Middle East Research Paper

The role of the Middle East has been very crucial to the United States, especially after WWII. The U.S. had three strategic goals in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout various events that unfolded in the region. First, with the emergence of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S., policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area in containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the U.S. becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to U.S. influence. Secondly, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened U.S. policy and involvement in the region while also creating friction between the U.S. and Arab states which were

After World War 2, the United States took over Britain’s job of overseeing the Middle East. The United States tried to avoid conflict while preventing the spread of communism. They successfully stopped the spread of communism, but couldn’t have done much worse trying to prevent conflict and stabilize the Middle East. The United States policy destabilized the Middle East, Iraq in particular, by overthrowing the Hussein regime at a poor time and deepening the anti-Western attitude in the Middle East.

What is going on in the Middle East is very different as to what was happening during the Cold War even though there are some similarities. During the Cold War the goal for The United States was to stop the spread of communism. As The United States and the Soviet Union began competing for influences in the Middle East. President Truman agreed that communism must not spread from those nations that were already under Stalin’s sphere of influence to the rest of the world. ”(Trowbridge 2017) This is what the Soviet Union had planed a global communist takeover. However, The United States put in affect the Marshall Plan in order to stop the spread of communism. The Marshall Plan aided the European populations, after the Soviet Union put up the “Iron Curtain.” Today the goal for The United States is to stop the spread of terrorism in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the United States President George W. Bush initiated the War on Terror. The United States government put into effect the U.S. Patriot Act. This act made it possible for The United States to detain a person who is thought to be part of the spread of terrorism.

The Middle East is a region centered on Western Asia and Egypt the region has generally been a major center of world affairs as the major religions of Islam and Christianity and Judaism were also established within the region. The region is made up of 18 countries and has vast reserves of crude oil. In modern times the Middle East remains a strategically, economically, politically, culturally and religiously sensitive region.

Topic: U.S-Arab relations: Assessing the successes and failures of American policy towards the GCC since 2008.

The Middle East is one of the birthplaces of human kind’s civilization. Since the Ancient Egypt, Sumer, the Arab Empire, Turkey Empire, or even to present day, the Middle East has always been a valuable strategic point for not only because of its geographic location but also it full of petroleum and nature gas. According the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) that 66% of the global oil reserves are in the Middle East and only 6% in North America, this makes a lot of powerful countries want to share a pieces of the Middle East, Stephen mentions “Much of the world 's oil wealth exists along the Persian Gulf, with particularly large reserves in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait

The relationship between the United States and the Middle East has not been the best. This has been as a result of past battles between the U.S and the Middle East. For example the United States led a 34 nation to fight

The United States of America has always had an invested interest in the Middle East: from a religious perspective to a financial one. America has always ensured that it will have an official war narrative for becoming involved with the Middle East. As the United States evolved, so did the war narratives. Nowadays, technology allows most people to have access to information in little to no time. Unfortunately, we often forget that there are many influences on the war narrative. For example, this nation’s past, the public’s expectations, and personal bias are just a few influencers of America’s narrative. America’s current war narrative is still influenced by the public perspective of the Vietnam War. Vietnam was the first time what happened during a war could be broadcasted at home. This played a huge part in the growth of the public’s anti-war sentiment. Thus, control of what the American public saw was necessary. During the Gulf War, the government made sure to account for this new form of narrative, and this caution has affected the media’s portrayal of the Middle East.

The war in Iraq lasted for eight years and resulted in many casualties; the cost of the war was tremendous. The reason for the war changed as time went by, starting with getting rid of weapons of mass destruction and then, when the weapons of mass destruction were not found, the name changed to Iraqi Freedom. A debate between two writers that emerged of the war in Iraq shows different perspectives. Writer John Mueller, who holds the Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies at Ohio State University, makes the case against war on Iraq. Also, writer Brink Lindsey, who is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is in favor of this war. This paper will examine the perspectives as reported by both John Mueller and Brink Lindsey as they argue about the case of the United States invading Iraq. I will conclude from the evidence that the war on Iraq was unnecessary and counterproductive because it increased not decreased the terrorism, refugee crises, cost lives and money without achieving any of its objectives.

