Archive for the ‘Iran’ Category

U.S. Ready To Talk With Iran On Nuclear Deal : NPR

State Dept. Spokesman Ned Price, seen on Monday, says the Biden administration is willing to talk with Iranian and European officials about the nuclear deal. Kevin Lamarque/AP hide caption

State Dept. Spokesman Ned Price, seen on Monday, says the Biden administration is willing to talk with Iranian and European officials about the nuclear deal.

The United States said on Thursday it was ready to restart diplomacy with Tehran around a nuclear deal sealed between Iran and world powers, but which the Trump administration had abandoned in 2018.

"The United States would accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran's nuclear program," State Department spokesman Ned Price said, referring to the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Germany.

Speaking to reporters on background, two senior State Department officials described two steps that Washington had taken to remove what they said were "obstacles to multilateral diplomacy." The officials said the U.S. had reversed travel restrictions that the Trump administration had put in place on Iranian diplomats at the United Nations. The Biden administration also told the United Nations earlier on Thursday it was rescinding a Trump administration claim that U.N. sanctions against Iran "snapped back" and should be enforced.

Even if the meeting does happen, one of the officials noted, it would not necessarily be a "breakthrough," but it was the first step toward a return to diplomacy.

Earlier on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with major European allies France, Germany and the United Kingdom and reaffirmed President Biden's position that should Iran come back into compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would do the same "and is prepared to engage in discussions with Iran toward that end." Iran insists that the U.S. should return to the deal first before it makes any moves.

The Biden administration moves represent the first significant, if small, steps toward restoring diplomacy on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal sealed during the Obama administration, in which Iran's nuclear program was restricted in exchange for sanctions relief.

The diplomatic offer also comes days ahead of a deadline Iran has set in which it has demanded the Biden administration start reversing sanctions imposed under the Trump administration, or else it would ban snap inspections by the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.

Former President Trump had withdrawn from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. A year later, Iran began breaching commitments made in the deal.

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U.S. Ready To Talk With Iran On Nuclear Deal : NPR

Iran, Israel, China, NATO: High-speed foreign policy; or, manning the phones in interesting times – Liberty Unyielding

This week we learned that Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron by phone on 15 February, an unusual move for foreign policy execution in the modern era. When personal contact between national leaders is a matter of merely picking up the phone, it is not the drama it was in centuries past of envoys and surrogates especially in the case of close allies and great power club members.

According to the readout of the phone call, it was certainly a foreign policy communication:

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke today with President Emmanuel Macron of France, and expressed her commitment to strengthening bilateral ties between the United States and France and to revitalizing the transatlantic alliance. Vice President Harris and President Macron agreed on the need for close bilateral and multilateral cooperation to address COVID-19, climate change, and support democracy at home and around the world.They also discussed numerous regional challenges, including those in the Middle East and Africa, and the need to confront them together. The Vice President thanked President Macron for his leadership on the issue of gender equality and for Frances contribution to NASAs Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

The National Pulse suggests its bizarre for Harris to make such calls this early in the administration. She also spoke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on 1 February.

Trending: How long will the Left put up with Bidens candid observations (aka bigoted comments)?

At the Daily Wire, Amanda Prestigiacomo confirmed that Mike Pence had occasionally, but rarely, made calls for foreign heads of government, and had not done so at all in Trumps final year in office.

On Friday, President Biden himself spoke by online videoconference to the other members of the G7, as they held a virtual summit.

The progress of foreign policy continues to be rapidly away from the normal bounds of expectation in more substantial ways. Theres little point in trying to make these thought transitions gracefully; they arent graceful to begin with, so any such attempt would be mischaracterizing them anyway. We live in interesting times.

In the intertwined matters of Iran, Iraq, the GCC nations, and Israel, the following things have happened in the last week.

Iran gets a boon

On Thursday, the U.S. announced a rescission of the 2020 judgment by Trump that we have the authority to invoke a snapback of Iran sanctions due to Irans non-compliance with the terms of the 2015 JCPOA, or Iran deal.

