TRUMP'S RECOGNITION OF JERUSALEM AS CAPITAL UNDERMINES US POSITION IN MIDDLE EAST

Days after the Supreme Court upheld Donald Trump's "Muslim Ban," in a further blow for Muslims, it now looks almost certain that the US President will finally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

This is a game-changer in the Middle East, as the US has long held off recognizing Jerusalem as the capital in order to maintain the thin pretense that it is an "honest broker" between the Israelis and the Arabs. 

Of course, it is nothing of the sort, being heavily biased towards Israel's interests, due to the massive amount of Jewish political donations in the US political system, as well as Jewish control and influence of the media. An additional reason is the philo-Semitism of many American Christian fundamentalists. 

What this effectively means is that the hope of one day peacefully resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now dead and that the US is adopting a position of "to the winner the spoils." Several analysts believe this will only fuel conflict. 

By supporting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the US is also implicitly supporting the past and future ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Arabs from areas in and around what was once a majority Arab city. 

This is an interesting position for a US administration to take, as it is effectively a strong endorsement of an ethno-nationalist state and its conquests, which were, of course, carried out with substantial US aid and assistance. It is also a highly provocative act that threatens to alienate the wider Muslim world and could even prove counterproductive and harmful to the state of Israel and its US backer. 

The governments of major Muslim countries, like Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt, that were prepared to work with the USA, will find this an extremely hard sell for their populace, and will look increasingly to Russia and China as a more suitable Middle Eastern hegemon. 

Turkey's President Recep Erdogan has already said that the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital will be a red line for Muslims. Even the Gulf states, which are largely subordinate to US petrodollar interests, will find the move extremely uncomfortable.

This decision also comes at an odd time, as America's Middle Eastern position has become substantially weaker in recent years. In particular, the victory of President Assad in Syria, has created a "Shiite corridor" stretching all the way from Iran to the Lebanon, uniting several states and organizations that are strongly opposed to Zionist power, including Iran, the Assad government, and Hezbollah.

The Trump administration's anti-Arab action even threatens to bridge the main divide among Muslims, that between Sunnis and Shiites, something else that could gravely weaken the US position in the Middle East. 

The problems with what must frankly be called a diplomatic blunder, don't stop in the Middle East. They also extend to Europe, where states like Britain, France, and Germany, with large Muslim minorities, feel compelled to counter-signal the move in order to appease their Muslims and lessen the likelihood of terrorism.