A look back at Middle-East’s history
Middle-Eastern love for Americans over their European colonial powers led to a long-standing trust in the United States (US). It’s the classic love-hate relationship between the US and the entire Middle-East since the fall of the Ottoman empire in 1918. The relationship initially formally began with a commercial establishment of the world’s first oil cartel, the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). The commercial benefits of the IPC fueled American fascination with Middle-East in the initial days. The Middle-Eastern hate of European colonialists actually began their dalliance with Americans. Persians and Arabs courted Americans with trust until the return of the Shah to Iran after Operation Ajax in 1953. The constant interference of European and American military in the region has also made the region partially and in some parts completely dependent on western powers for existence. The western powers have controlled the Petroleum refining business since the early 1900s, thereby controlling cash flow for the entire Middle East. Not a single Islamic country is stable on its own in the world without western help.
Does the US have a Middle-East policy?
The foreign policy of the US for the Middle-East has been designed around crisis and events happening in the Middle-East. There is no coherent policy other than containing emergencies arising out of conflicts. The conflicts that American policy usually responds to are related to political upheavals which are far too many in the Middle East. Usually, all American deals in the Middle East work on quid pro quo basis. For every successful intervention by American lawmakers, there is a deal sweetener that sugar coats the repercussions. With this approach, the original transactional aspect of American foreign policy is achieved but no permanent solutions are effected.
In western countries, the middle eastern rulers are gradually sowing their seeds of influence through their funding of Leftist politicians, Hollywood and technology businesses.
Democracy? How much does it cost per kg.?
The rulers of the Middle East have resented western interference as much as they have enjoyed financial largesse from the west. Most Middle Eastern governments have used western professionals to build their business ventures, infrastructure and educational institutions. As autocratic societies built on Islamic ideologies, democracy is anathema to middle eastern rulers. Democracy is ideally not suited for Islamic societies because of their autocratic Islamic ideology. People’s views don’t matter much in their society and that’s their biggest point of difference from American society. This is also the biggest failure of the west to not understand this fundamental ideological divergence.
Is the US being slow-cooked?
The richest Kingdoms in that region such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have embarked on a campaign to build their ideological bases in the US in a discreet way. Most of the rulers’ kins are educated in western educational institutions, and they understand the American psyche. Very quietly they are cornering the institutions that make the US. They have invested in universities to control the academic noise in their favour, and they are beginning to control Hollywood to silence free thoughts. They have identified Media, Academic Institutions and Political Movements as three vantage points to aggressively promote their ideology in the US.
And across the pond…
Their European strategy was to demographically subvert through refugees. Even though Saudi Arabia has enough land and financial resources to manage all refugees from Syria, they didn’t do it and rather pushed them to Europe and the USA. That was a pre-planned strategy for a middle eastern invasion in Europe. The 2015 Syrian conflict was deliberately made out of control by Saudi, Sunni Syrian Arabs and Qatari governments to achieve their ideological and territorial victory over Europe. The Sunni middle eastern rulers have very smartly used United Nations HCR, to paint a refugee crisis and forced western countries to absorb their refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and other Islamic lands. This is used to subvert the demographics in democratic countries to create their own influences. Because these rulers need western countries for their survival in their own countries. Within their Islamic countries, they have funded the radical ideologies to create a sense of threat to western foreign policymakers. I call this strategy as dissuasive engagement. They want to engage the west to keep their power intact because without western political and arms support, they won’t be able to succeed in ruling their own populations. At the same time, they have funded their own radical groups to put pressure on western countries to continue their support to eradicating Islamic fundamentalism. Very tactful deceit on western democracies.
Hatred is like dry ice that burns the very hand that holds it.
Western intelligentsia – A confused lot?
Western foreign policymakers, especially, politically correct American lawmakers have been totally confused. On one hand, they see the dangers of aligning too much to middle eastern rulers and on the other side, they are seeing the ultra-left Islamic fundamentalism being visible in their own backyards. Virtually every university where middle eastern money has been invested in producing students that are leftist liberals, Antifa supporters and opposing western ideals of free speech. The damage to the psyche of students and also the future of political leadership of the US is gradually being destroyed by the cunning rulers of the Middle East. This is like making US and European countries weaker by diminishing the very open nature of their societies. That’s why we are seeing that any criticism is labeled as Islamophobic or Racist, all the while the middle eastern political leaders call all Americans and their supporters as white supremacists.
