The Middle East seems to be the centre of the world or to put it lightly, the centre of attraction due to its many conflicts, controversies, and issues. Former world powers and the United States of America have focused their foreign policies on the Middle East with a keen eye on the governments and people in those bodies. It is as attractive to foreign settlers and colonizers as it was in the past days. What makes this so? Is it only for oil and the growing economies that make the states so popular and controversial in the region?
Controversial world issues have been linked to the Middle East. These issues range from intra-regional rivalries among the different Gulf states, anti-Western and anti-American sentiments, conflicts and revolutions, Islamist views and radicalism, terrorism, and the multi-cultural conflicts among the different Muslim sects. The Middle East is home to different cultures, languages, democracies, and kingdoms. (Hahn 2005)
This essay will try to delve on the past leading to the future in order to dissect the events and issues that make the Middle East so different and so difficult to understand.
The Middle East is a region where early civilisations began. This is where Islam had its roots, as a religion and as a system of beliefs. Christianity also originated here for it was in Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born.
Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula, a place that is in trouble today as it was in the days where Muhammad began to preach. During those times, there were merchant caravans to which Muhammad first preached his new-found belief, which is nowadays the basis of Islam. The merchants would leave Hijaz in Arabia and proceed to Damascus, a city noted for commerce and trade.
The Achemenid dynasty started and ended in those areas in the hands of Alexander the Great. The Byzantine Empire also had its grandeur there. Byzantium was the base of the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great who renamed it Constantinople. (Kamrava 2005, pp. 9-10)
Mecca in the Hijaz region became an important city because it is the location of the shrine of Ka’ba, an important pilgrimage destination for Muslims. It is also an important transit point for traders from Yemen and Syria. In modern Middle East, major European colonial powers took hold. France first conquered Algeria in 1830, Tunisia in 1881, and established a protectorate in Morocco in 1912. (Kamrava 2005)
During the years between the mid-nineteenth century and the outbreak of World War I, the Middle East and North Africa (the MENA region) were colonised, but some countries were only subjected to pressure by what was called the “informal empire”. The Ottoman and Qajar empires took control of those regions, except Morocco. The Ottomans were in power from the thirteenth century up to 1924, while the Qajars ruled from 1779 up to 1925. (Hahn 2005)
The Middle East has been a favourite playing field for world politics. World politics is a favourite game for superpowers; it is fought over with the Middle East regarded as a ‘real estate’, and sometimes as “launchpad” for the superpowers’ expansionist ambitions.
The region is situated on top of two-thirds of the world oil and gas reserves. It is also located on the sea and overland links between countries in Asia and the Mediterranean. Whenever there is a conflict involving one of the states; for sure, great powers are involved, directly or indirectly, or by means of proxy. (Richards & Waterbury 2008, p. 2)
From the last part of the eighteenth century up to the early 1900s, the British and Russian political rulers had had their interest on this region due to geographical considerations and oil reserves.
The British were attracted to Iran because of the latter’s proximity to India, but Russia was pursuing its ambition to expand its empire in Central Asia and access the Persian Gulf. Because of this, the British and the Russian had control on parts of Iran. (Hahn 2005)
Oil was discovered in Iran in 1908, and the British government bought major shares from Anglo-Persian, the company that explored it. When Tsarist Russia had collapsed in 1917, Britain took the opportunity of controlling Iran. The Qajars ended their rule after manoeuvrings by local political and military leaders.
The rest of the Middle East, such as central Arabia and northern Yemen, were not colonized because of their lack of strategic significance and remoteness. These areas were under control of the Ottomans who could not impose complete control because of the mountainous area. (Hahn 2005)
In 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established. The Sa’ud family rose to power with the energetic ‘Abd al-’Aziz ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman (Ibn Sa’ud), who took opportunity of the weakness of the Ottomans.
The Iran-Iraq War was first a border dispute. However, when the neighbouring countries had entered the scene, it became a prolonged war. Then the Soviet Union supplied Scud missiles to Iraq; France also gave naval support. Kuwait and some other Gulf states supported Iraq, but other Middle East countries like Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen provided support to Iran. (Taremi 2005, pp. 96-97)
Imperialism has transformed the region into weak and artificial states. The counties had to seek patrons from the West because of the power struggle, and remained under the protection of Western global powers even after their formal independence (Hinnebusch 2002, p. 3).
World attention was again directed on the Middle East, particularly on Iraq under Sadam Hussein. US foreign policy was focused on Iraq because of Sadam’s threats of building a nuclear arsenal. In 2003, allied forces led by the United States Armed Forces invaded Iraq. The world trembled for everybody thought it was going to be a protracted war and would escalate to a global war. Iraq was devastated but now, it starts rebuilding. A superpower has helped it recover. One of the major reasons for the US involvement in Iraq is oil.
