Roughly two million survivors in the Gaza Strip have been scraping by on dangerously low quantities of water and food. Surrounded by a full Israeli siege without an exit, there’s been considerable global concern about Gazans’ fate. In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden promised to respond to the crisis, assigning the United States the task of building a large offshore pier capable of delivering emergency relief to survivors trapped inside the strip.

Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan says the pier aims to deliver 2 million meals per day and such a massive humanitarian mission will require U.S. “boots on the ground” to set up distribution channels. Zeihan says American soldiers will ultimately need to be dispatched to Gaza to ensure the operation runs smoothly and that food and water are delivered safely.

Below is an excerpt from Peter’s March 13 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:

In President Biden’s State of the Union address a few days ago, he announced plans to build a floating dock to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. This dock would help provide significant food supplies to this area, but at what cost?

You can probably imagine how the Israelis feel about this floating dock, but is that really the worst thing? This move by the U.S. will carry significant diplomatic and strategic repercussions, but a shift away from Israel and some other Middle Eastern powers might be exactly what President Biden is going for.

With the potential for a reshuffling of Middle Eastern alliances and relationships, the opportunity to buddy up with a much more powerful country — like ahem, Turkey — is on the table. There’s no telling how all of this will shake out, but its likely that U.S. policy in the Middle East is shifting.