Learning the lessons of 1991 Gulf War and since
CGTN
Last weekend, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi capped off a week of visits by foreign ministers from the Middle East to Beijing by pointing out the absence of a "power vacuum" in the Middle East, which made it unnecessary for any outside power to seek a dominant role there.
Wang's words were important, given the anniversary of the Gulf War two days after. January 17 marked the date that a U.S.-led coalition began operations to end the Iraqi occupation of its neighbor, Kuwait.
The war came at the dawn of the post-Cold War era. It marked the end of the bipolar rivalry between the American and Soviet superpowers and the start of a period of sole American hegemony.
That American power was felt during the 1990s in the form of containment against the Saddam Hussein government. Although some in the U.S. had wanted to push on to Baghdad and topple Saddam during the 1991 war, then George H.W. Bush administration held back; the coalition lacked a UN mandate to go beyond forcing Iraq out of Kuwait.
Since then, the Middle East has undergone convulsion, both from within and from outside.
