• Latest
  • Trending
Western Governments Are Becoming More Hawkish

Total U.S. Control of middle east may be slipping

October 1, 2019

Modi Govt’s Judo Technique Pays Off In Electoral Bonds

March 31, 2021

Electoral Bonds: Supreme Court Has Evaded The Real Issue

March 31, 2021
ADVERTISEMENT

Risks Of India Going From Bad To Worse Due To New Covid-19 Wave

March 31, 2021

Protecting The Vulnerable At The Time Of Pandemic Is Imperative

March 31, 2021

Mamata Has Sent A Strong Message To BJP By Contesting From Nandigram

March 31, 2021

Sumitra Mahajan Was A Woman Parliamentarian For The Longest Term

March 31, 2021

Return Of Lula Into Active Politics Has Changed Narrative In Brazil

March 31, 2021

Remembering Dr. Norman Bethune – The Father Of Public Health Care

March 31, 2021

Time To Provide Reasonable Social Security To All Citizens

March 30, 2021

New Fiscal To Begin With Stronger Labour Movement

March 30, 2021

The Western Concern About Indian Democracy Is Not Unwarranted

March 30, 2021

For The Indian Communists, All Hopes Of Resurgence Rest On Kerala Result

March 30, 2021
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Setup menu at Appearance » Menus and assign menu to Top Bar Navigation
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
No Result
View All Result
IPA Newspack
  • Setup menu at Appearance » Menus and assign menu to Main Navigation
  • Setup menu at Appearance » Menus and assign menu to Main Navigation
No Result
View All Result
IPA Newspack
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT

Total U.S. Control of middle east may be slipping

IPA Staff by IPA Staff
October 1, 2019
in Uncategorized
4 min read
0
Western Governments Are Becoming More Hawkish
ADVERTISEMENT

By Conn Hallinan

 

RelatedArticles

Modi Govt’s Judo Technique Pays Off In Electoral Bonds

Electoral Bonds: Supreme Court Has Evaded The Real Issue

Risks Of India Going From Bad To Worse Due To New Covid-19 Wave

In many ways, it doesn’t really matter who—Houthis in Yemen? Iranians? Shiites in Iraq?—launched those missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia. Whoever did it changed the rules of the game, and not just in the Middle East. “It’s a moment when offense laps defense, when the strong have reason to fear the weak,” observes military historian Jack Radey.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

In spite of a $68 billion a year defense budget—the third highest spending of any country in the world—with a world-class air force and supposed state-of-the-art anti-aircraft system, a handful of bargain-basement drones and cruise missiles slipped through the Saudi radar and devastated Riyadh’s oil economy. All those $18 million fighter planes and $3 million-a-pop Patriot anti-aircraft missiles suddenly look pretty irrelevant.

 

This is hardly a historical first. British dragoons at Concord were better trained and armed than a bunch of Massachusetts farmers, but the former were 5,000 miles from home and there were lots more of the latter, and so the English got whipped. The French army in Vietnam was far superior in firepower than the Viet Minh, but that didn’t count for much in the jungles of Southeast Asia. And the U.S. was vastly more powerful than the insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, but we still lost both wars.

 

The Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco refineries at Abqaiq and Khurais did more than knock out 50% of Saudi Arabia’s oil production, it shook the pillars of Washington’s foreign policy in the region and demonstrated the fragility of the world’s energy supply.

 

Since 1945, Washington’s policy in the Middle East has been to control the world’s major energy supplies by politically and militarily dominating the Persian Gulf, which represents about 15% of the globe’s resources. The 1979 Carter Doctrine explicitly stated that the U.S. reserved the right to use military force in the case of any threat to the region’s oil and gas.

 

To that end, Washington has spread a network of bases throughout the area and keeps one of its major naval fleets, The Fifth, headquartered in the Gulf. It has armed its allies and fought several wars to ensure its primacy in the region.

 

Washington blames Iran, but the evidence for that is dodgy. The Americans have yet to produce a radar map showing where the missiles originated, and even the Trump administration and the Saudis have scaled back blaming Tehran directly, instead saying the Iranians “sponsored” the attack.

 

Part of that is plain old-fashioned colonial thought patterns: The “primitive” Houthis couldn’t pull this off. In fact, the Houthis have been improving their drone and missile targeting for several years and have demonstrated considerable skill with the emerging technology.

