Need to Shift Middle East Foreign Policy

Discussing the Middle East as a tempest pot is nothing new. However, public attention to the issue tends to shift focus from the biggest perceived threat to the next. This encourages the interest in confronting a singular person than truly discussing the political instability as a whole. Some who are politically motivated want to exploit this by encouraging Americans to believe that removing Ahmadinejad from Iran will miraculously improve conditions in the Middle East just like it was argued the same would happen with the removal of Hussein in Iraq. However, as an Air Force colonel on the condition of anonymity pointed out, “Most of the Middle East Problems are economic.” This individual, who deals directly with the State Department in the region, stated that the supposed cultural differences go away with an economic structure that trickles throughout the population.

This idea of an economically-focus foreign policy effort instead of a military-focused effort pinpointed on terrorism is gaining attention, albeit not enough. Just this week, lost in the shuffle of the U.S. election, Jordan’s Queen Rania highlighted the issue of unemployment in the Arab world. She stated that the number of unemployed adults under 30 in the region is likely to grow from 15 million (a startling figure in and of itself) to a staggering 100 million by 2020. The Middle East already has the highest rate of unemployment among young adults in the World.

The decreased level of violence in Iraq has sent mixed signals to the U.S. public that the Middle East is slowly settling down. True, the U.S. might be succeeding in its efforts against terrorist cells. That is a matter of subjectivity. However, the bigger picture of the Middle East shows an increasingly fluid situation with more countries seeking regional supremacy.

The point of this line of discussion is that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East needs to focus on economic development, the true lynch pin to stability in the region. If the U.S. doesn’t, someone else might provide the needed long-term economic stimulus and gain influence over key Middle East players. Additionally, this economic unrest in the Middle East will continue to feed terrorist activities and aggressive sovereign nation actions.