On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Ebrahim Hashem, AsiaGlobal Fellow at the University of Hong Kong’s Asia Global Institute and former Head of the Strategy Division at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. He discusses the implications and outcomes of the Arab-China business conference and the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle East, whether or not the US under Joe Biden will look to pressure Arab countries over their growing ties with China, the growing strategic autonomy of the Middle East amid the US-China Cold War, the failed US attempts to dominate the region and hijack sovereignty since the Iraq War, the continued presence of US troops in Arab countries, the normalization of ties between Arab countries and Syria’s government under Bashar Al-Assad. The show also addresses the ignoring of the US Caesar Sanctions, the sudden reduction of terrorism in the Middle East following the Russia-NATO proxy war in Ukraine, BRICS expansion bringing in the new multipolar order, and more.
