Honest Brokers aren’t Necessarily Nice – And One Should Leave Baggage at the Door

 

One of the brighter to things to come out in today’s world news has been the “peace-deal” between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two nations had broken off diplomatic relations in2016 when the Saudi’s executed a prominent Shia Cleric, Nimr-Al Nimr and the Saudi Embassy in Tehran got torched. The two regional powers had been in something of a “conflict” backing opposing sides in the regions many conflicts.

So, the sudden rapprochement between the two was big news. What was particularly note worthy was no much the rapprochement but the broker, which in this case was the People’s Republic of China (China). In just about every news story on the topic, the focus has been on the meaning of China’s role as a broker of this deal. Everyone has been talking about “Why China” was the broker and what does this all mean for the USA, which has been the dominant power in the region.

Funnily enough, one of the best answers to this came from an interview on France 24 with Prince Turki-bin Faisal-Al Saud (Prince Turki), the former Director General of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah, or intelligence services. Prince Turki made the point that nobody wants to mention – namely the fact that only China could have brokered this deal because China remains the only honest broker between Iran and Saudi Arabia. His Royal Highness made the point that the USA and Europeans were compromised in favour of the Saudis and they didn’t have the “trust” of the Iranians to get them to the negotiating table. The interview can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19momP1bCy8

 

 This interview was in many ways a master class on how to give interviews. It was as if the interviewer wanted him to condemn the deal. At times it seemed he was desperate to get the Prince to say that the deal would fail because the Iranians were inherently untrustworthy.  The Prince refused to fall for it and when his previous statements were thrown at him, he made the point that what he thought as an individual was very different from what the Saudi Government was doing. The point that Prince Turki was calmy trying to stress was that whatever he thought was not important, what was important was that a conflict was coming to an end and people would be better off.

It's often tempting to see the world in black or white. It becomes easier to understand the world when there is a ready-made villain and a ready-made hero. This is very clear in American foreign policy, where the USA has always cast itself as the good guy against the host of bad guys. This was easy when there was a Soviet Union. Then, when the Soviet Union collapsed, there was Saddam Hussain, whom everyone joked that if he didn’t exist, the State Department would have to invent him.

However, more often than not, the world isn’t black and white and the good guys are not necessarily good and the bad guys are not necessarily bad. There are times when one can get trapped into one’s self-created narrative. Take the Israeli-Palestinian issue as an example. The American and widder Western narrative (which is often prevalent in Singapore) is that Israel is the plucky nation trying to survive against a group of Arabs who are driven by an irrational hatred for Jews.

This is not the actual picture. There’s a bit more “grey” and as someone is a devoted fan of Israeli dramas like Fauda, even the Israeli’s are open about the fact that they’re role in the Palestinian conflict is far from saintly. To negotiate a solution is simple – find out what each side wants and work out a compromise. Unfortunately, it can’t happen when the “brokers,” which in this case is the USA is so caught up in the idea of one side being good and the other being irrationally bad.

The same has been true of Iran, where American and by extension the West has been caught up with the idea that the Mullahs in Iran are mortal enemies of anything decent and must therefore be eradicated – hence a policy of backing anyone who is against Iran.

So, the Prince has a point. The West is compromised in this situation and cannot be an honest broker. China on the other hand can. China has a good working relationship with both Saudi Arabia and Iran. As far as China is concerned, it just wants both sides to keep the oil following. It doesn’t have “baggage” when it comes to either party.

This is not to say that China’s Communist Party is Saintly. China’s Communist government does horrible things in places like Xinjiang and Tibet. The Chinese Communist party has shown itself to be exceedingly ruthless and nasty.

However, being a saint is not necessarily a good quality in diplomacy. What China is, is clear about what it wants and less emotional in its policies. Hence, as the prince said – China can do things. In the Middle East, it does not get involved in “Clash of Civilisations,” or who owns various bits of real estate. The Chinese are not nice people trying to help the oppressed. However, they are keen to buy oil and they will do what they need to do to keep the oil flowing. Hence, they want Saudi Arabia and Iran working together to keep the oil flowing.

Sometimes, the most important thing to consider is baggage. Parties with less baggage can do things that the parties that are bogged down with baggage simply cannot.