I’m old enough to remember the back end of the Cold War and never have I woken up to check if there was a nuclear strike or not during that period. While the probability of it actually happening when Trump’s deadline expired was slim it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility and it was possibly the closest humanity has been to a nuclear strike since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
That being said, this period of diplomacy has exposed a glaring need for the West to diversify and increase its diplomatic reach outside of it’s little garden. As the world was on the brink of possible nuclear war, the homogeneous foreign policy of western nations left them diplomatically paralyzed and far from the table. If it wasn’t for the tireless efforts of countries like Pakistan, Türkiye, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China – we might be waking up in a different world today. The reason why I specifically highlight this is that as a Turk my country often gets criticized for its diverse diplomatic network by shallow narrative spinners with limited geopolitical understanding. Türkiye’s diverse diplomatic network is one of the greatest assets that the West and NATO has in its arsenal.
Going forward, the major responsibility now rests on Trump and the US to reign in Netanyahu to abide by the ceasefire. Trump needs to build on this opportunity to ensure a lasting peace and bring his focus back onto what got him elected which is America First. I also hope the people of Israel will utilize this moment of peace to quickly move toward elections which will hopefully bring forth a new administration that’s more pragmatic.
There’s also a huge responsibility now on the region as well to create a new security architecture that can prevent these types of events in the future. Many hidden weaknesses were exposed but this negative can be turned into a positive with strong political will. Regional problems require regional solutions and the path to creating regional solutions rests in regional unity.
A big congratulations to Pakistan and the supporting cast of nations that helped negotiate the ceasefire. Hopefully these nations can continue to play an important role in bringing a permanent end to the war.
