The Gulf Security In The 21st Century: Military, Economic And Energy Dimensions
Introduction:
Dawn of 21st century has brought number of challenges for the modern world to face. These challenges are security, economic and social development and role played by main stake holders of the world. 20th century was a century of great revolutions and development of nations; Industrial revolution and bringing world together after two world wars World War 1 and World War 2 are the major land marks achieved by world. By development of nations it is meant end of colonial rules in entire world, progress both industrial and social achieved by European countries after facing devastating effects of both World Wars and at last the formation of ideological states. The nations or countries which are based on the ideas of a religion and race are regarded as ideological countries or nations. Present examples of such states are Republic of Israel and Islamic Republic of Pakistan, These two countries or nations are formed on the basis of religion and are these religions are extremely opposite to each other. Formation of these nations is also courtesy of both World War 2 and finishing of Colonial Rule respectively (Madden and Gillick, 2012). Two international platforms formed during twentieth century. First one named as League of Nations which was formed after 1st World War and second United Nations. The formation of both organizations was to provide entire people of world on single plat form and other target was to reduce or finish possibilities of any deadly war (Madden and Gillick, 2012).
League of Nations failed to achieve its goal and the result was a deadly World War 2 which swept away entire human rights and is responsible of thousands of deaths. There was a need to define set of basic human, civil and women rights again internationally. As a result of 2nd World War world had two super powers in the shape of United States of America and Russian federation or USSR (Madden and Gillick, 2012). This situation provided the basis for formation of United Nations.
Although there were millions of lives wasted during both of these wars, yet these wars introduced man kind to ever developing engineering industries known as Telecommunication and Weapon Engineering. The concepts of wireless communication and missile technology were introduced in these wars. Even Internet was first introduced by United States Department of Defense. Most of the fundamental concepts regarding wireless communications were introduced in these wars.
United Nations (UN) after its formation redefined basic civil rights. The laws regarding Prisoner of Wars (POW), War crimes, state terrorism and governing issues were also defined. The bipolar world gave birth to a unique war faced by world as both super powers of the World did not use their own lands for the purpose of this war but they used lands of other nations for fighting and showing their military and diplomatic strengths. This war known as Cold War introduced a new dimension of battles between the nations. Diplomatic war-fare and using resources of other countries or nations for own interest were the concepts introduced during that era (Madden and Gillick, 2012). As examples Invasion of Afghanistan by Russians and Vietnam War started by United States of America. The results of these both wars were devastating for both invaders and the people which were invaded. There were precious life of Afghans and Vietnamese lost during these wars. In Afghanistan only the ratio was 10:1 for Afghans. The struggle and resistance provided by these two nations is a living example until now. Both super powers beside there all military might lose to a very weak enemy (Madden and Gillick, 2012).
Cold War era divided almost entire world into two banks Russian and American respectively. Both polarized group of countries were in continuous state or threat of war all that time (Madden and Gillick, 2012). Korea is still divided in two parts known as North Korea and South Korea respectively. North Korea is still believed to be supported by Russians and South Korea is supported by United States of America. In the similar way Gulf states were also divided into two blocks American and Soviet. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates fall into the American block. On the other hand countries like Syria and Jordan fall into the Russian block. Middle Eastern states are consisting of Muslims as majority population. Muslims are bounded to each other through their religion and social values. There were disputes created for sure between Muslims as they were divided into two main religious sectors Sunni and Shia. Yet the bound existing between them socially is very strong as most of their values despite of their other differences are same.
Cold war also gave birth to a new concept which is known as Proxy War. Proxy war commonly refers to the phenomenon in which two opposing parties use resources and land of a third party in place of fighting with each directly (Alterman, 2013). The case of Russian invasion of Afghanistan is a perfect example of proxy war. Both super powers fought on the land and lives of Afghani people. Russian invaded Afghanistan in the search of warm waters or cost line of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is a neighbor of Afghanistan. United States of America used resources and lives of Jihadis (militants present in Afghanistan were fighting Russians and that time). Pakistan provided logistic and weapon support to Jihadis and Americans as it wanted to save its cost line from invading Russian forces. Thus Pakistan, United States of America and Russia fought their wars on the land of Afghanistan. As a result of Afghan invasion and successful resistance of Afghan and Pakistani people; Russian along its idea of capitalism was defeated. Russia was broken into numerous states (Alterman, 2013). Still there are number of proxy wars going on all around the world.
