🔴The Rise of China and the Shifting Middle East: A Call for Arab Unity

Dr Ramzy Baroudi

US President Donald Trump’s recent state visit to China marks a historic turning point, signaling Washington’s acknowledgment of Beijing as an equal global superpower. Unlike Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to an isolated agrarian nation, Trump engaged with a financial and technological giant from a position of defensive pragmatism, attempting to manage a declining empire's contraction.

This global shift is highly visible in the Middle East, where decades of failed US military campaigns and political alienation have eroded Washington’s credibility. The 2026 US National Defense Strategy confirms this strategic retrenchment, prioritizing a homeland-first posture and Indo-Pacific containment over Middle Eastern dominance. Destructive US-Israeli escalations against Iran represent desperate attempts to maintain relevance, mirroring the failed 1956 tripartite aggression against Egypt by fading European empires.

As the US exits, China—already the region’s largest trading partner—is poised to fill the political vacuum through its model of economic integration and development. However, this model could turn more muscular if Beijing is forced to defend its energy routes.


For the Arab world, this transition presents both a threat and an immense opportunity. A sudden, chaotic US exit could leave an aggressive Israel acting as a volatile local hegemon. To counter this, Arab nations must seize the opening to fill the political space on their own terms. This moment demands total Arab political unity, genuine sovereignty, and a new political contract focused on human development and rejecting foreign meddling. A unified Arab position must take concrete action to hold Israel accountable, liberate occupied Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian lands, and leverage these priorities in all future partnerships with global players like China.

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🔴According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, IDF attacks on Lebanon killed at least 30 people and wounded 92 others over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since March 2nd to 3,696 killed and 11,413 wounded.

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🔴 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:

🤔 Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon are now also threatening Turkey.

🤔 The Israelis are directing threats toward Turkey, and we are aware of their intentions.

🤔 Our response will be extremely harsh if Turkey’s rights and those of Turkish Cypriots are targeted.

🤔 If things spiral out of control, “the fire will not only burn our region.”

🤔 The entire world will pay the price if Israel is not restrained.

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🔴 “The Gulf’s Glass Houses Are Shattering”: Iran War Exposes the Myth of U.S. Deterrence

💬Middle East Eye reports that the era of permanent U.S. military bases in the Gulf is rapidly declining — and that Iran’s resilience and devastating counterattacks are the driving force behind this major shift in regional power dynamics.

🔻 The large U.S. bases, originally intended to deter attacks, have now become attractive targets — as the recent confrontations with Iran have demonstrated.

🌕When clashes erupted last week, Iran launched strikes on Kuwait in response to U.S. attacks. Despite Washington’s claims of successful interceptions, satellite imagery showed damage at Ali Al-Salem Air Base, and a building at Kuwait International Airport was also hit.

🔻 Shift toward a smaller, more flexible presence

Current and former U.S. officials told Middle East Eye that American control of bases in Kuwait has effectively become unsustainable.

🔻 Kuwait currently hosts around 14,000 U.S. troops — the largest number in the region — across bases such as Camp Arifjan and Ali Al-Salem Air Base, both of which have come under significant attack.

🔻 Rather than investing further resources in fortifying these installations, the United States ultimately chose to evacuate its personnel.

🔻 Reports also indicate that limited air defense stockpiles have made full protection impossible.

👍The focus is expected to shift toward smaller, more dispersed facilities located farther from Iran’s reach, similar to the “Jenkins Logistics Support Area” near Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. That base was reportedly designed to provide “strategic depth” beyond Iran’s reach.

🔹 Defense sources say the war with Iran will push the United States away from a model of “permanent presence” toward one of “priority access” — similar to the approach used in Oman. U.S. agreements across the Gulf already vary significantly: permanent basing in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar contrasts with Oman’s lighter footprint, which has left it relatively less exposed to escalation.

🔹Furthermore, Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz has created major sustainment and logistics challenges for the U.S. Fifth Fleet and for ports such as Jebel Ali in the UAE. This is why Washington is now exploring alternative logistics routes, including ports such as Jizan on the Red Sea.

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🔴 Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force:

Are you making the sacred Strait of Hormuz unsafe?! We will make the region hell for you.

🔰 Brigadier General Mousavi: Are you making the sacred Strait of Hormuz unsafe?! From all corners of Iran, we will make the region hell for you. This is the response to the audacity and insolence of the Americans in the region, God willing."

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🔴 Violent explosions rock the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain following missile strikes... and a drone attack by the 'Army' targets 'Patriot' systems


✌Media and international sources reported the sounding of sirens and the sound of a series of consecutive explosions that rocked Bahrain, after the headquarters of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet was subjected to intensive missile and air attacks.

👌According to what was reported by the 'Fars' News Agency, the Iranian Army executed an attack with a wave of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) targeting the American base, in response to American aggression against areas in the south of the country.

💬According to reports, the Army's aerial attack focused on the vital infrastructure of the fleet, directly targeting and hitting communication antennas and radar facilities belonging to the 'Patriot' air defense system, amid the continuous sound of explosions in the area.


#Iran #America #Bahrain"

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