We Have No Allies

Arizona Sen. John McCain’s view of the world, as expressed in his New York Times op-ed, is quite straightforward. We have enemies, e.g. Iran. We have allies. He only mentions one ally by name: the Kurds, a people who have never had a country of their own and who are likely never to have one:

A web of Iranian proxies and allies is spreading from the Levant to the Arabian Peninsula, threatening stability, freedom of navigation and the territory of our partners and allies, including with advanced conventional weapons. Iran itself continues to test ballistic missiles, menace its neighbors and use its sanctions relief windfall to harmful ends.

Our Arab allies are absorbed in a diplomatic dispute with Qatar in the face of far more pressing threats. And behind all this is the shadow of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which is re-establishing itself as a regional power broker actively hostile to American interests — and wholly unconcerned about human rights or civilian life.

This must be a very comforting view but it’s one I cannot support.

Let’s start with “threatening stability”. What country has created more instability in the Middle East and North Africa than any other? That would be the United States. We have overthrown or assisted in the overthrow of at least two governments there: Iraq and Libya. We have connived at the overthrow of Syria, giving support and training to groups antithetical to our interests. We connived at the overthrow of the Mubarak government in Egypt. We have assisted and supported Saudi Arabia in its illegal, aggressive, and genocidal war against Yemen. We continue to wage war in another half dozen countries in the region. We have interfered with elections.

Let’s move on to “allies”. I think he’s overselling the Kurds for reasons I’ve explained elsewhere but he mentions Arab allies. Who are they? I would offer a contrasting view. We have no allies in the Middle East and North Africa, only clients. We have precious few allies anywhere. And the very best thing we could do to increase the stability of MENA would be to stop fomenting instability.