The G-20 just became the G-21 with the admission of the African Union. “We are one earth, one future and we share one future”

Forgotten lately by U.S. neo-cons – We are one earth one family and share one future

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We are One Earth, One Family, and we share One Future …  We, the Leaders of the G20, met in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023, under the theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. We meet at a defining moment in history where the decisions we make now will determine the future of our people and our planet. It is with the philosophy of living in harmony with our surrounding ecosystem that we commit to concrete actions to address global challenges.

from the preamble of G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration New Delhi, India, 9-10 September 2023

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Of late, it seems at least a part of the world has forgotten our one earth, one family, one future. Thank you India for reminding us.

Given its history of being little more than a Washington foreign policy mouthpiece – and these last years offering little to the world beyond harsh anti-Russian, anti-Chinese, anti-Iranian rhetoric – I didn’t expect much of interest to come from the G-20 meeting in New Delhi, India (September 9-10, 2023) just ended. However, that cynical attitude was shortsighted, perhaps even wrong. A number of developments were – or perhaps more accurately – could be of long term significance, among them the following:

• the African Union was invited to join the G-20 giving a voice and weight to the Global South as the semi-periphery and periphery of the world economy are today referred to.
• the meeting approved “a memorandum” for a strategic trade/commercial trade corridor to Europe linking India to Europe via Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan and Israel. It has a name: The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. Although an obvious politically motivated alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, still as Alexander Mercouris of the Duran in a discussion with American economist, Jeffrey Sachs, noted “the more trade corridors the better”, a position with which I heartedly agree. This will be discussed in more detail below.
• although, as to be expected, attention concentrated some on U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, the tone of the final statement was non accusatory, conciliatory towards Russia and China. Indeed the open words of the preamble set the tone “We are one earth, one future and we share one future“. Although the meeting was panned, attacked by the British Financial Times, both Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, spoke positively about the results of the New Delhi meeting. U.S. Russian approval? We haven’t seen that for some time now.

Why was this G-20, or now G-21 different from past G-20s?

It reflected the fact that the weight of the world economy is shifting towards the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and that the voice, the issues of the Global South must be considered part of the mix in G-20 meetings. No one in the New Delhi meeting (meaning USA, UK) opposed this. It was a testament to the negotiating deftness of  the host country, India, indicating unambiguously its role as a major power in world affairs. Adding the African Union as the 21st member adds 1.4 billion people and 54 nations adding the voices of semi-peripheral and peripheral countries to what has been an inbreed core country hall of mirrors. The addition of the African Union, and the very tone of the final statement suggests the possibility that perhaps the world is moving in the direction of multipolarity and inching away from its unipolar post World War II global arrangements.

Of course all that remains to be seen. It suggests at this moment the possibilities  of global peace making, cooperation and not the realities. And the “hard questions” must be asked. Like what? Is the Biden Administration’s friendly – or at least not hostile – approach to the now G-21 little more than a pre-2024 pre-presidential election pause in neo-con global arrogance crafted to reduce the very tensions that Washington has stoked these past years in order to give Joe Biden (or whomever the Democrats chose) a better chance at winning the presidential contest in November, 2024? Or is it something more genuine, a shift, a softening of the hard edge of U.S. foreign policy more in line with the global stampede towards multipolarity, ie, the hint of a major shift in U.S. foreign policy? Time will tell.

Washington’s Effort to Counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative – A Strategic Project Linking India to Europe via Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan and Israel

Is the memorandum to construct a new trade corridor from Europe to India through Saudi Arabia and Israel little more than an empty pipedream (and a bone thrown to the Israelis from Washington as it has been included in the mix). After all at least at present it has no organizational structure, no funding mechanism, no concrete steps for its implementation. There was a similar, earlier G-7 plan announced with great fanfare at one of its meetings which was never heard again as soon as that meeting ended a few years ago? Or is it a serious proposal?

Again, time will tell.

Concerning this proposal –  the trade corridor – there has been considerable discussion of the proposal especially in the Arabic press, most likely because Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Egypt, Algeria are omitted from the memorandum while Israel is given center stage. Washington’s effort to throw Tel Aviv a bone, to keep it propped up as the United States continues to reduce its influence throughout the region?

(Note: I was wondering what, concretely, would result from the recent  G-20 meeting just completed in India. Although at this point it’s hard to evaluate whether  the strategic project linking India to Europe via Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan and Israel by new land and sea routes is a serious proposal that will sometime in the future see the light of day or, as I suspect, little more than a p.r. gesture meant to counter the growing integration of China’s Belt and Road Initiative throughout Eurasia.)

Time will tell. At this point it is little more than a “memorandum” which contains no concrete steps, no funding mechanism, no overseeing coordinated body. No doubt, none of th is would have happened without the close coordination and direction from Washington.

