Transcription
Hello friends, a hearty welcome to the Global Affairs by Sandeep Manudhane series. About 2000 years ago, there was a very vast Roman Empire. Its eastern branch was the Byzantine Empire. And the capital of that Byzantine Empire was Constantinople, meaning Istanbul, which is in present-day Turkey. The king there, hundreds of years ago, did a tremendous job. He built very strong fortifications around the capital Constantinople, and that fortification was called the Theodosian Walls. Walls were built on multiple levels. Moats were created so that no enemy could breach those Theodosian Walls for hundreds of years. And those Theodosian Walls kept the sovereignty of Constantinople intact for hundreds of years. While turmoil continued in the rest of the kingdom, the capital always remained safe. No one could harm it. Finally, the Ottoman Empire destroyed it, and then Istanbul was built there. That is a different story of the 15th century. Friends, today we are talking about sovereignty. And as you have seen, the question is about the Gulf States, meaning the six member countries of the GCC, which include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain. They have suddenly become very exposed. The Iran war of just 65 days has torn them apart. It has shattered the concept of their sovereignty. And now they will have to choose a path because the American shelter and umbrella defense and security umbrella has proven to be a liability and not an asset. So, what is the definition of sovereignty, and how did the Gulf States get trapped? I am going to tell you this. Stay till the end. There are very great learnings. Remember. Satyameva Jayate, meaning truth alone triumphs. Untruth never does. Gulf States Face a Sovereignty Test. Here We Go. [Music] Why are they suddenly facing this trial by fire of sovereignty? To understand this, we first need to understand sovereignty itself, and all these things apply literally to a country like India as well. So today, we will understand what the real meaning of sovereignty is, beyond the legal paperwork. One is a legal status. So India, the sovereign socialist secular democratic republic. We will make our own decisions. No one else will tell us what decisions to make. So, this is sovereignty at the international level, but this is paper sovereignty, isn't it? Real sovereignty is a physical infrastructure. It is the physical infrastructure of your country that no one can penetrate. And this means it will be a public good. Huge investment will be required in it, and it is not a financial investment that will give you interest. And when there is peace, it will not be visible to anyone. And as soon as war begins, it will reveal in an instant that I am protecting you. This is that physical infrastructure. The Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which I will tell you again in detail in the next slide. I will talk about Theodosian in detail. This was that investment. It did not bring in any earnings. But it saved the kingdom for hundreds of years. So, if you want to maintain sovereignty, heavy upfront investment is required. It needs maintenance, and it does not generate earnings. That is why many countries do not invest in the physical infrastructure of sovereignty. For example, all the GCC states. Why did they all get trapped? They dug the earth, extracted oil, and became billionaires. And they thought, why not buy sovereignty? They outsourced sovereignty. To whom did they outsource it? To America, sitting across the seven seas. And they told America, you protect us. Imagine how foolish this is. The utter fallacy and foolishness of outsourcing their sovereignty to America. That is why military bases were built there. And these people lived for so many years in the delusion, we are safe. America is here. Our sovereignty is protected. It took only 65 days for Iran to shatter this palace of cards. And today the situation is that they have become completely naked in the market. Their sovereignty has been torn to pieces. You will understand even better in a little while. And proof of this is what happened with Project Freedom recently. If you watch my previous video in this playlist, you will understand everything. So, the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople are always taken as an example of historical instances of sovereignty. Friends, join our mailing list. Scan this and share your email ID. Thank you very much. Theodosian Walls. This is the wall I was talking about. Look at its entire structure. They had created moats on multiple levels. And they had created such a large system that no matter how big an enemy came, they could never break it. In 1453, the Ottoman Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire, came, and finally, with great difficulty, they managed to break it and enter. And after that, Constantinople became Istanbul, and the Eastern Byzantine Empire ended. The Eastern Roman Empire, and after that, Islamic rule came there. But it remained safe for a thousand years. So, the Theodosian Walls, which belonged to the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, are always considered a physical form of sovereignty. Complete arrangement for self-protection with one's own money, which today earns nothing. The six GCC countries have outsourced the arrangement for their own protection to America. They spent a lot of money and expected America to protect them. Sovereignty must be protected by oneself because America is preparing to leave the Middle East. Now what will you do? You will keep fighting Iran, which has tens of thousands of missiles, drones, and mines ready, and has been preparing for this for 40 years, and you had no inkling. Because Iran has invested heavily in its sovereignty. How? Underground missile cities. No financially savvy elite will find even $1 invested in an underground missile city appealing because it yields no return. But Iran invested in sovereignty, and the underground