Super Rip-Off Post! Now Without Color!

I've decided to cross-post all my blog entries everywhere I blog! Ha-ha! So, if you're dedicated, and something of a detective, you could read, discuss and comment on each post up to three times. Unless I've lost count...

So, with no further ado...


Welcome to World War III!!! Current mood: Ki-yah! Category: News and Politics
I almost called this entry "Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid" but I decided the current title was more upbeat. Anyway, I've been neglecting the blog recently, but that aims to change, as a lot has happened. First off, however, a clearing of the decks. Andy has asked for a blog entry as geo-political crash course, and that's what he's going to get. Today class - The Middle East! Get my Gitmo Suite ready!
The problem in the Middle East (not the only problem, but the biggest one) is the United States. Surprise! You possibly didn't see that coming. Unless you know me.... Anyway, you could trace the roots of the problems in the region all the way back to the Roman Empire if you really wanted to. In fact, you could trace them all the way back to Biblical times, when the Hebrews slaughtered the previous inhabitants to the last man, woman and child and took up their first habitation of the "Promised Land". Back then of course, Israel was prime real estate, while now it's mostly desert. It doesn't even have oil. However, the question of Israel these days is mostly a side show, a distraction from the main point, which is the American domination of the region.
The modern problems in the Middle East date back to immediately after World War II. The handwriting was on the wall. The British Empire was in decline, their navy could no longer be depended on to maintain freedom of the seas. The Soviet Union was emerging as a global rival. The decision was reached that the United States had to become the new guarantor of global security if only to prevent the U.S.S.R. from taking over the role. This decision led to many regrettable, but perhaps inevitable, further decisions, but for the present we'll confine ourselves to the effect in the Middle East.
The :Middle East was absolutely crucial, both to America's new role as a global superpower and to the postwar American domestic society that would emerge in the 50's and 60's. Petroleum fueled the American war machine, petroleum provided the cheap energy that ran the American economy; that, indeed, was the only thing that made that economy, that way of life, possible. But again, the handwriting was on the wall. American petroleum production was not yet in decline, but its rate of increase was slowing steadily. Those in power could clearly see the day approaching when the the United States would go from a petroleum exporter, to a petroleum importer. Thus, securing the Middle East's vast reserves was, at least, as important as containing the spread of Russian communism, and it could be argued that the one was actually an important part of the other. That is to say, that securing the Middle East was necessary in order to contain the communist threat.
But all of that is neither here nor there, as a practical matter securing the Middle East for America's interests proved to be relatively easy. Virtually the entire region had been colonized by the British and on this matter Britain and the U.S. were of one accord. As the British withdrew, American oil companies moved in. Deals were cut, and events were managed and the new leaders of the former British colonies were essentially recruited on the basis of their attitudes towards American hegemony of the region. The new leaders got American backing, technological, military and financial; security guarantees and a voracious customer for their main export that soon allowed them to dispense with the financial assistance. And America got oil.
Happy ending, right? Wrong. You see, no one actually consulted any of the people that lived in these former British colonies as to whether or not they wanted to live in an American client state that basically only existed to pump petroleum for export. "Leaders" like King Fahd of Saudi Arabia used their American connections to get to the top, their oil revenue to bribe the populace into compliance and their new power as heads of state to suppress any dissent.
Essentially, the plan was to "autocratize" the region, replacing British control with a crop of homegrown strongmen to run things. The operating principle being "we don't care what you do as long as the oil keeps flowing". Of course, it didn't always go that smoothly. Iran alone in the region had never been colonized by another country although their oil industry was essentially run by the British in one of the typical "sweetheart deals" the U.S. would later take over. However, the head of Iran's elected parliament (Iran was at this stage a sort of constitutional monarchy, although the monarch or Shah, retained many powers as the head of government, including the right to dismiss the prime minister) was moving towards nationalizing the oil industry. These efforts eventually leading to a stand off in which the Iranians kicked out the British, but the British blockaded the Iranians, refusing to let any oil leave the country at all. This could not be allowed. In 1953 the CIA organized a coup ousting the prime minister in favor of the Shah, who immediately dissolved both houses of the Iranian parliament and would rule the country in an increasingly dictatorial fashion for the next 3 decades. British control of the Iranian oil industry was, of course, reinstated.
However, over those same three decades, unrest and discontent with the dictatorial governments that had been foisted on them grew, not just in Iran, but throughout the region generally. Since dissent was so vigorously repressed (beheadings) it became more and more radical and gradually became centered in the one area of public life that could mount some resistance to the regimes: religion. So, the people of the Middle Eastern regions burgeoning dissatisfaction with their governments slowly became increasingly radical and increasingly Islamisized. This is where Israel comes in to the picture.
Israel is both distraction and scapegoat for these governments. The idea that Israel is somehow to blame for all their problems is an extremely appealing one, especially to exactly the kind of radical, Islamisized people Middle Eastern governments are trying to reach with their anti-Israel propoganda. Now the fact is that the Palestinean-Israeli conflict is a very real human tragedy that may end up triggering the end of the world, perhaps much sooner than even Pat Robertson believes, but a lot of its punch comes from the cynical use that the other Middle Eastern nations put it to, with our tacit blessing.
The potential freedom fighters in these countries, you see, now turn into warriors of the faith pointed at Israel. This worked for a long time, and to a degree still does. These governments actually give money to the people that in another world would be fighting to pull down their corrupt, autocratic rule. That's why the saying goes that every time you buy gas, you're giving money to Hamas and Hezbollah. And Al-Queda.
To sum up, the problems in the Middle East, for my money, and leaving aside hundreds of years of Shi'ite/Sunni conflict and your standard regional rivalries, can mostly be lain at the feet of these U.S. backed (and in many cases U.S. installed) governments cynical manipulation of their own populace's religous feelings and stifled political activism to stay in power at the expense of long-term regional peace and stability. They're riding a tiger, and when you ride a tiger you cannot in safety either get off or keep riding, sooner or later the tiger eats you. They seem to be gambling that they can manage to stay on the tiger's back until they die of natural causes. One day, there's going to be hell to pay, and that day may arrive soon. Very soon.
Anyway, this blog entry was too long, sorry Andy. I know this is far too long for you too actually read. So, I'll also apologize to Bree if she has to read it to you. Actually, I'll just apologize to anyone that reads this. Sorry. I got carried away. Entries to come with everything that was pushed out by my rambling discourse on the short-sighted policies at work in the Middle East, including my 10 year high school reunion, and reviews of Pirates of the Caribean and Civilization IV!! Okay, Mork out. Nanoo-Nanoo.