Trump has pressed the detonator…
The most opportunistic American president in U.S. history, Donald Trump, has turned the White House into a farmyard. His latest blunder is to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and order the construction of a U.S. embassy building in the city considered a sacred site for three monotheistic religions. Is he too mutton-headed to see the consequences of taking such an action? Has he not been informed by an army of advisors, or briefed by that famous American establishment, of the consequences that could be unleashed by walking such a path?
Pandora’s Box has been opened up. While Trump fancies himself a “president of action,” the world is more likely to remember him as the worst U.S. president ever: A man who pressed the countdown switch to the mother all bombs. A man who set fire to his own country, Israel and the entire Muslim geography.
When will the bomb explode? What will the end-result of such an explosion be? Could collaboration between Trump’s son-in-law and a Saudi prince avert disaster by using the fragile situation to launch a comprehensive peace plan that aspires to settle a two-state deal? Could they turn the explosion into a force for the good, bringing peace to the Middle East?
Are we naïve enough to believe Trump’s Jerusalem move serves peace efforts in the Middle East? Will it not set the region and the world on fire again? Is anyone shallow enough to expect Palestinians and Muslims to rejoice over the American decision to recognize Jerusalem, including the occupied Palestinian territory, as Israel’s capital?
Will Trump survive long enough in the White House to see the completion of the U.S. embassy building in Jerusalem? Most probably not. He and his evangelist vice president obviously want to play on the religion card to boost his presidential rating. Will they succeed? Is he reckless enough to make the world explode simply because he wants to improve his standing at home?
“The world is bigger than five” is one of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s worst pieces of populist rhetoric. This rhetoric reflects the world’s frustration with an international system permanently held hostage by the permanent members of the Security Council. But how could one of the permanent five of the U.N. Council act so recklessly as to trample on U.N. decisions? Has the act not significantly undermined the U.N.’s legitimacy.
The decisions made at the Istanbul summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), called by term president Turkey, could shine a light on the path ahead. Can the U.S. stay loyal to the Saudis, Egyptians or any other Muslim government after such a devilish action?
Who will gain from this crisis? Israel? The U.S.? Iran, Russia and beyond? What does “beyond” mean? A new Eurasian alliance featuring Russia, China and India, the lions of the Middle East and North Africa, with the tigers of the East?
“Null and void” is Ankara’s clichéd response to whatever international development angers Turkey’s elected sultan or large segments of the Turkish society. Does such an odd statement actually mean anything? Neither the OIC, nor Russia, nor even the U.N. has made a “null and void” statement, which means it cannot mean much, unless action supports the words. The “law of the powerful” dominates “international law.”
No one can dismiss Trump’s Jerusalem move as “null and void.” And even if someone does, their words mean little. A bomb has been placed at the heart of the international system. The detonator switch has been pressed. A countdown has begun and a blast is unavoidable. In the ashes of the blast a new world will arise. A world built on blood, sorrow and tears. That is the consequence of Trump’s Jerusalem move.