That Trump decision was based on UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which implemented the JCPOA. UNSCR 2231 has been in force and the U.S. is still a party to it, although Trump pulled us out of the JCPOA in order to reimpose U.S. sanctions on Iran. UNSCR 2231 constituted the authority the Trump administration was using to invoke a snapback.

The import of the snapback, per se, was for nations that did business with Iran, in violation of the UN sanctions. The Trump decision meant that those nations entities companies, banks, individuals could be subject to U.S. sanctions along with Iran.

So the Biden administration has rescinded that decision. The third-party nations no longer face U.S. sanctions if they violate the UN sanctions still invoke-able for breaches of Irans requirements under UNSCR 2231.

This was done so quietly you probably heard nothing about it. It means, of course, that there can be a free-for-all of economic reengagement with Iran by other nations.

At the same time (literally; these reports came out within moments of each other on Thursday), the Biden administration signaled its willingness to hold talks with Iran if the European Union extended an invitation.

And darned if the EU isnt eyeing just such an invitation:

We are ready to show up if such a meeting were to take place, the [U.S.] official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, after talks among the U.S., British, French and German foreign ministers. Earlier, a senior EU official said he was prepared to convene such a meeting among the parties to the deal: Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Go figure. To summarize, Iran has received the major concession of sanctions being lifted on third parties without having to do anything. This concession was obviously worked out among the U.S. and the EU-3.

Here its worth a reminder that one of the first things Iran did after Biden took office was test-launch a rocket with the potential to propel an ICBM, one that could reach not only Western Europe but North America. So maybe Iran did have to do something to win the sanctions concession from the new U.S. administration. Depends on how you look at it.

U.S. reengages with Iran

Good times, good times. But theres more. Iran proxy-engaged the U.S. a few days ago, with a rocket attack on a U.S. compound in Erbil on Monday, 15 February. The attack was claimed by an Iran-backed militia, Saraya Awliya al-Dam, linked to Kataib Hezbollah, a creature of the Iranian Qods Force under Qasem Soleimani. Fourteen rockets reportedly made impact on the compounds facilities, killing a U.S.-employed individual (not a U.S. citizen) and injuring several Americans, including one in uniform.

As Defense One notes, Erbil has been quiet for a number of years now. This was an unusual attack.

In what must be the alliances fastest reaction ever, NATO promptly decided to deploy a force of some 4,000 troops to Iraq. In the context of NATOs recent profile in Iraq, thats a lot of troops.

The 30-member alliance will increase its personnel in Iraq from 500 to around 4,000, The Hill reports, a move to prevent the war-torn country from becoming a breeding ground for terrorists, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced Thursday.

But NATOs not blaming the deployment on Iran. Combatting ISIS, in the wake of an attack claimed by an Iran-sponsored militia, is the justification for putting up to 4,000 NATO troops in Iraq again, after a long hiatus in which European NATO had very little footprint there.

Heres the sequence in The Hill report, stating the justifying event and NATOs rationale for sending troops:

Justification: NATO willexpand its security training mission in Iraqby thousands of troops following adeadly rocket attack on a military air baseearlier this week.

NATO statement: ISIS still operates in Iraq and we need to make sure theyre not able to return, [Jens] Stoltenberg told reporters at the end of a two-day virtual NATO defense ministers meeting.

Without suggesting ISIS is not a problem, this frankly doesnt compute. Rocket attacks of the kind seen in Erbil are very much the pattern of the Iran-backed militias, whereas they are not characteristic of ISIS. Theres nothing in the attack on Erbil to suggest its imperative to mount a preemptive response to ISIS, per se.

But heres what a force of up to 4,000 would do. It would put NATO in a position to perform the service Obama had U.S. troops doing in the period from late 2013 to 2016: providing fire support and air cover for Iran-backed militias in Iraq. As long as those militias were purporting to battle ISIS, the Obama administration actually used U.S. assets to support their seizure and occupation of territory in Iraq. The pattern was marked in the recapture of Tikrit (2015) and Mosul (2016-17), and along the Euphrates Corridor west of Baghdad, especially in Fallujah and Ramadi.

