By John Friend
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful lobby in the world, wrapped up its 2014 Policy Conference on March 4, where Iran’s supposed pursuit of nuclear weapons, as well as the Ukrainian crisis and Russian response, were the central themes of the gathering.
AIPAC is notorious for its influence some would say its lock on American foreign policy, elections and Congress.
The promotional video for the 2014 AIPAC Policy Conference boasts that AIPAC representatives and pro-Israel partisans have held “special meetings” with all the members of Congress 100 senators and 435 congressmen. “This is democracy at work,” stated the video cheerfully.
We are now weeks away from the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The end of the Trump era is nigh. Perhaps other than President Trump himself, there has been no figure more important in the White House than his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner has played many roles as Trump’s right hand man, with a portfolio that spanned China to Mexico to most controversially the Middle East, where he was the architect and enabler of Trump’s radical and polarizing agenda. To some, this agenda was a wishlist of accomplishments; to others, a long litany of disasters. Most recently, Kushner was the driving force behind a series of normalization agreements between Israel and a host of Muslim countries including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, and Morocco.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar Inch Closer to End The Gulf Dispute Published December 11th, 2020 - 09:52 GMT
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan al-Saud (Twitter)
Highlights
As a result, “a backchannel diplomacy” led by the US and Kuwait, another Gulf country which has refused to join the blockade against Qatar, has been initiated to end the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Rende.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have appeared to get closer to signing a deal to end the Gulf dispute, but the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt still have reservations.
Since June 2017, Qatar, a tiny Gulf country with rich gas reserves, has faced a tight blockade from its neighbours, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, which are backed by Egypt.