The Middle Eastern relations with world powers - Essay Example

The Middle Eastern relations with world powers BRITAIN EGYPTIAN Relationship between Britain and Egypt started mainly as a result of the Suez Canal. A former French diplomat persuaded Mohamed Said, Egypt’s governor, to give permission for the building of a canal through the desert for transportation between Asia and Africa in 1854. Ismail was set to modernize Egypt, but by the mid 1870s, he had incurred huge debts. He decided to sell Egypt’s shares in the canal to Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister, marking the beginning of Britain's influence over the canal which was a very significant shipping canal (Gill, 67). At the beginning of the 20th century as oil importance grew, Britain used the Suez Canal as a much shorter sea route to the Persian Gulf oilfields. This resulted in Britain’s commitment to guard the canal and later led to 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 United States of America, and Saudi Arabia begun nearly a century ago. This relationship is based upon common economic, political, technological and social interests and mutual respect between the two countries. The United States-Saudi friendship has been through numerous predicaments and conflicts, but, has always grown stronger. 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 the above cases, there is a 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 a major contribution to the world oil market's volatility in the preceding few years. A good number 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.   There was a slow economic growth brought about by the continued increase in oil prices and continued uncertainty undermined business and consumed confidence, thereby making spending and investing, a huge risk. An uncertain economic world growth recovery started a year after the war, but in case of a protracted, costly conflict, it would be exposed to derailment. According to participants, there is an increased systemic risk in the world as a result of the immense geopolitical uncertainty which could further bring down the economic activity. A number expressed concern that the looming tension between Europe and the United States 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 improved tanks and deadly bombs have been developed. This is a blemish on the otherwise clear growth in the global economy, stability and peace. Some of the proposed attempts to bring an end to these conflicts by more fighting, 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 Deborah J. Gerner. Understanding the Contemporary Middle East. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. Print. Read More