Pomp and Genocide: Trump’s Gulf tour

The Roman Emperor Caracalla was known as one of the cruelest and most unstable of Rome’s leaders. His reputation was based not only on his treatment of his own people, but also on his travels to the eastern margins of the empire, where he led a series of massacres against the Parthians, an ancient people of the Persian Gulf who Caracalla sought to subdue. 

It didn’t end well for Rome. The Parthians defeated the Roman legions, Rome was forced to pay reparations, and Caracalla was ultimately assassinated. 

Still, all emperors have a habit of trying to subdue the peripheries of their empires. That is as true today as it was in 216 AD. And their methods today are no less cruel, while their efforts are no less futile. 

While much of the media attention this past week has been focused on Qatar’s gift of a $400 Million “flying palace,” on trillion-dollar investment pledges, and on the pomp, ceremony and elaborate spectacle of Trump’s visit to the Gulf, few in the Western corporate media have noticed the rampaging elephant in the marble room: Genocide. 

Because as the red carpet was unfurled, the trumpets sounded, and Gulf monarchs tripped over each other in a competition to see who could bow the lowest to the Orange Emperor, the bombs and bullets continued to rain down on innocents in Gaza and the West Bank, the siege of the battered and starving population continued, and Israel’s genocide in Palestine raged on unabated. 

A genocide of which the Gulf’s honored guest is a direct co-perpetrator.

Beyond all the “look over there” sleight of hand, Trump’s central message was this:  We can make business deals, and we can even deescalate with Yemen (and maybe Iran), but Palestine must be destroyed, and the Palestinian people must leave their homeland or die. 

Thus, whatever else it may have been, Trump’s visit to the Gulf was not a diplomatic mission, and it was certainly not a “peace” mission. 

Peace except Palestine

Trump dubbed his vision for the region as one of “commerce, not chaos.” But what he was really offering was commerce despite chaos. He is betting that the governments of the region will be willing to do business with him and to throw the Palestinian cause under the proverbial bus, in order to appease the emperor. 

And while, thus far, they have remained rhetorically committed to holding the line on the right of the Palestinians to remain in their homeland, their actions in collaborating with the Trump administration – even through a genocide– point in a dangerous direction, not only for the Palestinians but for the broader region as well. 

Trump dubbed his vision for the region as one of “commerce, not chaos.” But what he was really offering was commerce despite chaos.

Thus, this was, in essence, an impunity mission, directed to pushing Arab states toward normalization with the Israeli regime in the midst of the genocide and just as the Israeli regime begins its final phase of the destruction of Palestine. 

While it is unclear how much progress was made in promoting normalization, the warm embrace of Trump by Gulf state leaders, the obsequious praise, the vulgar celebrations, all occurring in the context of continuing genocide, are disgraceful. And the fact that these Arab governments do not appear to have used any of their significant leverage to press Trump to put a stop to the carnage in Palestine makes it all the more scandalous. 

Of course, defenders of the Gulf monarchs will applaud their political acumen and insist that they are shrewdly managing Trump in order to forestall his worst instincts. But when the final account of the genocide in Palestine is written, what will history say of this shameful spectacle? Will anyone be impressed by the display of Makbus, McDonalds, and gold in the shadow of unprecedented slaughter? 

An orgy of oligarchy

But the visit was about something else, as well. It was also a matchmaking tour to (further) marry U.S. oligarchs with Arab monarchs. 

Trump brought along almost the entire oligarchy in his entourage. Joining him were not only Elon Musk, but also the CEOs of Open AI, IBM, Amazon, Palantir, Boeing, and a mishmash of bankers and billionaires looking for Gulf deals. 

Needless to say, this kind of blurring of the lines between official U.S. state diplomacy on the one hand, and raw backroom private money dealing on the other should at least raise questions about potential corruption.

The trip brought announcements of pledges for trillions of dollars in investment, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, as well as huge defense sector deals and a U.S. $10 Billion investment in the Al Udeid military base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military base in the region. 

While these may be significant in the dollar amounts of the pledges, close economic relations between the U.S. and the Gulf states are certainly nothing new, extending back as they do to at least the 1940s. And it is unlikely that much of the promised money will actually materialize, in any case. 

But what can we say of Arab leaders who so openly serve the cause of U.S. militarism and imperialism, even as the victims of that militarism and imperialism continue to pile up in their own region? 

Sadly (but predictably), the outcome of Trump’s visit appears to be more of the same: continuing Israeli violence, underwritten by the U.S., and with the complicity of the Gulf monarchies.

Al-Sharaa becomes a “made man”

The third apparent purpose of the visit was to hold a “coming-out party” for the Al-Sharaa regime in Syria as a loyal U.S. (and therefore Israeli) client state, signaled by a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Ahmed Al-Sharaa himself, who Trump later described as “a great, young, attractive guy,” with “a very strong past.” 

The rapid (indeed, whiplash-inducing) manner in which the U.S. and others in the West have almost overnight rehabilitated Al-Sharaa (formerly Al-Jolani), the unelected, de facto leader of Syria, from former Isis and Al-Qaeda killer to the recognized and legitimate leader of Syria, exposes the duplicity of the so-called “war on terrorism,” and its cynical use by the U.S. for decades to erode human rights and the constraints of international law. 

Indeed, to the Trump administration, Al Sharaa is now “a great guy”, while students and others peacefully protesting genocide are “terrorists.” Even Orwell would blush. 

