Blindspot 111 - US power in the Middle East: from shock & awe, to shocked & awed by the Axis of Resistance

Buiteboer // From Bunker 42

www.buiteboer.co.za

22/5/24

Blindspots are not necessarily ready made things to be illuminated by your torch as you probe the darkness with its beam. No, some blindspots reveal themselves on condition that the searcher, the person asking critical questions about his/her reality, is willing to look beyond the obvious in both space and time. This is how we arrived at the theme, and content, for Blindspot 111 - US power in the Middle East: from shock & awe, to shocked & awed by the Axis of Resistance.

Essentially today we are taking a step back in time, to illustrate how in actual terms, power dynamics in the Middle East have changed in the decades since Gulf War 2, and Shock & Awe. This will show the emergence not only of new powers, but, perhaps illustrates what we covered in Blindspot 57, on Alexander Dugin’s thoughts on multipolarity, and the re-provincialisation of the west.

• US orders combat troops to withdraw from Niger
• Bahrain approaches Russia to participate in Middle East talks 
• Senegal Prime Minister questions French military presence in the country and participation in CFR Franc currency system 
  
  
  Links

  Leonid Savin. 2023. Southern Heartland. Katehon, 20-11-2023. https://katehon.com/en/article/southern-heartland

  
  

  https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/bahrain/king-hamad-bin-eisa-al-khalifa-invites-russia-to-middle-east-peace-conference-in-bahrain-1.102771072

  
  

  Thabiso Goba. Ramaphosa paying back money stolen from Phala Phala to Sudanese businessman. 20 may, 2024, EWN. https://www.ewn.co.za/2024/05/20/ramaphosa-paying-back-money-stolen-from-phala-phala-to-sudanese-businessman-mustafa

  
  

  Ousmane Sonko. 2024. Senegal’s PM Sonko questions future of French military presence in Dakar. AllAfrica. https://allafrica.com/stories/202405170319.html

  
  

  https://en.topcor.ru/42892-husity-atakovali-jesminec-ssha-v-krasnom-more.html

  
  

  https://english.iswnews.com/35070/yemeni-forces-destroy-9th-us-mq-9-drone/

  https://en.topwar.ru/242608-jemenskie-husity-sbili-chetvertyj-po-schetu-amerikanskij-bespilotnik-mq-9-reaper.html

  
  

  Lara Seligman. Pentagon orders all combat troops to withdraw from Niger https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/10/pentagon-orders-all-us-combat-troops-to-withdraw-from-niger-00157329