When we take a look at the political history of the Middle East, World War I was fought to share the lands of the Ottoman Empire. As the war was progressing, the fact that the effects of the ruined world order were quite strong, the competition between Britain and Germany, especially Britain slowly detecting the disseminating smell of oil and coveting the oil fields were some of the main reasons that furnish the bed of World War I.
The U.K., followed by the U.S., continued to manage the Middle East behind the curtains, if not covertly, after the regional occupation until the 1950s. While keeping countries under control with appointed dictators, they followed economic developments and ensured that they took possession of the accumulated economy in the region.
The tension between Saudi Arabia and the West started in the 1970s with the oil crisis and ended with the assassination of King Faisal by a close relative. In the following years, the Iran-Iraq War was initiated, during which Saudi Arabia and other the Gulf countries bought weapons in support of Saddam Hussein, resulting in spending of $500 billion for the war. Once the Iran-Iraq War ended, the weapons sold to Saddam by the West started to be seen as a problem. To ascertain their disposal, in return for Kuwait that emerged after the Iraqi invasion, and the operation to save Saudi Arabia, the future of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's $500 billion was taken as a lien behind the facade of providing security.
Following the second Gulf war, then U.S. President George W. Bush convened with the heads of Gulf states and literally released groups to determine each country's war losses and the support the U.S. was to provide. The prince of the United Arab Emirates, who showed a tendency to refute this project, disappeared with his private jet in Tunis.
The traumas brought on by the Iraq occupation paved the way for Iraqi unrest, and hence, the war never really ended, as there was continuous infighting and tension between Sunnis and Shiites. Before Iraqi society's wounds healed, the Syrian civil war started and has continued with full blown violence for the past six years. America's role in the Syrian civil war has been to ensure the dissemination of the war and its gradual perpetuation, and so has taken up the mission to fight Daesh, which was a social product of the Iraq occupation and given way by Western intelligence, hence promising a 20-year war in Syria. U.S. activities in this respect are the continuation of war in Syria as the U.S. takes up the mission to establish and support the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the territory occupied by Daesh.
In the Middle East, now and again, we have seen extremely strained relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia pivoting on the verge of war. The U.S. intention seems to be to trigger a Sunni-Shiite war in the region. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have the tendency to get out of control upon reaching a certain level of power, and especially Iran's fantasy to be an empire causes uneasiness in the surrounding countries. Apparently, on the surface, the U.S. and Iran cannot reach a compromise, but we are unaware of the truth of the matter, as it may well be that these two countries benefit from their strained relations.
As for the situation of Saudi Arabia, the demeanor they have put forth regarding Qatar and the operations in Saudi Arabia, although it may look like an internal matter within the government of Saudi Arabia, are paving the way to develop internal conflict, and in the long run is a factor that may lead to internal turmoil. Saudi Arabia's young crown prince has a radical, aggressive attitude, but more dangerous for the Middle East is the U.S. treatment of Saudi Arabia.
1. Eventually flattening Saudi Arabia by economically stripping it naked.
2. Supporting arrests of civil businessmen, confiscating their assets and portraying them as suspicious.
3. Inciting Saudi Arabia to start a regional war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Until today, it was possible to transfer the economic accumulation in the Middle East to the U.S. with wars, occupations and economic organizations. But now, Saudi Arabia has exported through the strict intense channel of Wahhabism, al-Qaida and Daesh and has been over-usurped to manipulate the outside world. It can be seen that Saudi Arabia has succeeded in protecting itself from extremists.
If in the case Saudi Arabia, which is established on a vast piece of land, fails to govern its country on reasonable terms, they are bound to face extremely risky positions, and any turmoil or civil war in Saudi Arabia will affect the world, starting with the Middle East. We should be aware that the U.S. wants to ensure the continuation of its hegemony in the Middle East by feeding strife in the Islamic world, civil wars and dissension.
The subject has made its way to the doorstep of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's asseveration of changing the Islamic world map from the roots. We wait and see.