And while the announcement of the lifting of the cruel U.S. sanctions on Syria is certainly to be welcomed, reports about the cost of that concession are particularly worrying, with Trump reportedly pressing Al-Sharaa to “normalize” with (i.e., surrender to) the Israeli regime that occupies a significant proportion of Syrian territory, and to expel the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance from Syria at a moment when Israeli aggression is spreading across the region. 

Abraham Accords 2.0

A fourth apparent purpose for the visit was to advance a kind of Abraham Accords 2.0.

If anyone still thinks that this is a good idea, it would be helpful to remember that the first Abraham Accords led to nothing but billons in private deals for the Trumps and Kushners, and the bloodiest and most violent period for the people of the region in many decades. 

It should by now be self-evident that any Abraham-style effort could only bring more of the same, because, as history has repeatedly shown, there is simply no road to peace in the Middle East that does not pass through freedom and justice for the Palestinian people. 

Whether in Iran, or Yemen, or Lebanon, the Gulf Countries, or Palestine itself, nothing fundamental will change until the Palestinian people have their freedom. Without this, Trump can secure big business deals- but he cannot secure peace or stability in the region and, therefore, cannot advance U.S. interests there.

Sidelining Israel 

In other words, as long as the Israeli albatross hangs around the U.S. neck, U.S. interests in the region will be compromised. 

And there may be signs that even the uber-Zionist Trump administration has begun to recognize this reality, as evidenced by a potentially important, if incremental, shift in positioning last week. 

Trump, who is motivated perhaps most by transactional thinking, pandered to the Israel lobby through his election and reelection, accepting hundreds of millions in donations in exchange for doing the bidding of the Israeli regime. But now that they have nothing to offer him by way of political advantage, his focus may well be shifting.  

The sidelining of Netanyahu’s Israel in the agenda of the Trump visit is the most obvious example. 

Trump skipped Israel altogether during the trip to the region, apparently excluded Israel (and Israel’s concerns) from the U.S. deal with Yemen’s Ansar Allah, negotiated bilaterally with Hamas for the release of U.S./Israeli prisoner of war Edan Alexander, lifted sanctions on Syria against Israel’s wishes, and ignored Israel’s objections in engaging with Iran on a potential new nuclear deal. 

An unavoidable contrast

Perhaps more importantly, Trumps trip has demonstrated three uncomfortable realities for the neocons in Washington. 

First, that friendly relations with Arab countries can bring measurable benefits to the U.S., including billons in investments, enhanced strategic positioning, the hosting of massive U.S. military bases, and privileged access to oil and gas.

Second, that much can actually be gained by taking the Israeli regime out of the equation- not least the possibilities of de-escalation with Iran and with Yemen. 

And third, this is all on display at the same time that many Americans, horrified by the genocide in Palestine, are asking what the U.S. gets in return for its massive investment in the Israeli regime.

The U.S. public is becoming increasingly aware that the Israeli regime is deeply immoral, is a continuous drain on U.S. tax dollars, brings abusive Israeli interference to U.S. elections and institutions, implicates the U.S. in endless wars, and causes deep and lasting damage to the global reputation and diplomatic standing of the U.S..

In sum, more and more Americans are seeing through the Israeli curtain of hasbara, woven for decades by AIPAC and other Israel proxies in the U.S., as it frays to the point of transparency. 

You can bet that this is making AIPAC and other Israel proxies in the U.S. very nervous, and that they (and the politicians in their pockets) will be working in overdrive in the coming days to try and do damage control for their project of “Israel First.” 

Too little, too late

These may well prove to be important factors for the future development of U.S. positioning on the Middle East. But, so far, nothing fundamental has changed in Washington. 

The Trump administration is still supporting genocide in Palestine. Trump has even floated the idea of the U.S. colonizing Gaza directly. He is still using the word “Palestinian” as an insult. He is still (unlawfully) sanctioning and harassing the ICC in order to obstruct justice on behalf of the Israeli regime, to block the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant on charges of crimes against humanity. 

And his administration is actively attacking, smearing, arresting, and even deporting people in the U.S. simply for speaking out against Israeli genocide and apartheid. 

Finally, whatever tensions there may be between the neocons on the one side, and the “America Firsters” on the other, the Trump administration is still composed of many of the staunchest Israel-loyalists that Washington has ever seen– so much so that the administration has been nicknamed by many the “Israel First” administration. 

So, while Trump’s Gulf visit did bring hints of potential change, for now, the destructive fundamentals of U.S. foreign policy are essentially intact. The evidence of this was undeniable last week. 

As the meetings in the Gulf progressed, the Israeli regime stepped up the pace of its genocide in Palestine, with unbroken U.S. complicity. U.S. money and weapons continued to feed the Israeli regime. U.S. guarantees of Israeli impunity stood firm. 

And, as if to underscore the point, no sooner was Trump’s plane in the air and on the way back to Washington, when the Israeli regime launched an intensified weekend campaign of annihilation, carrying out massive air strikes, launching a ground invasion, attacking the length of the Gaza Strip, murdering hundreds, and displacing thousands.

The juxtaposition of these two realities tells us all we need to know about Trump’s visit. Palestinians starved as Trump feasted with his hosts. And Palestinian blood continued to flow, as the screams of the people drowned out the music echoing in the gilded palaces of the Gulf. 

In sum, the emperor Donald Trump casually strolled past a genocide on his way to a party. The fact that he whistled a slightly different tune while doing so is of no consolation to his victims.