Regional Security System and New Geopolitical Changes in West Asia.

Byline: Ambassador Adel Adaileh

Regardless of the overlapping of terms, whether the region in question is called West Asia or the Middle East, we can say that West Asia is a region that can be defined as an area where states believe they have a particularly close set of relations due to history, culture, and geography. It consists of the states of the Arab League plus Iran and Egypt, with some states belonging to more than one region. As for Israel, although it belongs to the West Asian region and part of the Middle East geographically, it is closer to Europe politically and culturally; it has connections to European countries and takes part in European events.

"West Asia" enjoys an important geostrategic location, linking East and West by land and sea, includes the most important international waterways, and holds an economic and political weight in the world. It has remained at the heart of global security concerns throughout the last decades and has multiple disputes, often with significant involvement from outside powers. Since 2010, at least 7 countries in the region used military force in combat on their own territory, and 11 used it on the territory of other countries. West Asia is the only region of the world that does not have an inclusive regional security system. Attempts to create such a system have always foundered on the region's myriad tensions and complexities.

For that, the issue of security and stability in the region constitutes an urgent and critical question in one of the most turbulent regions in the world, where chaos enhances the security dilemma, due to the complex relations among regional powers, external intervention, and lack of trust between the political players. The question then is whether the dramatic events that have occurred in the region in the past few years made the current moment ripe, at least, for beginning a process of establishing a comprehensive security system. Much has changed since the so-called Arab Spring outbreak, the emergence of terrorism and other new forms of religious extremist groups, and the perception that America is not so fully committed to regional stability as it was in the past, along with the rise of China and Russia as competing powers in the area.

Under these circumstances, one might ask about the necessary steps to start establishing a comprehensive and cooperative regional security system. In fact, it is hard to believe that a regional security system can be formed easily and quickly because, in all cases, there will remain disagreements that cannot be fully agreed upon, and many disputes will appear when taking the initial steps to set up such a system.

Nevertheless, I can say that setting up a comprehensive and sustainable security system to achieve the highest level...