Afrasianet - The president's decision to bravado – an activation of the madman theory – will do nothing to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East and will bring shame to the United States.
The American magazine "The New Yorker" publishes an article by the writer David Remnik, in which he talks about how US President Donald Trump pursues the "theory of the madman", which requires convincing the world that he is ready to do anything, and that he cannot be curbed, in order to implement his agenda, and pressure other parties. The article cited the threat to cleanse the Gaza Strip as an example.
Below is the text of the article translated into Arabic:
More than 500 years ago, Machiavelli, a philosopher of political practice and modern republics, suggested in his book Discourses on Levy that "sometimes it is very wise to pretend to be crazy." Richard Nixon, according to his chief of staff Haldeman, seems to have come to a similar conclusion: "I call it the madman theory, Bob. I want North Vietnam to believe that I've reached the point where I can do anything to stop the war. We will tell them that Nixon is obsessed with communism, we cannot restrain him when he is angry, with the nuclear button in his hand, and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace."
On Tuesday, President Trump, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared in the East Room of the White House and declared that two million Palestinians in Gaza should be forced out of the Strip and that the United States would seize and "own" Gaza. Trump seems uninterested in this policy representing racial cleansing, as morality is not important when there is a real estate deal to be made.
"We have an opportunity to do something that could be extraordinary. I don't want to be nice, I don't want to be a wise man, I want to build the Riviera of the Middle East, and that could be very cool." (Riviera: "A sunny place for the corrupt," in the words of W. Somerset Maugham.) Citing the real estate field, Trump continued: "We're going to make sure it's done on a global level." As he pointed out earlier in the day, "It doesn't have to be one area, taking certain areas and building good quality housing, like a beautiful city or a place where they can live and not die, because Gaza is a guarantee that they will end up dying."
Netanyahu expressed confidence that the plan "will pave the way for peace with Saudi Arabia and other countries." Saudi Arabia issued an official statement rejecting Trump's proposal, while wealthy supporters approved it. Foreign Minister Marco Rubio tweeted: "The United States is ready to take the lead in Gaza and make it beautiful again."
As Trump spoke, Netanyahu could not hide a broad smile that would cause him a headache later. He never imagined receiving a greater gift from the U.S. president or greater political cover at home. His gratitude was unlimited, and he knew how to flatter. He told Trump in front of the camera: "I've said this before, and I'm going to say it again: "You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. I believe, Mr. President, that your willingness to move beyond conventional thinking and thinking that has failed time and again, and your willingness to think outside the traditional framework by coming up with new ideas, will help us achieve all these goals."
Netanyahu supporters in the Israeli press, such as Amit Segal of Channel 12, praised the remarks. Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the leaders of the annexation wing of Israeli politics, tweeted: "Donald, this feels like the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Amos Halael, a reporter and analyst for the liberal daily Haaretz, told me: "The right wing is cheerful. Trump may be more misleading than I thought, but he has more energy than Biden."
This is not the first time the Trump family, which has made significant financial investments in the region in recent years, has envisioned Gaza as a potential resort. In February, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, said during an interview at Harvard University that "Gaza's waterfront property can be very valuable. The situation there is bad, but from an Israeli point of view I will do my best to get people out of the place and clean it." Kushner has withdrawn from White House policy, but he still considers himself a senior Middle East strategist. In his interview, Kushner said that "proactively recognition" of Palestinian statehood would be a "very bad idea."
After watching the press conference between Trump and Netanyahu, I spoke with Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza who is teaching this year at Northwestern University, and he told me, "I'm depressed. I don't even know what will happen, but I know that Palestinians oppose this idea and prefer to live in tents and on the rubble of their destroyed homes rather than leave the Strip. We all know that our neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, rejected this idea." Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi see the growing Palestinian population in their countries as a demographic and political threat to their regimes. Although both countries have signed long-standing peace treaties with Israel, it is unclear how Trump's proposal and Netanyahu's jubilation with his remarks might affect those treaties.
Aaron David Miller, a veteran diplomat and Middle East analyst, told me that his "head almost exploded" as he watched Trump. "In 27 years of working with Democrats and Republicans, I've never attended a press conference like this," he said.
Miller realizes, of course, that Trump always seeks to shock and play the madman, thereby intimidating his rivals and changing the terms of the debate. Miller hypothesized that maybe all that would dissipate. Trump usually says terrible things, watches how they reach the recipient, and often distances himself from the provocations he has unleashed. (Will it seize Greenland, the Panama Canal, and make Canada the 51st state?) Trump may believe he will be able to support Netanyahu at home, panic other Middle East leaders, convince Iran to reach a deal that ends its nuclear ambitions and completes a broader regional settlement in cooperation with Saudi Arabia. Or perhaps Trump's recent performance is part of a strategy of "flooding the region" with so much chaos and deceptive rhetoric, and with many influential proposals and appointments in which he achieves at least some of his dearest ambitions while blowing up the collective head of the establishment around the clock.
However, there must be a price for all this madness. Miller warned that although Trump may back down from his proposal for ethnic cleansing and building the Riviera, this performance "reflects the mentality of a man who is not serious."
Nixon saw himself as a deep thinker of global strategy. However, it is important to remember that, although he convinced himself that his action would subordinate North Vietnam's leadership, that ill-fated war ended in an American defeat.
• The president's decision to bravado and activate the madman theory will do nothing to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East and will bring shame to the United States.
• Author: David Remnik
Source: The New Yorker
Translated into Arabic: Zainab Menem