Moon Desk: Geopolitics, like seasons, moves in cycles. Metaphorically, as much as seasons depict the change in nature, geopolitics is also speculation about the future and represents the impending change in the regional and global geopolitics. After a long time, Pakistan is at the centre of the regional and global geopolitics. In recent days, our geography, resources, both economic and military, and our role in the great power competition have prominently put us on the geopolitical map of the world. Be it the SCO, Arab-Islamic Summit or the recent defence pact signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, we are being looked upon as a balancing force in an unstable and anarchic regional and international environment.
Today, I am focused on writing something on the changing geopolitical environment, the understanding of which is an absolute necessity. Correctly understanding the geopolitical environment will help us ask the right questions and build a reasonable and realistic premise on which to build the right assumptions and take policy decisions based on our national interests. Pakistan harbours no aggressive designs; and its strategic alliance with any power, including a major power like Saudi Arabia, cannot be at the expense of its own interests. For me, the most important factor in the defence pact signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is the correct perception about the threat faced by the two countries. Geopolitically, countries are losing their sovereignty at a scale that has never been witnessed before.
In the last few months, six countries have been bombed in violation of international laws, and their sovereignty has been violated. All this has happened under the watchful eyes of the world policeman – the United States. Saudi Arabia may feel threatened by Israel after Israel bombs Qatar, but if one looks at the Israeli grand design of creating Greater Israel, it is Israel’s weak neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Sinai (Egypt) – that are the targets of Israel’s policy of lebensraum, spatial and aggressive expansion in the neighbouring territories to create Greater Israel. Qatar bombing is a minnow; the big fish that has scared Saudi Arabia to conclude a defence pact with Pakistan is the United States. Let me explain how?
The decline of Saudi satisfaction with the United States started with the invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003, which the Saudi government opposed. Saudi Arabia was unhappy with the Obama administration for the nuclear deal it executed with Iran. It was unhappy with the United States for not supporting Saudi interests in Yemen and Syria, and very upset when the United States did nothing at the time the Saudi oil facilities were attacked by Iran in 2019.