Middle East (Gulf) and Role of big Powers
Middle East or Gulf is the area which lies in a region of planet where eastern and western worlds meet each other (Utah, 2010). This region has a great importance from ancient times as this was the region which is called land of prophets. Three main religions of the world Christian, Jewish, and Islamic have their sacred places in this region. This fact makes this region one of the most sensitive regions of the world. The religion Islam is dominant in the region as almost all of the states except Republic of Israel belong to Muslims (Utah, 2010). There is also an interaction of both western and eastern civilizations caused in Middle Eastern region. The interaction of both civilizations resulted in the division of the world into west mostly controlled by Christian faith and East controlled by Muslims in some parts. Greater area of world is still under the rule of Christian faith. West in form of Crusades succeeded in reducing the influences of Islam in Europe. West is also considered as winner because as a result of Crusades the power of knowledge (Scientific and artistic developments by Muslims) was transferred from East to West. Moreover the results helped both civilizations considering the fact that due to crusades both East and West and civilizations of both sectors of the world opened and became flexible for each other. This helped in flourishing of trade and business all over the world creating economic harmony.
Major countries present in the area are Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Yemen and Egypt. Egypt is a region which has traces of oldest civilizations in the world. Pyramids of Giza are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This country has a rich religious and geographical history (Utah, 2010). Egyptians used to have different concepts regarding creation of the world. According to one of the beliefs the whole world was a part of a big dark ocean. Suddenly a large portion of land appeared with reappearance of Sun god. Sun as a god is of great importance in ancient Egyptian religion as it created all things.
Era of Pharohs is an important part of Ancient Egyptian history. Family of Pharohs established a strong state of Egypt which they ruled. As ancient Egyptians religion is based on environment surrounding them. These Pharohs were worshipped by most people of Egypt. Pharaohs also considered themselves as family gods made to rule people. Pharaohs were actually warlords gaining power with passage of time. These warlords so called gods provided protection to people and saw to their needs. Egyptians start thinking that the god name as Pharaoh had support of all other gods. Gradually all other gods vanished expect Pharaoh and his family. Pharaoh became center of Egyptian civilization. Pharaoh led religious rituals performed to withhold Egypt. Pharaoh was not only the god-king of Egypt but also responsible for order of the land. Pharaoh was soon thought to be divine god-king having support and power of all other gods.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was formed by Ibn-e-Saud with the help of wahabi (a sector present in Muslims) militants. After capturing the most of Arabian Peninsula he announced the formation of his Kingdom in 1933. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has most important and most sacred shrines of religion Islam in it in cities of Mecca and Madina. King of Saudi Arabia is considered to be most strong and valued Muslim leader in entire world. One can easily assume that in order to keep good relations with Muslim World one has to keep good relations with Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This gives this country a central and deciding role in Muslim world (Utah, 2010). Discovery of oil in the region made this country more important all over the world. Until 2001 before 9/11 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was the largest oil producer of the country. Now there are 50,000 princes in the kingdom which have to control a relatively small population of almost 40 million people.
United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) is country which was part of British Empire until 1971. It was the only country in the region which did not stop the oil production and kept the industry running even rest of oil producers refused to do so as a war tactic. Most of the Arabs are considered as backward and reluctant towards adopting new technologies or ideas and even they are reluctant to provide women rights and economic opportunities (Utah, 2010).
Carmathians formed a powerful sheikdom and army conquered Mecca. After the the disintegration of the whole kingdom the people which were mostly military trained turned into pirates. These pirates were strong enough to threaten the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman in early 19th century. This hostile situation of the region encouraged British to capture the area who in 1820 enforced partial truce and a permanent truce in 1853 (Parent, 1). United Arab Emirates coast line then called pirate coast line was renamed as Trucial coast line by British. British Empire which had no interest in the area as they only entered the area to provide security to the ships carrying merchandise from west to east and vice versa.