Below are three articles from the Arabic news source Rai Al Youm, published by Palestinian journalist. Abdel Bari Atwan. They have been translated by “Google Translate” from Arabic into English. A news source I find both serious and most valuable and not just on the Middle East, I found these three pieces worth producing for your consideration.

Raialyoum

1. What is behind the strategic project linking India to Europe via Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan and Israel? Who is targeted? How much does it affect the Suez Canal? Is Egyptian concern justified?

September 11, 2023

For Cairo – “Today’s Opinion” – Mahmoud Al-Qai’i:

One of the most prominent things that caught the attention of the Egyptians and the world in the recent G20 summit held in New Delhi was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between America and Western countries and between India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to establish a new land and sea route linking India, the Gulf and Europe, passing through Israel and ignoring Egypt.

So what is behind the mysterious strategic project? Who is targeted? Is Egyptian concern about the project justified?

At first, Dr. Alia Al-Mahdi, former Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, ruled out that the road planned to be established from India through the Emirati, Saudi, and Jordanian territories to reach Israel and from there to Europe would be a good idea or a better alternative than the sea route through the Suez Canal to reach Europe.

Al-Mahdi added, explaining her opinion: “First, because it is better for trade to arrive by land from India to Europe in the end through Turkish territory because it is the only country that has a part in Asia and a part in Europe.

Therefore, it is better for the route to start from India to Pakistan, then Iran, Iraq, then Turkey.”
She said that in any case, the sea route through the Suez Canal will be cheaper and without geographical obstacles.

The former dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science called for marketing the Suez Canal through better ship, transportation, insurance, and shipping services and competitive transportation prices, so that it continues to be the main artery of trade from Asia to Europe.

Who is targeted?

In the opinion of Egyptian politician Zuhdi Al-Shami, the main goal of America and Europe with this road is to compete with the Chinese Silk Road within the framework of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, by shifting to another road centered on India, which America today is trying to replace with the old and current Chinese role as a global workshop and home for Western investments.

Al-Shami added that the other side is the competition between these new routes for the Suez Canal as the main corridor for trade between Asia and Europe, pointing out that the Chinese and Indian routes will of course have a negative impact on trade through the Suez Canal, but it will not necessarily mean the end of the role of the Suez Canal, stressing that the canal is still the best way to trade, at least for now.

Al-Shami said that this new Indian road requires huge investments, and it is still too early to judge its potential for success compared to the Chinese Silk Line.

He pointed out that what is unfortunate for Egypt and the Egyptians is the involvement of two important, wealthy Arab countries in financing a line that passes through Israel and benefits from it, even without this country’s recognition of legitimate Arab rights and commitment to international resolutions, foremost of which is the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and in this way this state is rewarded and Egypt is harmed.

In the same context, Ambassador Fawzi Al-Ashmawy said that the project is led and contributed by the United States and Western countries such as Germany, France and others, and it represents an important road and path, and a competitive and dangerous alternative to the Suez Canal, and Israel is counting heavily on it to increase its position in the region.

He added that the project coincides with efforts to normalize and strengthen relations between Israel and both the Emirates and Jordan, and the approaching conclusion of a historic reconciliation linking Saudi Arabia and Israel.

He concluded by wishing that the Egyptian agencies and institutions would be aware of and closely follow these important developments that will undoubtedly affect Egypt!

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2. Saudi Arabia and India sign 50 agreements worth $3.5 billion

Riyadh / Anatolia

On Monday, Saudi Arabia and India signed 50 joint cooperation agreements in the economic, banking, technological, energy, and other military and cultural sectors.

This came on the sidelines of an official visit initiated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to India, on an indefinite visit, accompanied by the holding of the Saudi-Indian Investment Forum, which lasts one day.

The Saudi Al Arabiya channel (government) reported today that the number of agreements signed during the forum hosted by India reached 50 agreements, worth $3.5 billion.

The Saudi Crown Prince and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the signing of joint agreements between the two countries during the Saudi-Indian Investment Forum.

Bin Salman wrote on his official page on the “X” platform that the Indian community “had a major role in the growth of the Saudi economy, and they are part of us and we take care of them as we take care of our citizens.”

He added, “The economic corridor project – announced during the G20 summit the day before yesterday, Saturday, and which extends from India to Europe, passing through Saudi Arabia – is a major achievement and requires our tireless work to achieve it on the ground.”

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding regarding a project to establish a new economic corridor linking India, the Middle East, and Europe, with the United States, India, the Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union.

The volume of trade exchange between the two countries is estimated at about $52 billion, in favor of Saudi Arabia, due to its exports of crude oil to India.