cities built over 30-35 years, housing all the missiles and drones, are giving such returns today that the Strait of Hormuz has become theirs. They are fully prepared to earn billions of dollars annually just from tolls. Now, no one can reverse this. America has surrendered. It is preparing to leave. Have you understood the power of sovereignty? This is a long-term game in which the GCC has failed. At least, this is very clear now. So, these are large expenditures, but they make you very resilient. In short, the entire investment in our sovereignty must be made by ourselves. No one else will protect your sovereignty. Rather, if your foreign policy depends on a foreigner, you are already a vassal state, you are a vassal age. If a large part of your foreign policy depends on a foreign power, then you have become its subordinate state. Stop pretending, stop the drama. Because they are making your big decisions. Not you. This is what history has shown. A sovereign is one whose foreign policy is 1% under their own control, and for that, their physical infrastructure for safety and defense must be such that whoever breaches it will cry for seven generations, why did I make this mistake, as happened with Iran in this case. What did the GCC do? They forgot the concept of the Theodosian Walls. They became so rich that they penetrated deep into the global financial system. They dug the earth and extracted trillions of dollars in petrodollars and went deep into the global financial system, and their only obsession was money, money, money, more money, more money, morning and evening, morning and evening. Sovereignty, yes, it's an issue. Let's see, we have so much money, so let's do a SaaS. Until now, you have heard of Software as a Service. Today, you will also hear of Sovereignty as a Service. What a great joke this has become. We will buy sovereignty. Because in neo-liberal economics, liquidity, flexibility, and short-term optimization are considered good. In that, long and extensive multi-decade investments for sovereignty are called bad investments. And these countries, and all their kings, sultans, and financial elites, ignored Iran's underground missile cities. They just couldn't understand that a day would come when the tables would completely turn in just 60 days, and they considered sovereignty a financial investment. Whereas sovereignty is never a financial investment. Remember, either sovereignty is complete, or it is not. There is no in-between. And that is why all the US allies who are enjoying America's nuclear umbrella, in the last year, since Donald Trump insulted everyone with vulgar abuses, they are all exposed. That is why not a single one of them came to help in the Iran war, despite Trump's repeated shouting and pleading. Because Trump always wanted to be rid of the allies. So the allies said, fine, get rid of us. We are not coming to help. And America wanted to go alone. Everyone left America alone. But they are dependent on America, so now it will be a struggle to build their own sovereignty. Dear friends, thank you very much for supporting our channel. If you like the channel [Music], please subscribe, and please like and share the videos. Keep notifications on, and if you really want to support us, there is a join button below. Press it once. Five levels will open. Choose the level of your choice and join from today. Thank you very much. Now, let's come to the GCC and Israel. After that, we will talk about the GCC and America, and then about their fatal mistakes of 2026, which have exposed their hollow sovereignty to the world. Friends, you know the amazing whole story of what happened in the last three days, right? So, Donald Trump brought Project Freedom with the statement "I will open the Strait of Hormuz" and launched it. Immediately, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE objected, saying you didn't even tell us, and how did you launch this? Now Iran will attack us, which it did, on the UAE. So you stop this. Trump immediately turned back and withdrew, closing the project, saying no, no, no, we are not going to get into safe passage now, and now we will negotiate, or else I will destroy Iran. Brother, hollow threats, nothing will happen. Because Iran also attacked the UAE. Do you know why this happened? Why did all these Gulf States object, and why did America have to retreat completely? The inside story is that Iran would have warned these monarchs that in the first round of devastation, we had spared your monarch palaces. Next time, in all these states, our ballistics will directly hit your palaces, and none will survive. So you decide what you want to do. If this is the state of your sovereignty, then what is the use of your money, brother? What is the use of that money that can no longer provide you even a penny's security? The GCC and Israel have had very strange relations. And now, beyond this, all these relations are bound to be shattered. Everyone secretly, indirectly, maintained relations with Israel. Not directly, because Israel's background has been like that. But after the Abraham Accords in 2020, the United Arab Emirates, under the leadership of MBZ, and Bahrain made good friendships. Saudi Arabia did not do it completely openly. Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman proceeded very cautiously. But since the Gaza war, where 70-80 thousand people were killed, and the whole of Gaza was flattened, and the 65-day Iran war of 2026 has made normalization almost impossible because now there is open war, and it is known that if anything happens, missiles and drones will come from the front. So, the overall situation for the GCC now is that they can no longer openly befriend Israel, except for the UAE. The UAE is still moving forward with full enthusiasm. Nor can they be enemies with Israel, because Israel can also cause them a lot of damage. It is deeply entrenched. See, any country that has befriended Israel, historically speaking, Israel penetrates deep into their political system and, it is said, establishes a deep hold, and then you cannot get out of it. The best example is America. Israel has an iron grip on American politics. Such an iron grip that due to certain files, the entire Iran war was orchestrated easily. Now, you all know this. Ample documentation is available on the Ministry of Justice website in America itself. There are such terrible documents that if you spend a day looking at those documents, you will lose faith in humanity. All that was under Israel's control. Now, that is a very long and complex story. But once it enters, it becomes very difficult to remove it, and you think you brought it in. After some time, you realize that it is now controlling you. Their relations with America deepened greatly due to petrodollars. And they handed over their sovereignty to America. That is today's topic, isn't it, brother? And they told America, we will earn petrodollars. We will invest all the money in America. We will buy your treasury bonds, buy assets. You are happy, we are happy. You build bases here. That was the mistake they shouldn't have made. All the bases America built in the GCC, Iran has destroyed them all. Iran has destroyed all the American bases across the GCC. Think about this 10 times. They were supposed to protect the GCC. They could not protect themselves. What sovereignty, what protection? Zero. That is why I am saying that we are witnessing history being made in this historic time, in which we will know the future of the GCC in the coming years. So, the GCC states told the US, brother, give us your security umbrella, sir, and we are happy, we don't have to think much. The entire relationship became transactional. America repeatedly activated the Gulf States against Iran, integrated them with Israel, used them for energy markets, and used them to reduce the influence of China and Russia. And all these dynamics, after February 28th, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly broke down. They reversed. And today the situation is that America will leave this region any day. After that, what will the GCC do? Iran's think tanks have now openly started saying and writing that we are neighbors, we are going nowhere. America might leave, but we are here. So do alliances with us. Don't do alliances with America or Israel. The situation has changed so much. Now, it remains to be seen whether the GCC will take that path or not. Because if they take that path, then Iran will become a superpower. If they don't take that path, then Iran has already become a regional hegemon, because it will not let anyone pass through Hormuz. So, what miscalculation did they make in 2026 after all? The GCC never imagined in their wildest dreams that Iran would attack all the Gulf assets. Iran has been preparing for 30 years, saying, just start a proper war once, and then I will destroy you, and Iran has done that. This is their first strategic miscalculation. They greatly overestimated America's deterrence. They thought that America would come with such large aircraft carriers and all, and the Iranian regime would fold in no time. The aircraft carriers had to flee from there, or they would have been shattered. They misread Iranian weakness as Iranian caution, or vice versa. Because Iran was very weak due to sanctions, they thought Iran would be very cautious and stay away from them. They just didn't know that so much had happened underground, and Iran had moved far ahead in science, technology, enabled defense and offense capabilities, backed by Chinese technology, especially in satellites, and we have seen that in the last two and a quarter to two and a half months. They thought their so-called neutrality would protect them, but no one was saved. See, many people ask this very innocent question: what is this method? Why did Iran attack the GCC? If it had to, it should have attacked only American ships, or Israel. Oh dear friends, the GCC is funding all the American bases built in the GCC, and they are the ones who egg on. They keep egging on American bases to be prepared to attack Iran. Don't stop attacking Iran. And you are saying that Iran should not retaliate against them. Very good. And they underestimated the Strait of Hormuz risk. I mean, sometimes I laugh thinking about it. Such great kings, rulers of six countries, living in palaces worth billions, world-renowned scholars, their advisors, and they never once thought about what would happen if Iran closed Hormuz, and that has happened. So, the politics has changed from here. This has given us an opportunity to discuss the basic definition of sovereignty. So, what will happen from here? See, whatever happens is by the will of God. But now the challenge before them is how to balance Iran, America, and Israel. It will be very difficult, almost impossible. The reason is very simple. Israel is determined to create a Greater Israel, and Iran is now determined to create a Greater Iran. America is determined to flee. This is the situation today. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? So, enjoy life for now. So, this conflict between Greater Israel and Greater Iran will tear the GCC apart. So, the GCC will have to make a decision sooner or later because the situations have truly changed completely. So, whoever rents out their sovereignty to someone else, saying, you protect my sovereignty, will face this fate. Dear friends, join the database and continue to support us. So, this was Gulf States Face a Sovereignty Test. Many people are still underestimating it. Believe me, you will see dramatic changes here in the next one to two years. Because the rules of the game have been rewritten already by Iran. So, now, allow me to leave. I will meet you again tomorrow with another topic. Please comment. Press the join button, join at any level, and give your opinion. Also, let us know what other topics you would like. Namaste. Jai Hind. [Music]