{"id":41886,"date":"2019-12-10T07:22:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T07:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41886"},"modified":"2019-12-10T07:22:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T07:22:20","slug":"dick-cheney-upcoming-decade-bleak-if-us-adopts-disengagement-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41886","title":{"rendered":"Dick Cheney: Upcoming decade bleak if US adopts \u2018disengagement\u2019 policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nDUBAI:\u00a0Dick Cheney, one of the most influential vice presidents in US history, has warned that \u201cAmerican disengagement\u201d from the Middle East would only benefit Iran and Russia.<\/p>\n

\nThe 78-year-old politician\u2019s warning came during a speech at the Arab Strategy Forum (ASF) in Dubai, an annual event in which the world\u2019s leading decision-makers address global challenges and opportunities in \u201ca precise, balanced and politically scientific manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nCheney\u2019s remarks could be seen as indirect criticism of US President Donald Trump\u2019s pledges to pull forces out of northern Syria.<\/p>\n

\nAddressing conference delegates, he cited the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and the 2015 lifting of sanctions against Iran during Barack Obama\u2019s presidency, as events that amplified instability in the region.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur allies were left abandoned, and no one wants to feel that way again,\u201d said Cheney, who was chief executive of Halliburton between 1995 and 2000 and held high posts in several Republican administrations.<\/p>\n

\nThe former VP\u2019s remarks came during the forum\u2019s concluding session titled, \u201cThe global order 2030: The Unites States and China,\u201d which was attended by Dubai\u2019s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.<\/p>\n

\nJoined by Li Zhaoxing, a former Chinese foreign minister, in a candid panel discussion, Cheney offered his views on the world order in the next decade within the context of Iran\u2019s regional ascendancy, China\u2019s rise and Russian ambitions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI am not here to speak on behalf of the US government, or to speak to it,\u201d Cheney said, adding that his talking points reflected concerns he suspected everyone shared.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFor decades, there\u2019s been a consensus of America\u2019s influence in the world and how to use it,\u201d he said, citing instances where US disengagement had caused the political situation in the Middle East to implode.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHumanity has benefited from America\u2019s protectionism of the world and its relationship with its allies in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAccording to him, the upcoming decade would be bleak should the US adopt a disengagement policy, with the pressures most felt by supporters and partners in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\nTurning to the role that the US and China would play in the global status quo by 2030, Cheney said there were still concerns over China\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe had hoped that there would be a political evolution in China, but that hasn\u2019t happened yet,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nLi said: \u201cChina will never learn from a world superpower and will never try to be hegemonic,\u201d citing as examples China\u2019s strong relations with the UAE and the wider Arab world, and the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (a global development strategy) on Chinese foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHistory is the best teacher, but the US has forgotten its own history. You don\u2019t keep your promises,\u201d added Li, directing his statement at Cheney.<\/p>\n

\nCheney said that since the end of the Cold War, the US had expected that its policy toward China would have had a beneficial effect on its behavior and helped to deepen bilateral relations.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt was disappointing to see that these expectations were not borne out \u2013 China has only grown richer, the regime has become more oppressive, and instead of evolving, it became more assertive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nIn a separate ASF meeting at the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Center, Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, discussed Iran\u2019s policies in a session titled, \u201cThe race for relevance and influence in the region: GCC, Iran, Turkey and Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nSadjadpour said he expected in the next 10 years to see the arrival of \u201can Iranian Putin\u201d with a military background as the country\u2019s next leader.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAfter 40 years of a clerical regime and a military autocracy, there is now a rise of Persian nationalism. This is a shift from the sheer revolution ideology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nSadjadpour said there had been an evolution of \u201cShiite Arab\u201d identity during the past two decades, with the focus more on religion than nationality.<\/p>\n

\nUnder the circumstances, he noted that Sunni Arab powers had an important role to play in welcoming Shiite Arabs into their fold \u201cand luring them away from Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe analyst added that the future of the Arab world could not be explored and forecast without considering a growing mental health crisis. \u201cToday, hundreds of millions of people in the region suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and the effects of this will be with us for decades to come, resulting in issues like radicalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe said there was a need for training thousands of counselors in the field of mental health in order to reach out to those whose lives had been robbed by extreme violence and conflicts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBAI:\u00a0Dick Cheney, one of the most influential vice presidents in US history, has warned that \u201cAmerican disengagement\u201d from the Middle East would only benefit Iran and Russia. The 78-year-old politician\u2019s warning came during a speech at the Arab Strategy Forum (ASF) in Dubai, an annual event in which the world\u2019s leading decision-makers address global challenges…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}