Debate about the war in Iran, with Turkish Diplomat, Dr. Melih Demirtas, AnewZ
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Does Abraham Accord Mark a Middle Eastern Paradigm Shift or is It Gulf States’ Short-Term Strategy?

Sputnik News Agency
The UAE and Bahrain have become the third and fourth Arab nations to reconcile with Israel: on 13 August, Abu Dhabi confirmed its willingness to normalise relations with the Jewish state, while on 11 September, Manama jumped on the bandwagon. International observers have discussed how the agreements may affect the balance of power in the region.
On Tuesday, two Gulf monarchies, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, are due to sign the Abraham Accord, a formal peace treaty with Israel, at the White House. US President Donald Trump, who brokered the deal, will preside over the signing ceremony.
Abraham Accord Presents a New Alternative for the Region
“The agreement is very significant”, says Dr Nir Boms, a research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University. “I think it will be deeper than the previous agreements in comparison with what we have with Egypt or Jordan. It will be deeper because it’s not just a political agreement – it’s an agreement that has a very strong civic component to it”.
Boms highlights that the groundwork for the peace accords with the two Gulf monarchies was laid over recent years: “The normalization that is now attributed to Abraham has always existed: over 5,000 Israel companies have already been operating in the Gulf”, he says.
Continue readingThe Unraveling Islamic Republic
Iran’s power posturing is designed to disguise the fact that the country is weakening from within.
The recent unrest in Iran has confirmed what many attuned to domestic conditions in the Islamic Republic have long known: that an explosion was not a matter of if, but of when.
The destructive reach of the Islamic Republic of Iran from Africa to South America and via Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq is hardly disputed. Yet this destructive influence serves the hesitance of many in the West to confront what appears as a strong and threatening regime. The riots and demonstration may have faded – but not the realities that created them. And this might provide an important policy lesson: Islamic regime’s power posturing is designed to hide its true weaknesses.
Iran’s economy is in shambles. The days of high oil prices are long gone, and national resources are almost depleted. Despite the JCPOA – an agreement aimed at opening the Iranian market to international investors – Iran’s economy remains in stagflation, with very little prospects for improvement in sight. Iran’s military is over-extended in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, putting further strain on the limited available resources. Inefficient economic policies and endemic corruption waists the rest of the available resources leaving very little for the masses.
In the months and weeks leading up to the current protests, thousands had already taken to the streets in most major cities in the country, demanding an answer to these deficiencies and corruptions.