European NATOs alacrity in stepping to the plate on this is inspiring. The Europeans offering to do it relieves the Biden administration of having to employ a large footprint of U.S. troops to accomplish it.

Of course, helping Iran gain territory in Iraq again by proxy does put the Iranian land-bridge vision back in play. Presumably this is considered a feature, not a bug.

Jens Stoltenberg avers that NATOs efforts will now include more Iraqi security institutions and areas beyond Baghdad, though their presence is conditions-based and increases in troop numbers will be incremental.

Yes. Given the relative dearth of ISIS presence in Iraq, the conditions in question are likely to be how thoroughly the pro-Iranian elements in the Iraqi government are able to enforce cooperation with an enterprise to hand Iraqi territory over to Irans effective control.

There are more forms of engagement than are dreamt of in our philosophy. With the out-of-profile NATO move in Iraq, the Biden administration is engaging Iran, as surely as if Kamala Harris had picked up the phone and called Hassan Rouhani. The signal: well give you Iraq, so come talk to us, at the EU-3s table, about what else youd like.

Last to the starting line

It need hardly be added, but shoot-all, Im going to add it anyway: Joe Bidens long-awaited phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu finally took place this past week. The EU-3/NATO gambit with Iran was clearly already lined up. The Biden-Netanyahu call was held on Wednesday 17 February, about 24 hours before the spate of news about U.S. sanctions policy and the NATO reaction to the rocket barrage on Erbil.

An attack of decorum may have put that sequence in the right order, at least. Another one didnt come off so well. Reports on 15 February, based on a disclosure from China, suggested that Bidens Iran envoy, Rob Malley (whom we know as the Hamas Whisperer), had spoken to the Chinese already about U.S. policy on Iran and the Iranian nuclear program. Afterward, when China announced this had happened (in a formal statement from the foreign ministry), the Biden administration declined to discuss it with the media.

We should not kid ourselves. It matters very much that Team Biden discussed and in some ways significantly rearranged policy on Iran with the EU-3 and China before Biden spoke to the prime minister of Israel. Realistic appraisals are essential here. Whats happening is a reset.

In more than passing, we should also note that this is of a piece with the Biden administrations decision to freeze the F-35 sale to UAE, and end U.S. support to Saudi Arabias efforts against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Both of those decisions portend undermining the defensive capabilities of long-time partners in the region against an aggressive, radical Iran.

China, as predicted

There are too many things going on with China to catalogue all of them here. I will focus on just one.

A short while ago, we noted that China was adopting a new law permitting her maritime patrol ships a fleet with the status of a coast guard to fire on foreign vessels in the waters of disputed islands (i.e., the islands China has a claims dispute over), and to attack foreign infrastructure on those islands.

China passed that law, and the Biden administration publicly affirmed U.S. support for Japans claims on the disputed Senkaku Islands, near Taiwan, just before the coup took place in Burma/Myanmar. In the mix at the time, Chinese bomber aircraft ostentatiously communicated about targeting USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) as the carrier entered the South China Sea on 23 January 2021.

China has since wasted no time in beginning to probe the firmness of the Biden administrations intentions on the Senkakus.

On 6 February, Chinese maritime patrol ships entered the waters off the Senkaku Islands in pursuit of Japanese fishing vessels operating there. Nikkei Asia carried a Kyodo report that this was the eighth day in a row on which such Chinese ships had entered Senkaku waters, but this interaction appeared to be noteworthy because of the engagement with fishing vessels.

On 16 February, another report indicated that Chinese ships harassed Japanese vessels in the Senkakus, and this time one of the Chinese ships had an autocannon on the deck. I take that to mean a large-caliber machine gun not permanently mounted, which would be in keeping with the profile of Chinas gray-zone maritime patrol fleet. (Ships of several types function in this role, and they are all civilian-type hulls.)

China means to probe and harass Japan, of course. But as this escalates, it is clearly a test for the Biden administration as well.

