Effects of U.S. Policy in the Middle East Essay Example for Free

Effects of U.S. Policy in the Middle East Essay The end of World War II was a mark and a start of a new era for mankind and the inhabitants of this planet. It completely changed the way of life of the people as well as the relationship between states. In the process of establishment of new world order where US emerged as the authoritarian state due to its strong position in the world post world war, every state either parted or joined alliances with the US. Every state has witnessed the mass destruction caused by the nuclear attack from the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus, that helped the US to establish itself completely as the super power of the world and since then its foreign policy has not been limited and spread to states even way far away to Vietnam or now even in the Europe where the Missile Shield program has already ignited yet another cold war scenario between the US and Russia. (Light Groom, 1985) The aim of this paper is to present the research carried out on the effect of the U. S. foreign policies and actions in the Middle East. The paper focuses specifically on the geographical politics as well as provides a general analysis of the different changes brought about by the policies adopted by the U. S. lobby. History Revisited With the culmination of World War there was a need to reestablish the Jews unsettled in Europe and settle them in an area where ideologically they will feel at home. This place could only be the legendary and prophesized Biblical area in the east of Mediterranean inhabited by Palestinians. During the World Wars it was also observed that Muslims supported Germans and they also needed to be properly â€Å"sized up†. (Levinson, 2008) Therefore based on historical evidences that there existed Jewish state in the area and holy scriptures have prophesized the reemergence of a Jewish state the whole theory was crafted and drafted in a way that an ideological Jewish state could emerge on world map. As outlined above US emerged the sole international force and it was backed by another so-called super power Russia in the creation of a Jewish state in the name of Israel. The state was promptly recognized by international comity of nations. Back in US the authors of Israeli nation know in their heart that the area is surrounded by Arabs who are all divided on the basis of their geographical locations and also the fact that the Saudi Arabia was crafted by Britishers, and as such though being large in area they would not go against the creation of Israel. (Ries, 2003) The divide and rule policy for Muslims paid dividends and initially their reaction were not so strong that it could create ripples in the US policy. US started fully supporting the Israel in all respects i. e. economically, armaments, political. The powerful Jewish lobby which started dominating the US politics after World War as majority of intellectual prisoners were Jewish who wholeheartedly supported US to buy freedom and also work towards a cause. Slowly the US foreign policy the authors, major authors for which were Jews started revolving to a single point that Israel must remain in existence and all those who are against the existence if Israel must pay the price. On the other hand slowly US policy also started reflecting factor i. e. back door diplomacy to soften the stand on Israel by the Arab hardliners. These needed twisting arms by creating an image of Israel in which it was proved that it is simply a might which has to be seen with fright. The Arab- Israel wars were all proving factors that Israel army is invincible. (Altunisik, Spring 2005) Over passage of time Arab rivalries were cultivated to fortify Israel and one of the most important cases was of Iraq. Saudis were supplied with AWACS for surveillance of Saudi Arabia and it was an irony that Israeli planes flew over its air space for hours both to and fro and went into Iraq, raided the Iraqi nuclear plant and they were not detected by any surveillance machinery. (Levinson, 2008) This was partly a success story of US foreign policy in which Saudis were directed to be careful about Iran but feel no threat from Israel. Critical Analysis These entire years the Jewish lobby in US was economically getting stronger and their presence in the world economic scene was absolutely critical as the world started becoming a global village and the dependency on business started getting more and more. The indulgence of business community in political fund raising became a swaying factor for all the presidents of United States and also other countries. Elections became a business venture which need to be funded and the funds could come from business community – the result was dictating the policies by businesses. Since the election campaigns in US are the costliest in the world therefore more indulgence of business community about their terms for financing the event. That is why we see that over the years the US government shave started looking towards Israel as an integral part of its foreign, economic and armament policy and Israel’s violations of human rights and violations of agreements with Palestinians are ignored or brushed aside. (Levinson, 2008) The causes of unrest in the Middle East are historical, religious, economic and geo-political. Ancient history