Many Americans when they begin to hear the countries of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc. thrown around the image in their mind is just a blurry mess in between Europe and China. So don’t feel bad if that is where you are.
I think this is a tremendously important issue for us today because it is the most pressing global military threat right now. Many of you might remember back in January when the U.S. sent a drone strike to kill Iranian General Soleimani.
Middle Eastern Cold War
To understand what is going on in Iran, and why the U.S. is concerned or involved, we have to take a step back in history to get some context. And as we do, we can see that there is another cold war that has been going since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
I don’t expect to resolve this confusion in one class period, but I hope that I can peak your interest and get you to look a little bit deeper at the things that are happening in the middle east. First, watch this quick overview of this Middle Eastern Cold War. It is very visually engaging and puts everything in a good framework. It was from 2017, so it does not discuss the most recent developments.
The tension in the region is great as the video made clear. Much of the tension is between the Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, and the Shia-majority Iran. However, this conflict has spilled over into every area of the middle east, and it is not as clean-cut as this makes it out.
As you heard, in the video, the United States has been involved in this region in both Saudi Arabia and Iran for decades with close ties to the capitalist friendly Saudis and pulling strings to remove extreme Muslim elements in Iran.
Afghanistan
It actually never mentions Afghanistan or Pakistan, Iran’s neighbors to the east. Afghanistan was the final proxy war of the U.S. / Soviet Cold War and the instability left in the region in the 1990s led to a civil war in which militant Islamists gained power with support not from Iran, but from Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 when they refused to turn over Osama Bin-Laden, who was actually from Saudi Arabia but had been organizing terrorist groups and activities against U.S. held sites in the middle east and Northern Africa since the early 1990s. Obviously, Osama Bin-Laden is best known for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Oddly enough, Iran actually supported the U.S. in the months following 9/11 by rounding up and identifying Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents. But the U.S. turned around in 2003 and invaded Iraq, removing Saddam Hussein and the buffer between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Imperialism vs Iran
There is nothing simple about this conflict. It feels like the more the west or Russia gets involved in this region the more unstable it becomes. Perhaps that is the point, but with massive oil reserves in Iran and 90% of the world’s heroin coming from Afghanistan, its easy to see that this conflict is not going away soon.
The video below is a little bit longer. Feel free to skim through parts of it, but pay particular attention to Patrick Bet-David’s chart near the end of the video. He was raised in Iran and emigrated to the U.S. when he was a child. He is an entrepreneur and tries to toe the line between calling for capitalist reform in Iran and calling for an end to U.S. meddling in the region.
What do you think? Did this help to clear up some of the confusion about the main players in the Middle East? What do you see as the main obstacles to peace in the Middle East? Do you think that U.S. politicians really want peace in the Middle East?
P. S. – If you liked Patrick Bet-David’s perspective as much as I did, you might want to check out the follow-up video he made after the U.S. drone strike against General Soleimani.
The wars in the middle-east are absolutely brutal! But Donald Trump did good with the drone strike in January. It was a show of power saying that when you take American lives, we take yours. ‘drop the mic’ (or the bomb lol)
I’ve never really thought about the phrase “enemy of the enemy is a friend” even though I have heard it before, but it makes sense now. I feel like the drone strike was a bit much, people who resort to violence before trying to calm the situation are cowardly in my opinion. If you cant communicate effectively you shouldn’t be a leader. Also the dropping age for marriage in that area is so horrible, they are literally children. i just want to go save all those little girls being forced to marry like… a 40 year old guy… I know its normal over there but it’s creepy to think about.
Yea, the children getting married so early thing is really frightening to think about.
I agree with chloe I know its part of their culture to Mary young but i just don’t feel its right especially since most of them are arranged.
Yeah, arranged marriages don’t give any freedom to choose who you love, which is how God intended marriage to work.
Its interesting to learn the history of both Saudi Arabia and Iran and how they changed over time growing stronger then the other.
Yes, and also understanding why they fought and how the situation can be solved
What’s your idea for how the situation can be solved? Besides Jesus’ return?
I think it’s kinda sad that all you ever hear of those countries is bad things like terrorism or war or death. That is not good it makes people believe that all those countries are good for is violence. I think it would help people if the news did good stories on the Middle East
I agree. The only things I hear about these countries are bad and violent. It makes us stereotype them and say that everyone in these countries are violent which isn’t true.
I agree. Each country has its positives along with its negatives.
If US politicians really want peace in the Middle East, they’re going about it the wrong way. An especially bad move was removing stability from Iraq, the country keeping the direct violence between Iran and Saudi Arabia at bay.
It’s pretty much Saudi Arabia and Iran that cause all the conflict in the Middle East. Why can’t these rivals just declare war on each other instead of bringing other countries into it?
Maybe they care about their soldiers and land more than the other nations’ soldiers and land.
You know, I am not really sure what the US wanted in the Middle East. If they wanted peace, wouldn’t they have tried more diplomatic solutions? Furthermore, it seems that when a new president came in with different ideas, things would change either for better or worse.
I would like to know the difference between the Shia and Sunni and why they got along so well. Although the US and Russia brought some stability in the Middle East, mostly it just made the situation worse
wow thanks this was very informative
Do you even get points for your comments?
It’s kind of weird how you never hear any history about the Middle East. We only hear about them when we talk about the Afghanistan War and Desert Storm, which the US was apart of. It’s as if we like to think the entire Middle East was just on pause until there was a war where America was involved.
There’s a lot of world history that we are rarely exposed to in the US.
i feel like when i think about the world i first think about everything but the middle east. i feel like we should have more info on what their struggles are.
I had the same thought as Dallas. Thought we should put more thought and help into the Middle East
I think its great that America cares eneough to help and send troops to these nations in need