Speaking of China

A final note. Emmanuel Macron has spoken to others besides Kamala Harris recently. In an interview with Financial Times, published on 18 February just before the G7 summit, Macron had this to say about NATO, and in particular its relevance and purpose:

I am a defender of European sovereignty, of strategic autonomy, not because Im against Nato or because I doubt our American friends, but because I am lucid on the state of the world, because I think we need a fair sharing of the burden and Europe cannot delegate its protection and the protection of its neighbourhood to the USA and so we have to do it together.

Nato still needed to be reinvented, he added. Nobody can tell me that todays Nato is a structure that, in its foundations, is still pertinent. It was founded to face down the Warsaw Pact. There is no more a Warsaw Pact.

Steven Erlanger, international affairs reporter for the New York Times, thought this odd.

NATO, Erlanger points out, was built to face down Moscow. And Moscow remains ambitious and nuclear.

NATO was formed six years before the Warsaw Pact, for those keeping track. So Macron was a bit poorly briefed in that exchange,

But on the larger point, I find Erlangers instincts good. Macrons assertion raises the question: if a nuclear-armed Russia is not an adversary worthy of being countered with a prepared alliance what is a nuclear-armed Russia? How do we define that entity as a geopolitical presence?

And that raises the possibly more urgent question: what is a nuclear-armed China?

On the Russia question theres at least a legacy framework to deviate from. The second question, we have yet to truly pursue in a systematic and corporate way. There is no bedrock alliance with a common view on it, save the treaty-bound U.S. and Japan, which largely agree on the matter.

China has been exploiting the heck out of that, from the Americas to Europe and back to the Middle East and South Asia. Xi Jinping doesnt look like slacking off any time soon.

And that thought-experiment brings us to the third obvious question the one that, surprisingly, may matter the most. If France is not an enthusiastic, committed member of NATO, what, then, is a nuclear-armed France?

Oh, Im well aware of the history of France as a nuclear power, with her force de frappe and her carefully preserved national prerogatives within NATO. But that thinking is from 50-60 years ago, when there was no question what we thought the USSR was, and no question that NATO was the essential project of a Europe with a common purpose.

And that context is no longer what were talking about. Even the most committed proponents of NATO know that.

One of Erlangers Twitter correspondents posted an interesting map depicting his concept of a sort of rump NATO, comprising the European nations that still see a threat from Moscow.

Without, as always, meaning to pick on him, the immediate thought in my mind is that if Im China looking at that map or Russia, for that matter defining what a nuclear-armed, free-radical France is would shoot to the very top of my to-do list, if the map got even close to becoming reality.

Might it? I recommend not dismissing what a French president says on the record, as if it doesnt matter.

Interesting times. Its a good thing we have Kamala Harris manning (womanning?) the phones.

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Iran, Israel, China, NATO: High-speed foreign policy; or, manning the phones in interesting times - Liberty Unyielding

State Dept Refuses to Explain Iran Envoys Talks with China

The State Department is refusing to provide details or even confirm statements by the Chinese government indicating the U.S.-Iran envoy Robert Malley recently spoke to Communist Party officials about the Biden administrations efforts to reenter the 2015 nuclear accord.

Chinese vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu "had a phone conversation with U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley at the latter's request, and the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the Iranian nuclear issue," Chinas foreign ministry announced late last week.

When asked to confirm the press release and provide further details about Malleys conversations, the State Department ignored multiple Washington Free Beacon emails before stating on Sunday, "Special Envoy Rob Malley is in the early stages of engaging Members of Congress, allies, partners, and others." The State Department would not provide any details when pressed to specifically address the talks with China. Normally, the State Department provides reporters with readouts of conversations held by senior U.S. diplomats with their counterparts, particularly if those talks are held at the request of the United States.

Malleys diplomatic talks with China come as the Biden administration is pressing Iran to end its revamped nuclear work, which includes stockpiling highly enriched uranium, the primary fuel for a nuclear weapon. China is still party to the 2015 accord and has a vested interest in seeing the United States rejoin the agreement. It is a primary ally of the Iranian regime and has supported the rollback of a United Nations arms ban on Tehran, which would permit the Communist Party and nations like Russia to sell Iran billions in advanced arms.

