The ‘Manama model’ of sovereignty solidified by alliances and partnerships is essential to building the Middle East and resolving political tensions, according to a top US envoy.
Speaking during the fourth plenary session of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue, American Ambassador to Turkiye and the US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack also clarified that the US ‘has no skin in the game’ between Lebanon and Israel, calling on countries to resolve conflicts between themselves.
During the session titled ‘US Policy in the Levant’, Mr Barrack pointed to the ‘Manama Model’ as a strong fabric on which to build countries.
“Sovereignty is necessary, but your alliance and your partnerships in this part of the world are also essential, and you have a man in Washington who is willing to lead that cause to make it happen,” Mr Barrack explained.
“But everybody’s got to fold in. Everybody has to give up the scars of the past.
He added that he was given this mandate by US President Donald Trump, the aforementioned ‘man in Washington’, and was told not to ‘confuse efforts with results’ adding that ‘bold action will create momentum, and momentum will bypass the decades and decades of rust we’ve had on diplomatic cadence in the Middle East.’
Mr Barrack noted that President Trump loves Bahrain’s royal family and has been friends with HM King Hamad for 30 years.
“One of the Bahrainis was explaining to me that the Bahraini social fabric has vertical threads and horizontal threads, and the vertical threads are of the strongest kind of thread – they represent the institutions, military, education, health care – if you have those things, a society then gets to discussion of religion and politics, and then more liberal thoughts at the end, but without education, without security, without stability, without food on the table, nothing happens,” he explained.
“The horizontal threads are the diversity of people.”
When asked by multiple delegates on roles that the US might play in resolving regional conflicts, especially between its ally Israel and two of its neighbours – Lebanon and Syria, Mr Barrack reiterated that the Trump Administration had ‘no skin in the game’ and is strongly opposed to having US ‘boots on the ground’ or any form of military intervention in the region.
“The Middle East has $9 trillion of investable capital, 20 million barrels of oil go out the straits almost every day – China buys 11 million of them,” he added.
“You have 30 per cent of all the resources in the world. You have 20 per cent of all the capital in the world. And we’re fighting tribes and flags. It’s ridiculous.”
As Mr Barrack put it, the US sees ‘bold action’ and dealmaking by President Trump will bolster prosperity and solve regional problems ‘from the ground up, not forced from the top down’.
Mr Barrack was harsh in his criticism of Lebanon, going so far as to call it ‘a failed state’ with no central bank, a broken banking and its former central bank governor Riad Salameh accused of embezzlement locally and abroad.
Investigations are ongoing in Switzerland, France, Germany, and Luxembourg, with a current arrest warrant issued against Mr Salameh by France.
When asked what the US might do if Israel were to become more aggressive against Lebanon, his answer was only clear in that the US would not get involved in regional disputes.
“We’ve said innumerable times, the region has to take care of itself,” he added.
Meanwhile, when commenting on the antagonistic relationship between Israel and Turkiye, Mr Barrack acknowledged the role that the latter played in facilitating the ceasefire with Hamas.
“The rhetoric between both (Turkish) President Erdogan and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) is that Netanyahu wants a greater Israel and he’s going to take over everything down to Turkey, and that Turkey wants the Ottoman Empire back so it wants to take over Israel,” Mr Barrack noted.
“Neither is true. So for the moment, I think everything stands still.”
He went on to say that ‘if the momentum holds together’, the two countries could even see a trade deal happen in the future.
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