Over the years, the US-led West and Israel have consistently maintained an ominously contrived imbalance of power in the Middle East (ME), much to Israel’s advantage. The ultimate strategic objective of this policy is to pre-empt and neutralise all threats to Israel; existential or otherwise, imminent or projected, real or imagined, and to sustain it as the unchallenged hegemon and dominant, overwhelming military force of the region. Period.

The US-led West and Israel have thus far combined to neutralise most, if not all, immediate, near-distance, and far-distance threats to Israel in the region. Its immediate neighbours, Egypt and Jordan, have signed peace agreements, while Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank stand largely subdued under relentless attacks and occupation by the Israel Defence Force (IDF). Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance stands quashed – erstwhile President Assad’s regime in Syria, Hizbollah, Hamas and the Houthis have all been dealt fatal or near-fatal blows. However, the US-led West and Israel persist with their relentless, heartless genocide of the hapless Gazans–Palestinians.

In the near distance, the Gulf Arab states have been neutralised by a mixture of diplomatic, economic, and military coercion, with some incentives such as rudimentary military sales thrown in, and threatened by the latent albeit imminent spectre of democracy, à la the Arab Spring. Realistically, they do not threaten Israel militarily. Some have willingly joined the Abraham Accords.

The far-distance threats from Iraq, Libya, and Iran were dealt with........

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