WORLD_ Russia is replacing America as the main power broker in the Middle East

Russia is replacing America as the main power broker in the Middle East

By Con Coughlin
World Last updated: June 30th, 2014

*** Blogs Home » News » Defence » Con Coughlin Con Coughlin Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence Editor and a world-renowned expert on global security and terrorism issues. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books. His new book, Churchill's First War: Young Winston and the fight against the Taliban, is published by Macmillan in London and Thomas Dunne Books in New York. He appears regularly on radio and television in Britain and America. ***

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If anyone at the White House was paying any attention to the dramatic changes taking place to the landscape of the Middle East, then they should be ringing the alarm bells.

There are many understandable reasons why Western leaders are wary of backing the pro-Iranian Shia government of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. But at the same time they should realise, as I have argued since the crisis erupted earlier this month, that allowing a fascist-style Islamist organisation like the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis) to establish its own independent fiefdom in northern Iraq and Syria could have potentially disastrous consequences for Western interests in the region.

But concerns about revisiting the political controversy over the invasion of Iraq in 2003 have essentially brought paralysis to Western decision-making, so that, rather than helping al-Maliki to defeat Isis, the West has resorted to tokenism, sending a few hundred American "trainers" – ie special forces – to provide technical guidance, while leaving Iraq's rag-tag army to do all the fighting.

Which sets the stage prefectly for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the world's most opportunist politician, to exploit the situation to Moscow's advantage. With Washington dragging its heals over providing the warplanes necessary to bomb the Iraqi rebels' positions, Moscow has no such qualms, and has now responded positively to Baghdad's request to supply fighter jets, with all the implications that is likely to have for Moscow's broadening influence in the region.

It was Mr Putin, remember, whose support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad persuaded America and Britain to abandon its plans to bomb Damascus last August. This demonstration of loyalty by Mr Putin was not lost on other Arab leaders, who now believe that Moscow – unlike America under President Barack Obama – is a reliable ally, one that will help them in an emergency.

Any normal American president would view this erosion of decades of American influence in the region with deep concern. But Mr Obama's view seems to be that, if someone else wants to deal with the problematic Middle East, then good luck to them.

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