U.A.E has played its part quite effectively in order to remove such an image of Arabs in eyes of other world. According to a survey conducted in 2007 there was a literacy rate of 90% among the U.A.E national women. U.A.E introduced Arabs to modern technology for example Etisalat is the first company of world to win mobile phone service license in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The people and government first in Arabs of U.A.E are now aware of the fact that the oil which is providing them all energy requirements is soon going to be consumed in next few decades. Keeping this problem statement in mind Government of U.A.E commits to attain a target of 7% dependence on the renewable energy sources till 2020. The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company known as Masdar has already sent tenders for international companies to invest in the field of renewable energy. Recently, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has founded and U.A.E is awarded as a home of IRENA in Abu-Dhabi’s Masdar City (Malta, 2012).
Abu Dhabi that holds 94% production of the oil is an emirate that welcomed foreign private companies to invest in oil finding and production sector. Abu Dhabi also has a reputation in business world as it was the only member of OPEC which did not nationalize the holdings of foreign investors during the wave of nationalization. This wave swept global oil and gas industry heavily in mid 1970’s (Malta, 2012).
All the emirates comprising U.A.E lie in the region where climatic changes are very less. Most of the time weather is hot in the whole Arabian Peninsula. Days are much longer in the region as compared to whole of the world. There is a problems faced by most of the western countries in designing of buildings while they are to be operated on solar energy. The orientation of building should be in a way that it gets greater intensity of sun throughout the day. Generally houses with house tops oriented towards west cannot install solar energy system. This orientation problem is not faced by U.A.E as the whole region faces maximum energy of sun all the year (Malta, 2012).
The main land mark achieved by U.A.E is the rights and opportunities available for the female population of U.A.E. Arabs are generally considered as reluctant towards giving enhanced development opportunities to their female population. U.A.E is again acting as a pioneer in this field. The literacy rate of females in U.A.E is 90% as of a survey conducted in 2007. The number of females enrolled in the higher education programs are 24% more than males enrolled in the programs. United Arab Emirates have taken a great leap towards religious development of females becoming pioneer to train females as “Muftis” (Mufti is a term associated with a person who can interpret Islamic laws and can enforce them) (Malta, 2012).
Kuwait and Iraq are the countries which have an important part in the history of Middle East. Iraq’s war trained military invaded Kuwait and declared it as a province of Iraq. Other countries of the region including Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A) and delegates of Kuwait asked international community to play their part in this situation. United States of America responded with sending half a million troops to Saudi Arabia in order to push Iraqi forces out of Kuwait which were under the command of Saddam Husain. This whole situation resulted in first American military base in the region. The presence of American military in the region played and will play a crucial role in the future of region (Utah, 2010).
Role played by the big powers or countries in the region is quite evident from history to present and in future of this region. It is due to the mutual planning of big powers that state of Israel was formed in the region. Formation of Israel and disintegration of Syria gave a deep wound to Arab including Egypt. As a result state two deadly wars known as Arab Israel War of 1967 and 1973 were fought in the region. Egypt and Syria were main partners in both of these wars backed by rest of Arabs and weapons provided by Russia. On the other hand United States of America supported Israel. At one point there was an extreme tension created all over the world as religious sectors of Muslim world (mostly consisting of oil producers) pressurized their governments to stop the supply of oil to the western countries and their allies which were fighting in the support of Israel. This stop of oil was to be used be as a war tactic. The involvement of Syria and Russia in these wars almost brought this world to the verge of a nuclear war (Utah, 2013). The dispute between Arabs including entire Muslim world was on the basis of religion. Some of the biggest shrines of both religions are present in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is regarded as holy city in Christian faith also. The temple or church or the place where Jesus was born and crucified exist in the Holy City of Jerusalem (Utah, 2013).
