Skirmishes between U.S. forces and Iran-backed militias continue to increase across the Middle East after the recent deaths of three U.S. service members. American leaders face difficult choices as they debate how to respond to these skirmishes in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and beyond, and about how their choices, in turn, might impact the behavior of major regional players like Iran and Israel.
Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan explains how and why the West just can’t get out of the Middle East. Zeihan examines the enduring political differences between the Middle East and the West, and then concludes with three major options for America and the West to consider as they confront evolving threats in the area.
The following is an edited excerpt from Peter’s Feb. 6 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
The Middle East has been a thorn in the side for the U.S. since day one, so why haven’t the Americans just abandoned ship? To understand why the U.S. is still involved in the Middle East (and openly facing these potshot-esqe attacks), we need to breakdown this region…
The reason this is top of mind is the recent attacks on a U.S. base in Syria carried out by Iranian-backed militants. Before I dive into these specific attacks, let’s look back at this region’s geopolitical history.
There’s a complicated history of trade routes and European colonization, but things got spicy when oil was discovered and geopolitical tensions flared up. This led to a lack of what I would call value-add governments, a spamming of militant groups, and eventually, post-9/11 involvement by the U.S.
So, the U.S. stepped into a political and social nightmare and thought they could throw a bandage on it and be done; clearly that didn’t work. Fast forward to the present and the U.S. is still involved in the region, clinging onto the ever-so-slight semblance of peace and order that’s been established… until now.
Despite years of trying to get to the bottom of this, the question remains — is continued U.S. presence necessary to prevent further instability, or would withdrawal empower regional players to address security concerns independently?
