The Global Significance of the Middle East - Essay Example

The Middle East region is of global importance because of the influence it has on the market of oil in the world. Oil is used in every sector for producing energy and its vast market accounts for the importance of the Middle East region, home to enormous oil wells. Energy resources are the backbone of the western economies and other world economies, and this makes the influence and involvement of this region to be of importance to the superpower countries, which include Britain, USA, France and Russia, as well as other countries in the world.

The global significance and dependence on the Middle East for oil and energy resources is known to have begun with the British navy that intended to use the petroleum from this region to give them a strategic advantage during the Great War. From this time, the region has been dominated by the great powers who struggle to take control of the looming oil business. Today leading nations are at conflicts in the struggle to control the lucrative oil market, and an example is the crisis in Iraq, which the United States and Britain invaded pretending that it had weapons of mass destruction, and this led to war in the region, causing death of many civilians, US and British soldiers (Shah).

Since there are vast oil banks in the Middle East, most leaders in the region as well as superpowers try to take control of the area so as to gain in this viable energy business. The large oil wells in the region have caused its global significance as it meets most of the oil needs in the world.The struggle for control of oil in the Middle East has led to wars, overthrow of leaders and dictatorships in the effort of taking over the oil business. An example is the Libyan crisis, which occurred due to the authoritarian rule of Gadhafi, and there were protests to remove him from power.

Gadhafi was a dictator and had used the wealth generated from the oil wells in Libya for his own and family benefit while other citizens languished in poverty. The West intervened to remove him from office, which some people think was a plan of the superpowers to gain control of the oil in Libya, one of the Middle East countries.Works CitedShah, Anup. “Middle East, 2011.” Global Issues. Web. http://www.globalissues.org/issue/103/middle-east.