Arab- Israel wars were one of the most important incidents and their results have a strong impact on the shaping of history of entire world. Stake holders of Arab Israel war and the powers backing them up were crucial not only deciding the fate of these wars but fate of major countries involved in this war also. Second Arab- Israel war ended in October 1973. The eighteen days of war between the Arabs had the loss of 10,000 men, 2300 tanks, and 475 aircraft for the Arab forces. The Israeli forces bear an estimated loss of 2,400 soldiers, 200 tanks, and 115 aircraft. It was the time when Cold War between two big powers of the world that is United States of America and Soviet Union was at its peak. Soviet Union and United States of America were supporting Arabs and Israelis respectively. There came such a tense time in the war that the both super powers alerted their nuclear facilities present all over the world. This situation brought the world at the brink of a deadly nuclear war which fortunately did not happen (Martin, 1998).
In second phase of these wars there was an amazing coordination between the all the stake holders of the war. The united Arab front undertaken by Egypt and Syria was deceptive to the Israeli forces and its intelligence agencies. The Egyptian Plan was very good, unique and hidden beautifully; took the Israeli forces and its intelligence agencies by surprise. The plan utilized intelligent combat and weapon engineering techniques, which were responsible for defeating the Israeli forces battlefield plans in initial days. The Egyptian military engineers used high-pressured hoses to go through the strong sand canal walls. Other technique used by Egyptians was use of heavy artillery while crossing beyond the Israel’s defense lines.
The Egyptian forces were provided with protection using an air defense to shelter them from artillery and air strikes from the Israeli forces, which included the use of highly sophisticated Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and anti-aircraft guns. This gave a clear indication of Russian involvement in these wars (Martin, 1998).
The embargo resulted due to the crises of crude oil during that time reintroduced the balance between oil consumers and oil producers. Participants of both wars and the global powers behind them were totally exposed. Overall these wars played their role in order to end era of Cold War during that time. Bi-polar world and its division done by both super powers raised concept of independence among different nations. An organization comprising of nations which were not a part of either Russian or American block was formed. This organization named as Common Wealth Organization played an important part for the purpose of removing polarities in the world (Common Wealth, 2014).
Since its formation 53 countries became members of this organization almost from every major part of the world consisting of richest poorest countries of the world. All members of this organization have tried to be given equal importance regardless of economical and military structure. This is the reason why this organization flourished greatly since its birth (Common Wealth, 2014).
21st century started with a new war in which almost the entire world is participating. The ongoing war on terror started with devastating incidents that took place on 9-11-2001. The involved parties in this continuing war and the reason for their involvement lie in the 20th century. Russia as explained earlier invaded Afghanistan in the search of warm waters. Islamic republic of Pakistan neighbor of Pakistan has a rich cost line on a very important trade route (Alterman, 2013). Pakistan from birth is in the American bank and even today playing an important role in the war against terrorism as an allied state of United States of America (Alterman, 2013).
United States with help of Pakistan started empowering the resistance movement that was going on in Afghanistan by Afghan people known as Jihadis. Jihad is an Islamic term which is commonly referred to Holy War believed by Muslims. This slogan of Jihad was used by United States of America in order to gain sympathy for this struggle of Afghan people against (although encapsulate target of United States of America was to repel Russian federation out of the area and later disintegration of Russian federation) occupied force of Russia. Pakistan had three targets to achieve in this long war. First Pakistan wanted to protect its precious cost line from Russian forces. Secondly since the start of the invasion there were almost 40 million people migrated towards Pakistan known as Afghan refuges. Pakistan had not enough economic resources to accommodate these refuges so they wanted to get help from international community on this issue (Fukuyama, 1982).
Last and most important target wanted to be achieved by Pakistani administration of that time was a military one. Pakistan had dispute since its birth with its neighboring country Republic of India. Pakistan needed a great amount of military aid from western countries especially United States of America as India was receiving a huge amount military aid from Russian federation or known as Soviet Union (Fukuyama, 1982). This happened also as United States provided huge amount of military assistance and financial aid of $40 million per week in order to repel Soviets (Fukuyama, 1982).
