The Modern Middle East in World Affairs - Essay Example

The Modern Middle East in World Affairs 1. Dependency and cliency paradigms in Middle Eastern relations with world powers.  BRITAIN EGYPTIAN The relationship between Britain and Egypt started mainly as a result of the Suez Canal. A former French diplomat persuaded Mohamed Said the Viceroy of Egypt, to give permission for the building of a shipping canal through the 100 miles of the desert between Africa and Asia In 1854. By the mid 1870s, Ismail, who had incurred huge debts but was set to modernize Egypt, sold his country's shares in the canal. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli bought Egypt's shareholding thus establishing Britain's influence in the running of this new and extremely important waterway (Gill, 67). As the 20th century dawned and the oil importance grew, the Suez Canal became a short sea route for Britain to the oilfields of the Persian Gulf, resulting in Britain’s commitment to protect the canal and later resulted in Egypt being a British protectorate. The relation between both countries became sour during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and ended with tripartite opposition against Egypt in 1956. The relations improved after the War of 1973. Presently, Britain has a huge share of investments in Egypt. Britain supplies Egypt with funded desert land reclamation project in West Nubariya Egypt, which is one of the largest projects set up by Britain in collaboration with Egypt. Egypt is important in Britain’s trade and industry projects in the Middle East. This is because it is among the top ten important markets for Britain in the world. In the field of Information Technology, a number of agreements were also signed between the Egyptian and British companies. Political relation between Egypt and Britain is strong because Egypt is regarded as an important, strong pillar that is in support of stability and peace in the Middle East. US SAUDI RELATIONS The relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United States of America, begun nearly a century ago. This relationship is based upon mutual respect and common interests – economic, political, technological and social. The Saudi-US friendship has been through numerous conflicts and crises, but, has grown from strength to strength. The origins of this relationship go back to the personal admiration King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud the Kingdom’s founder, held for President Woodrow Wilson. Oil has always been the major element of the Saudi-US relationship. The Kingdom supplies crude oil to the United States averaging 1.52 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia received quite a number of US companies, which at first came to provide products and services for the oil industry but later entered into other ventures. When Saudi Arabia embarked on an ambitious development program in industry, health care, education and agriculture, it sought assistance from the United States. U.S. experts and companies were closely involved in building up the Kingdom’s modern infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, roads, airports, seaports, industrial cities and telecommunications facilities. From that time, United States has partnered with Saudi Arabia in trade for more than fifty years. At present, America exports goods and services worth billions of dollars to the Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in return exports a sizable portion of crude oil to the United States. This commercial and economic association has resulted in rapid growth in two way trade. It has increased from $56.2 million in 1950 to over $34 billion in 2005. Joint ventures between American and Saudi companies in fields such as energy, petrochemicals, manufacturing, finance and telecommunications have been formed. An example is Motiva, which is a joint venture involving Shell Oil Company and Saudi Refining Inc. It is one of the major refining and marketing companies in the United States. The US-Saudi relationship extends beyond oil, business and international politics to the people. Thousands of Americans live and work in Saudi Arabia. In turn, hundreds of thousands of Saudis travel to the United States for education, healthcare, to conduct business or simply to visit. Combating terrorism is also an area in which the United States and Saudi Arabia work together. Saudi Arabia established itself in the intercontinental coalition to eliminate terrorism. It works directly with the US, other countries, and various global organizations such as the U.N. to fight terrorism by finding a way of bringing terrorists to justice and blocking their funding sources. In all the above cases, there is need to maintain good relations because of interdependency between the countries. Each of the countries depends on the other in one way or another. 2. Ramifications that regional conflicts have had in Middle Eastern international relations.  Iraq-Iran The global impact of a war in Iraq and Iran has had negative economic consequences for the global economy through two channels: oil prices and uncertainty. Both warring countries would later find the war enormously trying, and still significant victory eluded them both (Schwedler and Gerner 95). The political and economic fallout was clearly immense. No less than 500 thousand people died and maximum estimates stretch to 1.5 million. However, the monetary woes were more serious in nature for Iraq. This is because Iraq had incurred massive outstanding debts during the war as compared to Iran small debt. Iranians had put in use economically cheaper strategies during the war. The Iran-Iraq war is one of the main factors contributing to the world oil market's volatility in the last three years is Most of the oil industry plants in both countries suffered damages in air raids during the war. Until now, Iran's oil production is still very low. Its capability has not yet picked up completely from the damages of the war.   A further rise in oil prices acted as a drag on growth and continued uncertainty undermined business and consumed confidence, thereby jeopardizing investment and spending. Most agreed that a tentative recovery in world growth had begun last year, but was vulnerable to derailment if there is a protracted, costly conflict. Participants expressed concern that systemic risk in the world has increased given the tremendous geopolitical uncertainty which could further dampen economic activity. A number expressed concern that the tension between the United States and Europe over Iraq could spill over to other areas, such as trade. Palestine and Israel Conflict One of the most sensitive issues discussed in the world is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From the historic British control in the Middle East states, and the existing US pressure and control over the region, the aspiration of the Anglo-American seems to be the ability to take over control of the Middle East due to its vast oil reserves and the West's economic dependence upon it. Since its beginning, the conflict has had a number of economic, technical and political effects. Politically, the Palestinian Israel wars have been a uniting factor for all Jews worldwide in their support for Israel. Serving Israeli interests has been high on the list of priorities for recent administrations. Terrorism stemming from Mideast issues has also reached far and wide--to the twin towers and Pentagon on 9/11.  The effects have been immense economically. U.S. has contributed over $100 billion for Israel and has had to face the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74. In addition, contracts between the United States and rich Arab states were terminated because certain arms sales to them were opposed by the Zionist lobby (Gill, 49). On the other hand, Russia endured sacrifices for its Arab clients until the end of USSR. Enormous markets for arms have been constituted because of the wealth of Mideast states. Billions of dollars have been spent on a variety of weapons. Many manufacturers from the US to France compete to offer the best military hardware because of the extent of the market. The above cases show that Political instability in the Middle East and North Africa will likely affect companies that have a significant trade exposure to this area, such as European agric-food and textile businesses and Asian exporters. Militarily, new stronger weapons and new technologies from much improved tanks and deadly bombs have been developed. All this is a dark cloud on an otherwise bright horizon for the global economy, stability and peace. Some of the proposed attempts to bring an end to these conflicts by more violence, like in the Israel-Arabian wars are unsuccessful from the very beginning. They usually only mean, more killings, and destructions. Works cited Gill, Stephen. Power and Resistance in the New World Order. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave, 2003. Print. Schwedler, Jillian and Gerner, Deborah. Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. Print. Read More