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The US, Israel & Oil Irving
Kett
The article addresses the following 4 topics:
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The strategic importance of the Middle East by
virtue of its geographical location and critical water passages for
world trade. While historically the Suez Canal and especially the
Turkish straits were the most important waterways in the eastern
Mediterannean, today the water passages that are most crucial in the
Middle East are further east, namely in the Persian Gulf and the Straits
of Hormuz.
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The Middle East has emerged as the leading
petroleum and natural gas producing region in the world. It futhermore
possesses something like 2/3 of the world’s proven petroleum reserves.
Despite its prodigious and continuously daily output, the proven
reserves of Middle East petroleum and natural gas is still rising.
Petroleum products today are the single most valuable commodity in
international commerce. An assured supply of ME petroleum is, therefore,
not only of vital interest to the US in time of war, but also in time of
peace.
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3. US interest in maintaining Israel’s
independence has constituted an important element in US policy toward
the ME for many decades. Nevertheless, concern for Israel in
policymaking circles, has vacillated between the extremes of maximum
support to one of advocating virtual abandonment. Since the demise of
the USSR and the Camp David accords of 1978, it is questionable whether
Israel can continue to be considered an important strategic asset of the
US in the new ME.
The abandonment of a truncated, increasingly vulnerable Israel, becomes
an evermore attractive option for the US.
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There are two lines of thought with respect to the
ME battlefield in the 21st Century. One emphasizes high-tech weapons;
the other places greater importance upon well-trained, highly-motivated
fighters, prepared to engage the enemy at close quarters, and willing to
accept whatever casualties are necessary to gain their ideological and
military objectives. Indications are that determined enemy forces of the
latter type, employing protracted terrorist and guerilla tactics, are
the blueprints for future ME conflicts, of which there will probably be
many.
The strategic importance, coupled with a history of
almost continued crises, requires the US to consider the ME as a crucial
factor in formulating worldwide economic and military strategy.
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