In the post -World War II era, the competition of global supremacy between the superpowers of the time, United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the Cold War. Many countries in the world were pulled into this rivalry including many of the states of the Middle East. Allies against the Soviet Union received substantial quantities of United States aid and were encouraged to purchase weapons of Western means. Those who were in opposition to the United States’ power received economic and military assistance from the Soviet Union. The United States were inclined to view the rivalry between them and the Soviet Union as a vie for global supremacy. The challenge of attaining democracy in the Middle East has been insufficient leadership specifically in those who shared a common border and were in proximity to the Soviet Union. The United States, in their determination to impede the threat of expansion of the borders of the Soviet Union as well as contain the spread of communion, provided economic and military assistance to keep Iran, Iraq and Turkey politically stable. Although this was the goal of the United States, they actually impeded the democracy and political stability of these countries through its persistent influence in government affairs, determining its future’s livelihood.

The United States has engaged in numerous international interventions in the Middle East. The two major events that have shaped the politics of U.S. foreign policy, Israel, and the Arab states are the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the Six Day War of 1967. President Eisenhower and President Johnson each took different approaches while confronting these crises. The personalities, motives and predispositions of the Presidents and their circle of closest advisors explain how they shaped their policies and how they responded to the events. The decisions these Presidents made have had a long-lasting effect on the region. Over the course of this paper, I will compare Eisenhower’s policies in the 1956 Suez Crisis and Johnson’s policies in the 1967 Six

Conflict over energy resources—and the wealth and power they create—has become an increasingly prominent feature for geopolitics particularly in the Middle East . The discovery of oil in the late nineteenth century added a dimension to the region as major outside states powers employed military force to protect their newly acquired interests in the Middle East. The U.S.’s efforts to secure the flow of oil have led to ever increasing involvement in the Middle East region’s political affairs and ongoing power struggles. By the end of the twentieth century, safeguarding the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf had become one of the most important functions of the U.S. military establishment. The close relationship between the United States and the Saudi royal family was formed in the final months of World War II, when U.S. leaders sought to ensure preferential access to Saudi petroleum. The U.S. link with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region has demonstrated to be greatly beneficial to both parties, yet it has also led to ever deepening U.S. involvement in regional politics.

The Middle East has long been home to very deep-rooted conflict. For too long, the citizens of the Middle East have lived in the central of death and fear. The animosity between few, takes the hope of hundreds. The Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict is most notably the largest issue preventing peace in the Middle East, but it is by no means the only issue. The issue of bankrolling and foreign aid are also issues preventing peace; because the U.S provides so much funding and foreign aid to certain countries, it is in some sense encouraging them to continue acting the way they act now and not change for the better of the region. It is also making the U.S look biased and can potentially cause issues for America in the long run, if they haven’t already. There is also the conflict of the Persian Gulf; the importance of these “new” resources and how it could affect the world economy and also the balancing of powers in the Persian Gulf; The U.S and the Middle Eastern nations will need to work to together to bring about security and stability into the Persian Gulf and hopefully it can overflow to the Middle East as well.

The United States has been involved in the affairs of the Middle East for decades and they’ve had various reasons for being there, whether it was to wage war or to prevent outside influence that would undermine their own influence in the region, it always seemed to revolve around one thing: oil. As we all know, oil is a very profitable resource and it’s a huge part of many nations’ economies and because this is the case many wars are fought over this black liquid. The U.S. is no different in that they did just about anything to maintain their access to Middle East oil. As a result, United States actions in the Middle East today has been formed through the decades long desire for their oil.

Taking your assigned country (unless you have Turkey, Israel, or Palestine) please explain its importance, or lack thereof, to the United States and its foreign policy in the Middle East. Please discuss the countries relationship with Saudi Arabia. And finally, please discuss any major involvement it has had in the peace process with Israel. If you are assigned to one of these countries, you may select any other country and write about it.