Emerging Trends in West Asia Regional and Global Implications

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Despite US military and economic actions against Iran, there has been no slow down in its missile building capacity and regional outreach. There were reports of Iranian navy seizing cargo ships and the US capturing Iranian vessels in 2020 in the Strait of Hormuz region. President Trump's maximum pressure strategy has therefore met with limited success. Kuwait, Oman and Qatar maintain normal relations with Israel and Iran factor plays a limited role in its foreign policy objectives. Oman was the first Persian Gulf to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 and it could likely be the next Arab state to officially normalise relations with Israel. Qatar coordinates with Israel for providing humanitarian and technical help in Gaza. Israel considers Qatar's role as crucial in managing Gaza and Israeli officials and politicians have met with Qatari leadership on several occasions. Israel has displayed institutional discrimination in its vaccination policy by denying access to the much needed vaccines to Palestinians. The government has transported batches of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines inside West Bank for distribution only among the Jewish settlers. Israel has claimed that it is not responsible for Palestinians' wellbeing suggesting that the Palestinian Authority (PA) in accordance with the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords is obligated to observe international vaccination standards. This book conducts a comprehensive examination of the socio-political, economic, and strategic dynamics evolving within West Asia. Additionally, it investigates potential avenues for India to significantly strengthen its current affiliations with the West Asian region.

Dr. Rahul Kardekar Vice Principal at J. N. Lal Mahavidyalaya Sringeri. He obtained his all higher qualifications, M.A.,M.Phil. and Ph.D.in Political Science and serving the College since1998. He has penned several articles in various reputed journals and magazines of national and international repute. He has supervised and guided forty one Research scholars of.M.Phil. and Ph.D.

The upcoming Joe Biden administration would face multiple challenges to proceed with series of measures taken by President Trump before leaving office such as imposing sanctions on key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ally, Turkey; recognising Morocco's sovereignty over disputed Western Sahara region; recognising Houthi movement as a terrorist group choking humanitarian aid and impeding dialogue; cornering the Palestinian position and crucially, escalation with Iran. Analysts have expressed hope that Biden would use diplomacy to make progress not only on Iran but also for resolving the civil wars in the region.

Saudi Arabia has indicated its support for the normalisation process and carried out few soft normalisation measures such as opening airspace for Israeli flights. The Saudi government at the official level has maintained that formal relations with Israel would only be possible in case of establishment of Palestinian state. In the coming year, normalisation may prompt better intelligence cooperation. It should however be noted that Israel as well as Arab states are quite protective about their strategic autonomy and joint military operations are not likely occur in the near future. The US also intends to maintain its control over the region by changing its approach i.e. selling weapons and training rather than through direct military presence.

Over the next decade, the most interesting Asian pivot will have far less to do with ties between the United States and its Asian partners. but with deeper integration between countries on both sides of the Eurasian continent. While both Asia and the Middle East have traditionally looked to the United States as their most significant economic and security partner, this dynamic is changing. As Asia's rising powers continue to expand their global reach, a new East-West nexus is emerging between Asia and the Middle East.