Richards and Waterbury (2008) have theorized in their book, A Political Economy of the Middle East, that there are two games played in this conflict-ridden region. One game is about people and governments, trying to cooperate but outsmart the other, and the second is the game of the superpowers with the Middle East being the stage of so many conflicts.
The twentieth century saw two wars, one in Turkey and the colonial war in Algeria. Israel and the Arab countries fought four wars. There were also civil wars in Lebanon and the Sudan, the rebellion in Iraq and in the Spanish Sahara, and the prolonged conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Iraq and Iran also fought two wars. Since 1992, Turkey has been conducting military campaigns inside its own jurisdiction. In the 1990s, a civil war was fought in Yemen. (Richards & Waterbury, 2008, p. 1)
The twenty-first century also witnessed several revolutions. The revolution in Libya led to the downfall and summary execution of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In Egypt, the uprising began with protests and demonstrations. The reasons were poverty, unemployment, corruption, etc. These are the usual reasons why some governments collapse.
The world is watching what is happening in Syria. Hundreds have been killed, including women, children and the elderly. The revolution is still going on, fighting has been raging in towns and cities. Bashar al Assad is still holding the power but the rebels have vowed to kill Assad just like what the Libyan rebels did to Gaddafi.
Oil rich countries in the Middle East are also abound with poor societies like Yemen and Sudan, but the most rich people live in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Israel has a high standard of living. Dictatorship is common in many states, but democracies are also observed in countries such as Israel, Turkey, or Palestine.
Political culture characterizes peoples of this region. We hear about the martyrdom of Shi’te Muslims, which is one of the ways to explain the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. There is also what they call Israel’s “Masada Complex” which can be defined as a way they regard their adversaries. The traits of the peasant society of Egypt are attributed to their ancient pharaohs. The Moroccans’ elite behaviour can be traced back to their tribal past (Waterbury as cited in Richards & Waterbury 2008, p. 4).
The Jewish-Palestine issue has always been an international question. Britain undertook, under the Balfour Declaration in 1917, to facilitate a Jewish home. And so, from 1922 up to 1946, the Jewish population increased up to 600,000, and 1.3 million Arabs in Palestine (Hahn 1005).
The former British Empire sponsored the Zionists’ project that was meant to drive out the Palestinians and acquire their lands, and establish a Jewish state with an economy facilitated by a “pure Hebrew Labour”.
The Palestinians resisted with violence, but also made legal appeals to the British and to the international community for them to be granted independence. This resistance would transform into a total revolt, from 1936 to1939, characterised by strikes and demonstrations, and sometimes by terroristic activities against the British and the Jewish people. (Massad 2006, p. 1)
The British re-invaded the country, executed the leaders, and organised British-Zionist death squads which attacked the villages and killed many Palestinians. David Ben-Gurion, the Palestinian leader, said that their revolt was different from the way Arabs fought because they would fight until victory.
It was violence against violence; the Zionists would blow up cafes with grenades and mined crowded places. When the British would tone their support for the Zionists, the latter would shift their attacks against them.
The Zionist attacks against the British included the blowing up of a ship that resulted into death of more than 200 Jewish civilians and members of the British police, assassination of British officials, kidnapping, and other forms of terrorism. The future prime minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, was the leader of those attacks against the British. (Massad 2006, p. 2)
A deep animosity has developed between Israeli and Palestinian societies because of the level of violence that has been applied by both parties. But the negotiations continue, this time with the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas – the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. Israel is now a nuclear-powered state with the United States government as its ally.
The United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East has always been focused on promoting US interests. These interests are shaped by geo-political consideration, which was prevalent during the time of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, and oil. Business interests played a critical role or what is known as petro-dollars (Hahn 2005).
But while the minds of the US policy makers were focused on oil, they had to play their game in the Middle East, sometimes leading to the detriment of the safety of the American public. The United States considered the Middle East as the most conflict-ridden and troublesome region of the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The series of low-intensity conflicts, which started in the 1990s had escalated and reached its climax when hijacked airlines, manned by al Qaeda terrorist group under bin Laden’s suicide bombers, rammed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on that fateful day of September 11, 2001.
Approximately 3,000 people, Americans and other nationalities, were killed. The United States countered by attacking Afghanistan, home of the Taliban who provided refuge to the al Qaeda fighters. Under the presidency of George W. Bush, the United States invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein from power. The latter was hanged after he was sentenced by an Iraqi court (Hahn 2005, p. xvii).
