President Barack Obama made this guarantee in his statement at the end of his recent Meeting of the Deputies involving the Gulf Cooperation Council national leadership seconds.
The United States is prepared to work jointly with the GCC states to deter and confront an external threat to any GCC state’s territorial integrity that is inconsistent with the UN Charter. In the event of such aggression or the threat of such aggression, the United States stands ready to work with our GCC partners to determine urgently what action may be appropriate, using the means at our collective disposal, including the potential use of military force, for the defense of our GCC partners.
Translation: we agree to talk about a response to an ongoing attack against one of you, and that response might include a military one. Hopefully, we’ll reach some sort of accommodation before you’ve been overrun.
That’s reassuring. There’s a real line there, one that should not be crossed. Else Obama might shake his finger very firmly at you.
Look at the sentences following that:
As with Operation Decisive Storm, GCC states will consult with the United States when planning to take military action beyond GCC borders, in particular when U.S. assistance is requested for such action.
…The United States and GCC member states strongly affirmed the necessity of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of a just,
lasting, comprehensive peace agreement that results in an independent and contiguous Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel.
Israel will have an opinion on that – one which I suspect I agree with.
1) We’ve seen the value of consulting with this administration. Iran is about to go nuclear, for instance, and Russia is occupying Ukraine.
2) The remarks to which I was objecting had to do with an invasion of a GCC nation. While [Iranian] boots are in Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, et al., this administration will talk and–maybe, it’s a big step–shake its finger very firmly at the invader.
3) Regarding the two-state solution, the…affirmation…is just a repetition of old news. Nor Israel nor the GCC object to that, and haven’t for quite some years.
4) Regarding ODS, we’re seeing the value of that consultation with this administration, too: the Houthis continue to make progress, with only sometime interference from the GCC and even less from the US. Indeed, this administration has simply cut and run from Yemen.
Eric Hines
The two-state solution is not the problem – “an independent and contiguous Palestinian state” is a problem. Split Israel in half or take the Negev to be contiguous …
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