As Americans were propagating the image Jihadi’s as Holy Warriors. This compelled Muslim militants from all over the world to join hand with Afghan Jihad’s. After with drawl of Soviet forces from Afghanistan; America also withdrew from the region which made these Muslim militants to settle in Afghanistan (Fukuyama, 1982). These Muslim militants after a civil war in Afghanistan formed first fundamentalist Islamic state threatening west especially United States. Afghanistan for almost two decades provided refuge to biggest terrorist group of world Al- Qaeda (Fukuyama, 1982).
Al- Qaeda lead by Osama-bin-Laden belonged to one of the deepest and oldest allied country of region Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Osama first came on to the scene when he presented his offer to Saudi Royals during Iraqi invasion of Kuwait wanting to call his army which he led in Afghanistan to repel invading Iraqi forces. He was also not in favor of the American offer of half million troops. His offer was rejected by the Royals of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Fukuyama, 1982).
On rejection of his offer he took the Royals into the streets labeling them as anti-Islamic and agents of Israel in public meetings. Osama resided in Afghanistan developing and gathering resources for his organization called Al- Qaeda. General attitude of Muslim public was with Osama-bin-Laden. They considered him as leader of mujahidin (Holy warriors). These Mujahidin were enforced in numbers by newly formed Muslim countries of central Asia and backed emotionally and financially by the fact of its anti-Israel and anti-American views (Fukuyama, 1982). With the dawn of new millennium Al- Qaeda was also strengthened to a huge extent and was present in almost every part of the world. Right at the start of 21st century 9/11 incident happened which jolted the whole world especially posted the question on the most secured country that time (Fukuyama, 1982). United States of America known as the most secured country and its intelligence agencies as most efficient agencies in the world was put under critical analysis due to the fact that there were 4 planes hijacked in a single day. Also there was another fact that all the Hijackers of planes that were used in attacks got their training in United States of America (Fukuyama, 1982).
It was a devastating factor for the relation of United States with Gulf countries as 15 out of 19 hijackers responsible for 9/11 incident were Saudi nationals. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is still one of the earliest and strongest allies in Middle East. This strong bound that is existed between two countries is shown by the fact that in 2001 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the biggest oil producer in the world and United States of America was the biggest oil consumer in the world (Martin, 1998). This challenge is so far countered effectively by United States and its allies. Osama- Bin- Laden met his death in 2011 during a covert operation conducted by United States Special Forces in Pakistan (Fukuyama, 1982).
Apart from Afghanistan; Iraq was also a threat for United States of America and its allies in Middle East. Iraq was a strong military power in the region enriched by the wealth of oil. Iraq was suffering from dictatorship of Saddam Hussain (Hinnebusch, 2007). Iran and Iraq War which continued for a decade was the most devastating and destructive war; took millions of lives and same numbers of serious injuries were caused (Hinnebusch, 2007). Enriched with oil wealth and support of the main political figures of the country Saddam Hussain proudly attacked Kuwait and Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait (Hinnebusch, 2007).
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has its border with Kuwait. Saudi Royals were against the Iraqi government. Saddam also kept threatening Arab countries to rule over the issue of supporting America and its allies making issue of Israel as a base for it (Hinnebusch, 2007). This scenario increased anger in Arab countries against Iraq and after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with help of half million American troops pushed Iraq out of Kuwait. After the first gulf war designated as operation desert storm by American military resources Iraq was under strict sanctions imposed by NATO, United States and United Nations for over a decade. Iraq was forbidden to sale its oil and its whole air space was declared as no fly zone by Americans and allied forces. Only a small amount of oil was taken by international community in the name of oil for food program. Life of common man in was affected greatly due to sanctions imposed by international community. It is still a question to be answered by international community including platform of United Nations that Why huge population of Iraq suffered due to actions of a single person? (Hinnebusch, 2007)
Saddam Hussain used state terrorism as a tool to suppress his opposition parties. He used chemical weapons on his declared rebels “Kurds”. Kurds commonly refers to a tribe which was not Arab by birth and their forefathers are narrated to be Sala Din and his army. End of Khalafa system in Muslim world resulted due to defeat of Turkish armies supporting Germany in First World War. Muslims divided themselves in to two main race sectors called Arabs and non-Arabs. Arab people are referred to a group of tribes living in Arabian Peninsula or Persian Gulf from ancient times. Non-Arabs are other races which lived outside Arabian Peninsula. Kurd residing in some areas of Turkey and Northern Iraq were not considered as part of either of this group. Kurds are still facing raciest behavior by the governments, administrations and people of Turkey and Iraq. When it was decided to invade Iraq in 2003; these Kurds join hands with United States of America and its allies in order to over throw the throne of Saddam Hussain.
