and the potential for more proxy wars.
2. Increasingly open and explicit coordination between Iran, China, and Russia on security, trade, and finance, and the US response. So far, the US has been very slow to adapt to the new geopolitical landscape and appears to still be fighting (rather impotently) to maintain the old one.
3. European energy situation: Some good news here—the Nordstream 1 pipeline came back online as scheduled (phew), at the same levels (about 40%) in place prior to the maintenance shutdown. The situation is still pretty uncertain, though it sure could have been worse this week and I’m grateful it wasn’t. In related news, Gazprom, the Russian state-owned natural gas giant, indicated that it will be unable to meet it’s contractual obligations to at least one major European client. Europe’s energy demand also rose this week as a severe heatwave covered much of the region.
4. Ongoing mass protests around the world. I’ve covered some of these in previous posts (e.g. Ecuador, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, China). Seems that there are more countries experiencing protests and more grievances being articulated every day, including high food and fuel prices, housing and mortgage issues, covid policies, and government corruption. I’m keeping an eye on government responses too, including concessions and compromises, but also crackdowns, censorship, and other efforts to quash dissent.