Here is a way out…
Muslim Brotherhood is the biggest Islamic organized group that has mass support in Africa. It has been accused of many terrorist incidents in the past. It is the main ideology of most political leaders of African Islamic states. The US needs to ensure that domestic organizations are cut off from the Muslim Brotherhood ideology. Palestine issue is kept boiling by most middle eastern states because it keeps western and UN involvement in their region. Palestine issue is used as a milking cow by all Middle Eastern governments. Israel is the only functional democracy in the entire Middle East because democracy requires maturity and broad-mindedness. Their hatred for Israel is coming from their Islamic faith and also the perceived loss of land to Israel. The whole idea of Palestinian Terrorism is to grab Israel’s land. In the process of building hatred of Israel right from early education to their kids, the Palestinian, Jordan. Saudi and other countries in that region, have completely destroyed themselves. Hatred is like dry ice that burns the very hand that holds it. Most middle eastern countries have institutionalized hate for non-Muslims or Kafirs in their educational systems. Therefore wherever these populations go, they try to create their own islands of communities which are virtually disconnected from other communities. Then they demand special rights for themselves. This is already happening in some parts of the US.
Be wary of where your funding comes from!
In western countries, the middle eastern rulers are gradually sowing their seeds of influence through their funding of Leftist politicians, Hollywood and technology businesses. Their investments in Social Media conglomerates such as Twitter have given them some foothold in spreading their political influence to a large extent. That was evident in the killing of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Americans have been consistently drawn into the Middle eastern wars based on differences between different prominent sects in Islam – Sunni and Shia. Americans are usually supporting Sunni faction because of trade favoritism usually offered by Sunni states. Shia states have been lagging behind to some extent on that front. Therefore all American wars in the Middle East have supported Sunni sects. Shia states have been deemed permanent enemies of Washington DC through successful campaigns by Sunni states. Washington DC should try their best to not bring their sectarian violence to come into the US.
A to-do list for American policymakers to build a credible foreign policy in the Middle East in today’s times
- Stop all middle eastern investments in US media, US Technology companies and US Financial institutions
- Ban all middle eastern investment in the American Education system
- Ban all middle eastern lobbying efforts in all political action committees (PAC)
- Stop supporting either Sunni or Shia sects in the Middle East
- Route all weapons sales to the Middle East through a unique Nodal American-Israeli Agency so that weapons are not used for Shia-Sunni conflicts
The chronological sequence of American involvement in the Middle East:
1833: Sultan of Oman and Muscat established a relationship with the USA to ward off the hegemony of European colonial powers
1857: USA and Persia
1928: IPC (Iraq Petroleum Company), to establish a vast Oil cartel spanning most of the Middle East east of Persia and west of Egypt
1947: Formation of Israel
1949: Trans Arabian Pipeline (TAPLINE)
1953: Return of Shah through Operation Ajax
1957: Eisenhower Doctrine (Virtually the beginning of American hegemonism in the Middle East)
1967: 6 Day war of Israel with Arabs
1970: Black September (Jordan and PLO conflict with Israeli and American help)
1979: US support to Iraq in Iraq – Iran war
1979: US Support to Mujahideen in Afghanistan via Pakistan
2001: 9/11 Attacks by Saudi Nationals
2001 – Present: War on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria
2007 – Present: War on terror against Isis
2015: US President Barack Obama provided direct American support to Saudis in their war in Yemen
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
References:
[1]Why Is There So Much Saudi Money in American Universities? July 3, 2019, Thye New York Times
[2]</a European migrant crisis –Wikipedia
[3] The Muslim Brotherhood – The Investigative Project on Terrorism
[4] https://www.npr.org/2018/10/20/659122586/saudi-arabias-deep-influence-in-the-u-s – Saudi Arabia’s Deep Influence In The U.S. Oct 20, 2018
[5] – In the aftermath of khashoggis murder saudi influence machine whirs on in washington July 09, 2019
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