 

The U.S.—and, for that matter, the Saudis—have enormous firepower, but the possible consequences of such a response are simply too costly. If 18 drones and seven cruise missiles did this much damage, how much could hundreds do? World oil prices have already jumped 20%, how high would they go if there were more successful attacks?

 

The only way to take out all the missiles and drones would be a ground attack and occupation. And who is going to do that? The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has already begun withdrawing its troops from Yemen and has been holding talks with the Houthis since July (which is why UAE oil facilities were not attacked this time around). The Saudi army is designed for keeping internal order, especially among Shiites in its Eastern provinces and Bahrain. The princes in Riyadh are far too paranoid about the possibility of a coup to build a regular army.

 

The U.S.? Going into an election with prices already rising at the pump? In any case, the U.S. military wants nothing to do with another war in the Middle East, not, mind you, because they have suddenly become sensible, but as Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., chair of the Joints Chiefs of Staff put it, it drains resources from confronting China.

 

Starting with the administration of George W. Bush, and accelerated during the Obama presidency’s “Asia Pivot,” the U.S. military has been preparing for a confrontation with China in the South and/or East China Sea. The Pentagon also has plans to face off Russia in the Baltic.

 

One suspects that the generals made it clear that, while they can blow up a lot of Iranians, a shooting war would not be cost free. U.S. Patriot missiles can’t defend our allies’ oil fields (or American bases in the region) and while the anti-missile capabilities on some U.S. naval ships are pretty good, not all of them are armed with effective systems like the Sea Sparrow. Americans would be coming home in boxes just as the fall election campaign kicked into high gear.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Whether the military got that message through to the Oval Office is not clear, but Trump’s dialing down of his rhetoric over Iran suggests it may have.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

What happens now? The White House has clearly ruled out a military response in the short run. Trump’s speech at the U.N. focused on attacking globalism and international cooperation, not Iran. But the standoff is likely to continue unless the U.S. government is willing to relax some of their “maximum pressure” sanctions as a prelude to a diplomatic solution.

 

The U.S. is certainly not withdrawing from the Middle East. In spite of the fact that shale oil has turned the United States into the world’s largest oil producer, we still import around one million barrels per day from Saudi Arabia. Europe is much more dependent on Gulf oil, as are China and India. The U.S. is not about to walk away from its 70-plus year grip on the region.

 

But the chessboard is not the same as it was six months ago. The U.S. may have overwhelming military force in the Middle East, but using it might tank world oil prices and send the West—as well as India and China—into a major recession.(IPA Service)

 

ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

India May Soon Start Export Of Rockets And Missiles

Next Post

Corbyn Prepares To Head An Alternative Govt

IPA Staff

IPA Staff

Related Posts

IPA Service

Modi Govt’s Judo Technique Pays Off In Electoral Bonds

by ipaadmin
March 31, 2021
IPA Service

Electoral Bonds: Supreme Court Has Evaded The Real Issue

by ipaadmin
March 31, 2021
IPA Service

Risks Of India Going From Bad To Worse Due To New Covid-19 Wave

by ipaadmin
March 31, 2021
IPA Service

Protecting The Vulnerable At The Time Of Pandemic Is Imperative

by ipaadmin
March 31, 2021
IPA Service

Mamata Has Sent A Strong Message To BJP By Contesting From Nandigram

by ipaadmin
March 31, 2021
IPA Service

Sumitra Mahajan Was A Woman Parliamentarian For The Longest Term

by ipaadmin
March 31, 2021
Load More
Next Post
Corbyn Challenges Johnson To Resign Over Court Ruling

Corbyn Prepares To Head An Alternative Govt

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Recommended

Congress State Units Against Poll Alliance

2 years ago

A Blunder More Serious Than The One In 1996

3 years ago
Load More
ADVERTISEMENT

Contact

India Press Agency D-34, Basement, Gulmohar Park, Delhi - 110049 Gautam Nagar, New Delhi
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

About Us

IPA Newspack

IPA Intelligence Unit is a specialist service of India Press Agency (IPA), one of the oldest news agencies of India.

  • Setup menu at Appearance » Menus and assign menu to Footer Navigation

© 2020 India Press Agency - Latest Breaking news and Opinion IPA Media Group | Arabian Post

No Result
View All Result

© 2020 India Press Agency - Latest Breaking news and Opinion IPA Media Group | Arabian Post

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In