Following the meeting with the leaders of the six Arab States at Camp David near Washington, US President Barack Obama said the United States and Arab monarchs in the Persian Gulf – the members of the GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia) are going to organize a new Summit in 2016.
Obama stressed that the US is ready to confront the external threats together with its partners in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). "President Obama will dispatch a senior team to the region in the coming weeks to discuss specific modalities," the final statement of the meeting said.
"The GCC member states committed to develop a region-wide ballistic missile defense capability, including through the development of a ballistic missile early warning system. The United States will help conduct a study of GCC ballistic missile defense architecture and offered technical assistance in the development of a GCC-wide Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. In addition, all participants decided to undertake a senior leader tabletop exercise to examine improved regional ballistic missile defense cooperation," TASS reports.
As a director of the Social and Political Research Center, the head of the Caucasus department at the Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Vladimir Yevseyev, told Vestnik Kavkaza, "such activities alter the balance of power in the region." "The Arabian monarchies have an advantage in the aviation sector, and, until recently, this was compensated for by the presence of Iran's short-range ballistic missiles. In the case of a full-scale missile defense system, which, apparently, will include THAAD and Patriot PAC-3 systems, perhaps some other systems. Perhaps it will be marine systems. This is the Aegis control system with SM-3 missiles," the expert suggested.
"In this case, it is clear that it is necessary to be somehow compensated. From this perspective, the delivery of the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system is a kind of opportunity to restore the balance of power. In the future, Russia may deliver an S-400 system. In any case, we are talking about an arms race. This race was initiated by the Arab Gulf states. Russia is embroiled in it," he said.
"The level of influence of the Arabian monarchies in the region will be largely determined by the influence of Saudi Arabia. And this will depend on the situation in Yemen," the director of the Social and Political Research Center said.
"Many things will depend on how much the United States would be willing to support the Arabian monarchies, how much it would be willing to actually provide different kinds of weapons systems, etc. In general, as far as I understand, the US position in the region is weakened, the position of the Arabian monarchies are in limbo," Vladimir Yevseyev concluded.
According to the deputy director of the Institute of Forecasting and Political Regulation, Alexander Kuznetsov, this missile defense system "is not able to change the situation in the region radically." "In general, the Persian Gulf countries – particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are renowned as the most frequent clients of the US military-industrial complex. For example, not so long ago, Saudi Arabia signed contracts worth $55 billion for the purchase of American weapons. This ABM system will cost $25 billion," he said.However, we should not exaggerate the efficiency of the armies of these countries. "In fact, a lot of the weapons that are bought, cutting-edge aircraft, missiles and so on, the Saudis are not able to service. They do not have the appropriate technical staff, they have no experts. And most of these weapons are just collecting dust in warehouses in Saudi Arabia. Knowledgeable people say that is a kind of a hidden form of tribute that Saudi Arabia is paying the United States," the expert said.According to Kuznetsov, the allegations that the missile defense system is not in any way directed against Iran are "an absolute lie." "These weapons are directed against Iran as a defensive. This is due to the Iranian threat, real or alleged, which Saudi Arabia has inflated in the last five years," Kuznetsov said.Talking about the position of the Persian Gulf in the Middle East, the expert expressed the opinion that they are strengthened in connection with the intensification of the policy pursued by these countries.
According to the deputy director of the Institute of Forecasting and Political Regulation, Alexander Kuznetsov, this missile defense system "is not able to change the situation in the region radically." "In general, the Persian Gulf countries – particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are renowned as the most frequent clients of the US military-industrial complex. For example, not so long ago, Saudi Arabia signed contracts worth $55 billion for the purchase of American weapons. This ABM system will cost $25 billion," he said.
However, we should not exaggerate the efficiency of the armies of these countries. "In fact, a lot of the weapons that are bought, cutting-edge aircraft, missiles and so on, the Saudis are not able to service. They do not have the appropriate technical staff, they have no experts. And most of these weapons are just collecting dust in warehouses in Saudi Arabia. Knowledgeable people say that is a kind of a hidden form of tribute that Saudi Arabia is paying the United States," the expert said.
According to Kuznetsov, the allegations that the missile defense system is not in any way directed against Iran are "an absolute lie." "These weapons are directed against Iran as a defensive. This is due to the Iranian threat, real or alleged, which Saudi Arabia has inflated in the last five years," Kuznetsov said.
Talking about the position of the Persian Gulf in the Middle East, the expert expressed the opinion that they are strengthened in connection with the intensification of the policy pursued by these countries.