The Middle East is a home of some the most dreaded terrorist organisations. Although al Osama bin Laden has already been neutralized by a dawn operation in Pakistan, some of al Qaeda’s cells are still operating actively within the region and in other parts of the world where they can sow terror. Another terrorist leader has been chosen to replace bin Laden. Terrorists, hiding under the cloak of Muslim fundamentalism, are waiting to strike against their common enemy, the United States and the West. (Rosenberg 2009)
Iran is a problem (‘a pain in the ass’ to US foreign policy makers) with its decades-old nuclear ambition. The political leadership under the President Amadinejad believes Iran has a duty and obligation in the region it belongs to. What is this obligation? It has a duty as a leader in the region to fight the United States and its allies. Iran has charged that the United States is causing conflict within the region, and not the other way around.
The United States consider Iran as a source of another war, a major war in the Middle East. Its strategic location makes it attractive to foreign intervention. It has more than a thousand mile border, overseeing the former Soviet Union, and now Russia. Iran’s strategic importance is recognized by the former and current great powers – Russia, Great Britain, France, and the United States. (Bahgat 2008, p. 148)
The Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz caught the eyes of the world. This waterway is a strategic sea passage and the only passage from the Persian Gulf to the open sea. Ships transporting oil from the Persian Gulf states to Asia and the rest of the world use this sea passage. Iran has threatened to close it although an Iranian military commander has denied it. (Huff Post World: Iran: Strait of Hormuz under control, no plans to close 2012)
Iran’s policy makers consider their country to be a major player in Middle Eastern political and international affairs. They want their country to lead like it did in the past. But just as the United States regard their country as a “troublemaker”, they also think the United States and its Western allies are meddling in the internal affairs of the independent Middle East.
The only thing they need to make this leadership a reality is nuclear weapons. United States policy makers think that if this materializes or if Iran has nuclear weapons, Israel would react or attack Iran, thus the rest of the Middle East countries and the world would be involved. The rest of the story is understandable to the ordinary observers of the world events (Bahgat 2008, p. 148).
The United States policy makers also think that Iran is a sponsor of terrorism. Iran could pass on nuclear weapons to terrorists to strike the United States or Israel. The president of Iran is considered to be more ‘dangerous than Ayatollah Khomeini’. President Ahmadinejad considers himself as the Twelfth Imam, whom the Muslims have been waiting for to fight the “Little Satan” (Israel) and the “Great Satan” (United States) (Rosenberg 2009, p. xi).
Ahmadinejad’s followers believe that the revolution, a fight between good and evil, is about to come to an end. Iran’s mission is to help this climax come closer and make the revolution triumphant. Iran has to manufacture and possess a nuclear bomb to make this all come true. Ahmadinejad has many followers, some of them are jihadists and supporters of terrorism. They believe that jihad is the only way to follow and promote the way of Allah (Rosenberg 2009, p. 13).
With the eyes of the world on the Middle East, the inhabitants including those who have found a home in these places, realized they have to move and go on with life. Recently, the Middle East is taking a foothold in the global innovation areas.
The Arab world, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), and the other states have been busy putting up the infrastructure and the required institutions to jumpstart research and development (R&D) for various significant disciplines like mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other allied subjects. (The Economist: Laying the foundations: a new era for R&D in the Middle East: a new era for R&D in the Middle East 2011)
This is not an ordinary R&D, it is a global R&D for multinationals. There are many investors now in the field of R&D, a means of competitive advantage for the companies.
It was found in a survey that 40% of multinationals outside the Middle East would like to hold their R&D in the region.
While conflicts still lure around its territories, some of the states are busy with their economies. There seems to be a new golden age for some of these lucky states.
Peace-loving Arabs and Muslims have realized that they cannot be forever involved in squabbles. The continuous struggles and manoeuvrings of world powers produced benefits one way or the other. Dubai is a commercial hub. Saudi Arabia supplies oil to the world. With money from oil, there’s a construction boom in the country. Labourers from Asian countries flock to this place.
Middle East countries also know how to play the game that superpowers play.
References
Bahgat, G 2008, Iran and the United States: reconcilable differences? Iranian Studies, vol. 41, no. 2, Academic Search Complete database, EBSCOHost. Web.
Hahn, P 2005, Crisis and crossfire: the United States and the Middle East since 1945, Potomac Books, Inc., Virginia.
Hinnebusch, R 2002, Introduction: the analytical framework. Web.
Huff Post World: Iran: Strait of Hormuz under control, no plans to close 2012. Web.
Kamrava, M 2005, The modern Middle East: a political history since the First World War, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.
Massad, J 2006, The persistence of the Palestinian question: essays on Zionism and the Palestinians, Routledge, Oxon and New York.
Richards, A & Waterbury, J 2008, A political economy of the Middle East: Third Edition, Westview Press, Colorado.
Rosenberg, J, 2009, Inside the revolution, OMF Literature, United States of America.
Taremi, K 2005, ‘Beyond the axis of evil: ballistic missiles in Iran’s military thinking,’ Security Dialogue, 36, 93, Academic Search Complete database, EBSCOHost. Web.
The Economist: laying the foundations: a new era for R&D in the Middle East 2011. Web.