Fracturing of Diplomatic Relations Sets World on Dangerous Path
With the collapse of post-World War II international contrivances of political control has come an unprecedented fracturing of diplomatic relations between nations. In the world, today, there are, give or take, 207 sovereign entities that have an ability to enter into formal diplomatic relations. In recent years, several nations have completely severed diplomatic ties or have taken the intermediary step of downgrading relations by recalling ambassadors. While the severance of diplomatic relations on a mass scale is normally witnessed in war time – with the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973 being cases in point – peacetime diplomatic ruptures are at an all-time high. No longer is war a justification for breaking diplomatic relations. And with the number of mercurial political leaders presently on the world stage, diplomacy is taking a back seat to political grandstanding, bravado, and machismo.
Two of the most problematic countries in the Middle East when it comes to disruption in the region – Saudi Arabia and Israel – have severed or downgraded relations with other nations in fits of pique that belie their public pronouncements of seeking peace.
The virtual Saudi puppet government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, governing from Aden, severed ties in 2015 with Iran over charges that the Iranians were backing the Houthi rebellion in Yemen. As a result of Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shi’a cleric Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other Shi’as on January 2, 2016, Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and set it on fire. Although Iran arrested the perpetrators and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the attack on the embassy, Saudi Arabia was not mollified.
Riyadh not only severed diplomatic relations with Iran but, using its financial clout, convinced other nations to do the same. The nations cutting off all ties with Iran overt the Tehran embassy incident included Bahrain and Sudan. Stopping short of cutting diplomatic ties, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates recalled their diplomatic envoys from Tehran. The severance in relations with Iran increased the plight of Bahrain’s Shi’a majority, which had been abused by the Sunni monarchy, which was aided and abetted by occupation troops from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Closure of Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran also made it difficult for Iranians to obtain visas to perform the hajj in Mecca.
Saudi Arabia’s influence in forcing other nations, especially those in Africa, to cut ties with Iran has been significant. Djibouti severed ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi Arabia in Tehran. In 2010, the former regime of Yahya Jammeh in Gambia, a predominantly Sunni nation, severed ties with Iran. A year before, Morocco severed relations with Iran over charges that Iran was spreading Shi’a beliefs to predominantly Sunni Morocco. Quietly, the Saudis supported the Moroccan move……more