Malleys overtures to China on the Iran portfolio appear to be at odds with Secretary of State Anthony Blinkens repeated promises to not pursue diplomacy with Tehran until it rolls back its nuclear work and proves it is in compliance with the restrictions placed on its program as part of the agreement. The State Departments silence on Malleys meeting could be an indication the Biden administrations public statements on the deal are at odds with its private diplomacy on the matter.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Free Beacon the State Department's silence is a troubling sign.

"While I understand diplomacy sometimes happens behind closed doors, its troubling the State Department is refusing to confirm or deny this call took place when the Chinese Communist Party has already announced it did," McCaul said. "Hopefully this was just an introductory call, but if that is the case I dont understand why the State Department wouldnt acknowledge the call and let the American people know what was discussed."

McCaul also confirmedspeaking with Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, but not Malleycontrary to the State Department's statement to the Free Beacon.

Iranian officials said during the weekend that the country is poised to further block access to international nuclear inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran is taking this step as part of a pressure campaign to force Western nations into granting it sanctions relief. In addition to booting IAEA inspectorswho recently found that Iran is producing uranium metal in violation of the accordIran plans to increase its enrichment of uranium and install advanced centrifuges, machinery that enriches uranium to levels needed for a weapon.

Iran also plans tosuspendits cooperation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a nuclear arms pact, by the end of the month.

Updated 5:15 p.m. to include comment from Rep. Michael McCaul.

Adam Kredo is senior writer reporting on national security and foreign policy matters for the Washington Free Beacon. An award-winning political reporter who has broken news from across the globe, Kredos work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary Magazine, the Drudge Report, and the Jerusalem Post, among many others. His Twitter handle is @Kredo0. His email address is kredo@freebeacon.com.

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State Dept Refuses to Explain Iran Envoys Talks with China

Iran, Russia Start Naval Drill In Indian Ocean

Iran and Russia have embarked on a joint naval drill in the northern part of the Indian Ocean that they say has been designed to "enhance the security" of maritime trade in the region, Iranian state media reported.

State television said on February 16 that the exercise dubbed Maritime Security Belt will cover an area of about 17,000 square kilometers and include units from the Iranian Navy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, and the Russian Navy.

Iranian Rear Admiral Gholamreza Tahani said its purpose was to "enhance the security of international maritime trade, confront maritime piracy and terrorism, and exchange information."

The Indian Navy will also join the exercise, in a message of "peace and friendship for neighboring and regional countries," Tahani said.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that the drill was scheduled to last three days.

This is the second joint Russian-Iranian naval exercise since December 2019, when the two countries plus China held a drill in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman.

Iran and China also participated in military exercises held in Russia in September 2020.

Tehran has been seeking to step up military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow amid tensions with the United States.

Iran has also increased its military drills in recent weeks as tensions built during the final days of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Tehran is now trying to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration to reenter a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Last week, the IRGC conducted a ground forces drill in the southwest of Iran near the Iraqi border.

Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear pact in 2018 and reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran.

In response to the U.S. moves, which were accompanied by increased tensions between Iran, the United States, and its allies, Tehran has gradually breached parts of the pact saying it is no longer bound by it.

The Biden administration has expressed willingness to return to compliance with the accord if Iran does, and then work with U.S. allies and partners on a "longer and stronger" agreement, including other issues such as Irans missile program and its support for regional proxy forces.

Iranian officials insist that the United States should make the first move by returning to the agreement, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

They also say that the country's missile program and regional policies are off the table.

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Iran, Russia Start Naval Drill In Indian Ocean