and ancient civilizations can serve as a framework for understanding some of the existing enmity. Iranians and the Iraqis have been fighting for more than 3,000 years. However, the current unrest in the Middle East is the result of Western ethno centrism and colonialism (covert and overt), combined with religious and sectarian conflicts. The impact of US interference in the Middle East cannot be overstated. (Hafez Kenny, 2000) Indeed, the term â€Å"Middle East† is an artificial term that has no meaning except in the context of its geographical relationship to Europe. The most active period of Western interference in the Middle East was after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and up to the present time, although there were substantial economic, military, and political interests in the Middle East for the previous two hundred years. Prior to World War I the primary interest of the Western powers in the Middle East was geo-political, mostly concerned with shipping lanes Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Suez Canal and Red Sea for military and economic gain. Following World War I, the primary interest of the US in the Middle East became oil, although Great Britain was already actively involved in the exploitation of Iranian oil as early as 1908 (Bostock, 2008). The possibility of large deposits of oil in Iraq had already been recognized prior to World War I (Siegman, 2008). Thus, the partitioning of the areas that had made up the Ottoman Empire and German colonial holdings, including Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, following World War I had the smell of oil around it. Great Britain and France, with the support of the USA, used the League of Nations to obtain mandates, colonial power, over most of the Middle East. Unfortunately, along with the exploitation of oil came the oppression of the people of the Middle East, the results of which are evident today in the lack of democratic governments in the area. Each time a country tried to become a democracy, the implied threat of the possibility of oil being withheld from the military machines of the Western powers led to the destruction of the democratic elements and to the installation of kings and dictators that served the interests of Great Britain, France and the USA (Linklater, 2000). The distortions in policy are evident from the fact that on the one hand Israel is allowed to produce arms, become nuclear and amass weapons but this is not allowed to Iraq and rather the whole Iraqi government was invaded, toppled and destructed by US. Then enters a new dimension in the international and US foreign policies all led by US. This is the Iranians toppling the Shah of Iran and creation of an Islamic Iranian state led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Initially it was felt that with the passage of time the Iranians will be looking towards Shah for finishing the Islamic rulers. However the myth soon lost its charm as over a period of time the Islamic Iran became consolidated and their presence also started motivating the masses of other neighboring countries (Levinson, 2008). US soon realized this situation and attempts were made mobilize uprisings, than economically cripple Iran and finally direct overthrow of government. All these attempts failed. Iranian government started benefitting from these failures rather capitalized all these towards their consolidation as they started mobilizing public opinions through two slogans â€Å"Death to Israel† and â€Å"America the great Satan†. These slogans were infused into the new generations by making the Tehran University as the main hub of all demonstrations and activities. The only way left was to impose economic sanctions on Iran. US led sanctions isolated Iran but being an oil exporter it was able to circumvent the sanctions (Altunisik, Spring 2005). The hatred increased with the passage of time and Iran became more vocal against Israel as it believes that US policy was dictated by Israel and Israel should be wiped of the globe. The Iranians in order to prove their ideological war against these two counties started supporting Palestinian faction Hamas openly at war with Israel and also supported Syria and its allies in Lebanon who are against Israel (Siegman, 2008). The Iranian diplomatic moves were all against the US stand on Israel and there is a great danger that if the Iranians succeed in their diplomacy and their support makes Syria and Lebanon politically and militarily strong than there is all the likelihood that other nations in the neighborhood would soon be pressurized by their people to follow suit (Frankel, 1969). This dilemma in the US policies is a thaw which needs to be taken care of as the war between Hezbollah and Israel broke the myths about the Israeli militarily might and this is an alarming situation for the architects of US foreign policy. This situation was partially addressed by Mr. Bush who declared Iran as part of â€Å"evil nexus† and also declaring Iran as a country aspiring to become nuclear state militarily. As detailed above the US policy is primarily focused on Israel to be recognized by its neighbors as a formal independent nation and above all its might should also be accepted by them. As it was also state above that back door diplomacy was also used in the region to achieve the above objectives