The Consequences Of The Blockade Of Qatar

“Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, the U.S.-Qatar political relationship soured badly, driven in particular by Qatar’s foreign policy initiatives and maddening behavior on the UN Security Council from 2006-07. The Amir thought they made a big mistake toppling Saddam Hussein. Qatar continued high level engagement with Hamas leaders, even as the US seeks to isolate them, and supports the Syrian government, even while the U.S. worked to support the democratic majority. Qatar is also often accused of funneling money to Hamas, senior Qatari leadership appeared to have grown jealous of the US relationships with regional rivals (including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan) and annoyed that they don’t give Qatar more attention, including senior-level visits and visibility in

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

For the United States, the Gulf region remains one of the most geo-strategically important locations in the world for diplomatic, intelligence cooperation, and business opportunities such as hydrocarbons and arms. This strategic cooperation has provided the region some stability, particularly with the rise of Iran and the Shi’a crescent and the chaotic outcome of the war in Iraq. The council members have also relied on the United State to fend off some of the domestic challenges to the existing regimes that are both internally and regionally rooted.

The United States relationship with Saudi Arabia is one that begun on February 14, 1945 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met King Al-Saud at the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal. After World War II the United States became the most influential foreign power in Saudi Arabia. US’s main interest was focused in the direction of the oil industry. Then in 1960 Saudi Arabia was one of the main driving forces in the creation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). During the Cold War, Saudis favored the United States while the two also continued to but heads over the issue concerning the ever present Israeli-Arab conflict. Americas constant support for Israel has, and will continue to be an issue that brings about confrontation between the Saudis and the United States. Foreign relation ties never were as intense as they were during the Persian Gulf War. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait posed a potential threat to the Saudis provoking the United States to intervene. The Saudis allowed the United States to have access to their bases during this time. Since that time, our troops have remained there which is something that has led to much controversy because many Islamist believe that we our occupying their holy land. This has sparked many extremist to take action, most notably Osama Bin Laden who used this reasoning to justify the horrors of 9/11. Post 9/11 opened a new chapter to US-Saudi

The US foreign policy towards the Middle East can be divided into three major epochs the first during the Cold War. Second after the Cold War till the 9/11 event and the third epoch is after the 9/11. During the Cold War the Containment Policy influenced the United States foreign policy in the Middle East. The three main concerns in the Middle East for the United States were oil, protecting Israel, and containing communism made the United States’ foreign policy in the region defensive, reactive, and pragmatic. The United States sought peace and stability within the Middle East region in order to prevent Middle Eastern countries from taking sides between the two superpowers. Preventing war was essential to Containment Policy. After the end

While the U.S. maintained a relatively confusing agenda regarding foreign policies during the Cold War era, its attitudes are clearer in the present as globalization has strengthened connections between all international actors and made it more difficult for some to focus on maintaining hostile outlooks. The U.S. has had a long history with Syria and Israel, as the superpower has struggled to keep the two countries from abusing each-other and has, at times, provided the latter with significant financial and military support. However, U.S. involvement in Israel-Syrian relations has declined significantly in the recent decades, only to emerge in the last few years as a consequence of the fact that the Middle East currently experiences a serious political crisis.

It started back in 1980 when President Carter determined UAE to be a viable asset by stating this in the “Carter Doctrine”, “…an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the ...[Arabian] Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” (uae-embassy.org, n.d.). In mid-1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, not only did UAE help fund the war for America, they also sent approximately 2,000 of their own troops to help fight the Iraqis in Operation Desert Storm. In Abu Dhabi, the first used United States Air Force base was opened to mainly provide refuel missions for US aircraft during the war, and is still utilized by US forces today. Also, a couple years later the US and UAE signs the defense pact, which allowed US forces to utilize UAE’s ports. One specifically in Dubai, Ali Port, is crucial to the US Navy due to the fact that it is the only port on the Gulf that is deep enough to be used for an aircraft carrier. Since 1992, UAE has been the largest manufacturer of US military equipment, investing over $360 million in defense gear for the American troops. As we move forward in time, lets take a look at the acts that hit closer to home. When we were attacked by arguably the most malicious terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001, UAE immediately froze all bank accounts to anyone suspected of funding terrorism, and instantaneously confronted Al Qaeda and the Taliban Regime. Only four short years later, the American people were hit by another catastrophic event, Hurricane Katrina. When the US was trying to regroup, UAE invested $215 million into the aid of people impacted by the event. The most important fact to date, is when UAE requested and the US approved to sell $15 billion in defense equipment to include the

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 shared anti-communist interests that shaped the United States –Saudi Arabia relations were eliminated after the end of the cold war. The interests to prevent conflict through threats to the political status of the Persian Gulf region were strengthened. During this period, the conflicts between the U.S and Saudi persisted due to perceptions about the Arab-Israeli conflicts. Political activists in the Kingdom created domestic debates over the policies that were proscribed by their government in the 1950s and 1960s. The bilateral relationships in the period have been strong especially in areas such as defense but weakened in some areas. For example, the political ties were affected by the disagreements over the resurgence of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2000 (Ahmed, 2005).

This oil rich country is vibrant and economically strong. According to Roy Sudip of Euromoney, Qatar has the world’s third biggest gas reserves, equivalent to more than 300 years-worth of stock at both current and forecast production rates, as well as significant oil reserves (https: web-b-ebscohost.com). Furthermore, its GDP is $212 billion and GDP per capita ranked 5th in the world. Qatar has one of the highest standard of living and economic productivity. Its annual growth rate has averaged just over 19 percent in 2006 – 11, driven by the country’s growing liquefied natural gas

The situation in the Persian Gulf has reached stark levels of danger. The Iraqi aggression has caused bloodshed and loss to thousands of people throughout the region. Instead of focusing our energies on dismantling the scourge of the Middle East that is the Zionist Regime, the Arabs and Persian are exhausting their energies with petty meaningless squabbles amongst themselves.

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 prince is responsible for selling natural gas drilling rights to the Chinese, thus angering the Americans. Furthermore, the Prince’s father, the emir, has good relations with America and allows them to keep military personal in his country. The allowance of US troops is of specific value in comparison, notably, with Saudi Arabia. This is a major sore spot for many fundamentalists as it is viewed as a military occupation of holy grounds. Osama bin-Laden is known for brandishing this point as a major reason for hating America (Zeiden 2001). It also angers Prince Nasir, who believes in reforms to move his country away from dependence on oil and foreign nations. This is noticeably in opposition to American oil interests, so they subsequently bomb the Prince as he attempts to secure the throne away from his brother (emir content with continuing former policies). US interference in Middle Easter politics is extremely common. America, and other European nations, has supported both oppressive regimes and military coups to secure oil interests (Zunes; Pitz, Lecture Modern Iran). In doing so, they have blocked the path to democracy and self-determination for many nations.

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.