Iran, Russia, China, Turkey celebrate ‘collapse’ of US – The Jerusalem Post

Authoritarian regimes throughout the world are pushing narratives that appear to gloat over and celebrate that chaos unfolding in the United States. On Monday, Irans media pushed stories that highlighted the collapse, while quoting Russian sources portraying that the US is flailing about as its world order comes crashing down.The US became the worlds most powerful country, a global hegemonic superpower, after the Soviet Union and its client states fell apart in 1989. However, Russia, China, Iran and increasingly Turkey have all awaited the period when the world would become multi-polar again. They have sought to work more closely together, and they have sat frequently at global forums that the US does not attend. To coordinate efforts against the US, these countries all have state media that is well funded, such as RT, TRT, Irans Tasnim and Fars News and numerous Chinese media outlets. The policies of these countries are to slowly undermine the US and wait for moments of US weakness to push their agendas.The leadership in Turkey and Iran view their goal as undermining the US through a more religious lens linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Muslim Brotherhood that influences Tehran and Ankara respectively. Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdoan sought to capitalize on the recent riots in the US, claiming that America is part of an unjust order in the world. Irans former president made similar comments about the declining US order. This is a reference to the concept of the axis of resistance in Iran, and the defeat of US arrogance. Ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran of 1979, there had been a call for a third way between the US and Soviet Union in the 1980s that would bring about the defeat of Western systems and the rise of political Islam rooted in Tehran and then in Ankara.Ankara is a nominal US ally, but it has drifted away and signed deals to acquire Russias S-400 anti-missile defense system. It seeks to partition Syria with Iran and Russia. Turkey and Iran coordinate in efforts against Israel and both support Hamas. They broadly work together against other US partners, such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt.Now the protests in the US and the COVID-19 crisis have made Washington appear to be declining rapidly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US was now having to deal with its police misconduct and said the US compared unfavorably with Russia. Thank God things that happen in America do not happen in [Russia], he said, according to Russias TASS media. Aleksey Pushkov, a senator in Russias parliament and an expert on foreign policy, argued on Twitter that the US is crumbling. He said that US withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria, Turkey ordered the US to leave and attacked US Kurdish allies, was an example of American decline.He also tweeted that the US crumbling due to COVID-19 and the inability of the US to help Europe or its allies at the peak of the pandemic. He said America has been on a hysterical tirade against China and now faces an internal schism and racial rebellion.Iran was pleased with Pushkovs words, writing an article about them at Tasnim as if to affirm the Iranian regimes own view. Meanwhile, Irans IRGC said it was stronger than ever and that it was resisting the pharaonic, dictatorial, terrorist United States.Turkey has mobilized all its state media propaganda resources against the US. TRT's headlines are directed at bashing the US as part of a state-controlled effort run by Ankara. It has an opinion piece on its homepage about US corporations looting black communities, an obvious and ironic title designed to make it appear that it is US businesses looting people, as opposed to protesters doing the looting, thus making it seem like a normal form of resistance. Turkey supports the protests, but suppresses dissent at home just like China, Iran and Russia. TRT highlights police brutality in the US even though it never critiques police brutality in Turkey.The goal of Turkey, Iran, China and Russia during the current US crises is to use it to their advantage to press gains. Turkey has been flooding Libya with weapons and Syrian mercenaries during the crisis. China has pushed up against India in a border dispute. Iran is flexing its muscles at home and sending tankers to Venezuela. Russia has sent warplanes to Libya and Syria.Meanwhile, all these countries want to leverage the economic crisis of the pandemic to their advantage. Turkey is designing a new fighter jet that Russias media heralds as a possible replacement for the F-16. Russia is pushing its defense systems, and Turkey wants to work with Iran, Malaysia and Pakistan to improve economic relations and expand its role in the Mediterranean.Concern over the rise of these countries has led to other countries scrambling to counter-balance. Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, the UAE and France as seeking to counter Turkeys growing role in the Mediterranean. Globally, US allies are concerned that the chaos in the US, where the US military is now being deployed, could represent a decline of US ability to concentrate abroad. That will mean all those that have been waiting for the US to reduce its footprint will be running to fill the vacuum. Already, Russia and Iran are running toward Afghanistan, and Turkey and Russia are sponging up Libya. The race is on, the scramble to grab up properties as the US appears to teeter. From eastern Libya to Afghanistan to Asia and Africa, everywhere the US may appear weak, the adversaries are preparing. The big four China, Russia, Turkey and Iran are poised to exploit and emerge stronger. Where once George Bush Sr. spoke of a new world order, now these countries want to bury that US world order amid the chaos.

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Iran, Russia, China, Turkey celebrate 'collapse' of US - The Jerusalem Post