On Monday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began an official visit to India for an indefinite period, after attending the G20 summit, which concluded its activities yesterday in the capital, New Delhi.

India is the third largest importer of crude oil in the world, after China and the United States, with a daily average exceeding 4.2 million barrels, according to OPEC data.

3. Why did Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, and Palestine emerge as the biggest losers from the “Biden Road” agreement, which will connect India to Europe across the Gulf? How will the Chinese-Russian alliance, the main target, respond? Why did Erdogan’s objection come so late?

Abdel Bari Atwan

The most prominent success of the G20 summit, which was held in the Indian capital last Saturday and Sunday, under the leadership of US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the “economic corridor,” which is supposed to connect India with Europe via the Middle East, and form the nucleus of a new economic alliance to strangle a system of countries.” BRICS” in its infancy, consolidating normalization between the Israeli occupation state and the Gulf states, or most of them, marginalizing the Suez Canal as a global corridor for trade between East and West, and weakening, and perhaps eliminating, the Chinese Silk Road (Belt and Road).

These huge economic and political results, agreed upon in advance between the American President and his old and new allies, came to be in the interest of the United States, and an attempt to save or stop the deterioration of the chances of its leadership in the world, curb the Chinese rise at all levels, and mobilize a new, expanded front against Russia in the Ukraine war.

The absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin from this summit was very carefully considered, because attendance means re-corroning Biden as President of America in the upcoming presidential elections, and re-strengthening the unipolar leadership of the world that has eroded in the past few years, in the interest of the Chinese-Russian duo.
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3. The exclusion of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran from the passage of this economic corridor from their territories was not random, and their exclusion was deliberate, because most of them are closer to the Chinese-Russian axis, and most of them have a deep history of hostility to the West, by virtue of the Islamic faith, and the historical imperial legacy extending over several centuries.

by Abdel Bari Atwan

Is it logical to exclude all of these countries from this economic “corridor,” and to include the Israeli occupation state, whose area does not exceed the size of a governorate in Egypt, Turkey, or Iraq, in this project? And when, at a time when it is ruled by a government that is the most extremist and racist in the world at the present time?

President Biden was right when he said that the agreement to create this “corridor” would change the rules of the game, because it would lead to the establishment of railway lines and linking sea ports to enhance trade exchange, facilitate the passage of goods, and support efforts to develop clean energy, but he did not say, “Which Biden?” At the same time, it will crown the occupying state as the leader of the Middle East region, and remove it from all its current and future crises.

Benjamin Netanyahu did not hide his joy at this great achievement that Biden achieved for him when he said in a tweet on the “X” Twitter site previously, “I am pleased to bring to the citizens of the State of Israel the good news that their country is turning into a major crossroads in this economic corridor. The railways and seaports in “Israel will open a new door from India through the Middle East to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to India, reshaping the features of the Middle East region. It is the largest cooperation project in the history of Israel.”

India will now, in our opinion, be America’s strongest tool in confronting the Russian and Chinese giants, and perhaps the coming years will witness its coronation with the occupying state as the leader of the Gulf region and the Middle East, with American and European blessing, and the undermining of the “BRICS” system from within.

This American project, which is taking shape at the recent G20 summit, will truly change the rules of the game, and will redraw a new map of the world, carrying within it a broader expansion of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO), politically, economically, and perhaps militarily as well, as the volume of trade between India and Europe is “ostensibly” based on The cost of this corridor’s service does not exceed 88 billion dollars. Is this amount worth spending hundreds, if not thousands of billions of dollars to build it?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose presence was “marginalized” at the recent G20 summit, said after his return that “Turkey is the most suitable line for traffic from east to west, in the economic corridor project between India and Europe across the Middle East,” and perhaps this Turkish awareness stands The seriousness of this project led to the heated meeting between him and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on the sidelines of the summit.
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Egypt, most of the countries of the Middle East and the Maghreb Union, and Algeria in particular, not to mention the Palestinian people, will be most affected by this new political economic system led by the United States, in coordination with the occupying state.

The Suez Canal, which generates more than ten billion dollars annually to the Egyptian treasury, will be the most prominent victim, and it will lose 22 percent of the volume of trade through it since the first day of the inauguration of this project, which will pass over it towards the port of Haifa.

The late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, despite the reservations of some about his presidency of Egypt, had the right vision when he made India a strategic ally of the Arabs in confronting the Western colonial project, before his allies neglected it and turned it into a country friendly to the occupying state, whether through the Camp David Accords or the treasonous Oslo Accords. Today, Monday, marks the thirtieth anniversary of his signing.

We do not believe that China, Russia, and all the countries targeted by this new American project will stand idly by in confronting it, and this is another topic… and the days are among us.