Another factor which caused the downfall of Saddam and its Iraq was religious. Muslims are divided into two main religious sectors called Sunni and Shia as narrated earlier too. Iraq is a country which contains biggest shrines of Shia sector of Islam. In fact Shia sector got his birth in the desert of Iraq. Saddam Hussain belonged to Sunni sector and tried to suppress Shia majority in many parts of the Iraq. Saddam Hussain faced a great opposition from the parts of country which had Shia population dominant. Still there are many Shia groups acting independently apart from Sunni resistance group in Iraq against American occupation of their country. For example Mehdi Militants (Shia militant group operating in Iraq) dented United States of America and its allies in early days of the occupation. Other resistance movements in Iraq are of Sunni militants or ex- Iraqi army officers. Other stories of Saddam’s cruelty are also famous. Iraq showed its interest in developing nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in late 1990s. This interest taken by Saddam prompted international community because if Iraq enabled to produce weapons of mass destruction it would have caused a major disaster for the allied states present in Gulf such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel (Mearshimer and Stephen, 2003).
There was a continuous propaganda against Iraq and Saddam Hussain and his interest in weapon of mass destruction all over the world by Americans prior to occupation of Iraq in 2003. United Nations inspectors for detecting weapons of mass destruction cleared Iraq and gave solid statement that there are no weapons of mass destruction found at Iraq. Moreover prior to operation Iraqi Liberation in 2003 Iraqi defense missiles were destroyed by United Nation’s inspector due to continuous increasing pressure of United States (Mearshimer and Stephen, 2003). War started by America and its allies in 2003 against much weak Iraqi state is regarded as blood for oil war in opinion of many people. This claim seems to be true owing to the fact that there are no weapons of mass destruction yet discovered in Iraq. Iraq war in the eyes of many people is a useless war which has wasted many precious lives and has given birth to a bigger wave of terrorism (Mearshimer and Stephen, 2003). Iraq was proven to be more stable and peaceful in the era of Saddam Hussain as compared to situation after seen in Iraq after the occupation of American lead allies (Mearshimer and Stephen, 2003).
There is a great debate going on in the world that this world is going to face a clash of religions soon. It is generally referred to tension rising between United States along with its allies and religious sectors of Islam. There is a need of revisiting the policy which is adopted by United States of America. This revision of the policies is nicely explained by speech US president Barak Hussain Obama to United Nations General Council meeting. This speech gives a clear view of America’s revised policy over the issues of clashes between religions and civilizations.
In this speech president Obama explained the attentions of US government and people regarding this hot issue. The main points in Obama’s speech In UN General Council are; America in its foundation has ideas like free speech and free religion.
President Obama delivered a clear message of U.S.A’s stance on the propagation of love and peace throughout the world. America is one of the countries which as nation have accepted people belonging to all religions and races. It is accepted by Obama in its speech that increased military presence and merely a speech cannot stop extremism. The ultimate goal wanted to be achieved by United States of America and other peaceful nations present all over the world is the change in heart of people. Hearts of the people present all over the world should contain love for each other as it is the only solution to all of the major tensions in modern world. Love should be a common religion for people all over the world to follow.
Lauren Markoe calls this speech as “Obama Doctrine on Religion”. According to religious study experts the points that can be achieved from the speech under discussion are, Blasphemy should be tolerated, Religious tolerance is a two-way street, turn the other cheek (as propagated by Obama’s own faith that is Christian faith. America according to Obama in this speech is a one nation under one God; this should be the rule to be followed by all the people of the world as a single nation under single God. The danger of extremism was also addressed by the president during his speech.
Apart from United States of America other big forces are also involved in the shaping the future of the region. Russia has supported Arab countries during both Arab Israel wars and these wars brought the world near to a n
