Biden cabinet picks to escalate tensions, interference in Mideast: Ex-UK envoy

US President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Antony Blinken as secretary of state has set the scene for “further Washington’s belligerence and interference” in the Middle East, an ex-UK Envoy says.

Biden has nominated Blinken, his long-time foreign policy advisor, who served as deputy secretary of State between 2015 and 2017.

Former UK ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford said on Wednesday that Biden’s pick for the state of department signals further escalation of conflicts in the Middle East.

Ford said that Blinken had openly expressed regret about the administration of former president Barack Obama’s failure to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

“Blinken is on record deeply regretting that Obama nixed plans for the United States to go wading into the Syrian quagmire even more than it did already,” he said.

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Ford said that Blinken has also condemned President Donald Trump’s “attempts to withdraw US troops from Syria.”

"The scene is set for more counter-productive US belligerence and interference in the Middle East,” he told Russia’s Sputnik.

Blinken has also supported the Iraq war, the intervention in Libya, and the Saudi war in Yemen, according to Ford.

Ford also criticized Biden for nomination of Jake Sullivan for national security advisor.

"Neither of these appointments bodes well for peace in the Middle East, or probably anywhere else.” Ford said.

Sullivan served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton, when she was secretary of state to Obama.

Biden to get US in more ‘forever wars’

Analysts warned that Biden's cabinet selections, deeply tied to the defense industry, will likely ensure US troops get stuck in more intractable military conflicts.

Mariamne Everett, France-based analyst, expressed concern over Biden’s picks — all Obama-era “war champions” — who supported the foreign policies of Obama and Clinton, including intervention in Libya.

She said that this contradicts Biden’s remarks about putting an end to US involvement in "forever wars.”

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Everett said that Biden “sends the opposite message that he isn't in fact committed to ending 'forever wars' because he's surrounding himself with the exact same people who championed one of these 'forever wars.”

Reports also said that Biden poised to nominate Michelle Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense for policy, as the Pentagon chief.

Political commentator Dan Lazare said, "Blinken, Sullivan, and Flournoy... are not only hawks but incompetent hawks whose policies resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the destruction of entire societies, yet didn't advance US interests one bit."

Lazare said all of these named and potential Biden’s picks champion unregulated military spending, much to the delight of giant US corporations.

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