September 2006
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September 5th, 2006
The New Middle East
Western powers have long played with Middle Eastern borders, drawing lines that ensure the flow of resources
away from local populations and towards imperial powers. Many of the countries of the Middle East and Africa are
monstrous creations, unnatural states whose forced-marriages of different ethnic and religious groups have created
civil wars and sectarian violence. Today's carnage in the British-created Frankenstate of Iraq is a great example
of this as Sunni and Shia Muslims battle each other in the streets of Baghdad.
Some in the military have argued that the present civil war in Iraq could be diffused by partitioning the country into
three separate states. Now American military minds have taken this one step further, drawing a new map that proposes
a redistribution of land throughout the entire Middle East. The authour of these new boundaries claims to have drawn
an "organic" map, with borders drawn along ethnic and religious lines. Despite all the lofty rhetoric, the motivations
for these new borders seem all too familiar.
I found this map on the website of Armed Forces Journal, a publication of the United States Military. The map
accompanied an article entitled "Blood Borders: How a Better Middle East Would Look." Since this map appeared
in a US Military publication, we have to assume that the Pentagon approves of the revised borders.
Before After
The proposed boundaries of this map do one thing; secure US access to Iranian oil. The map takes quality real
estate away from Iran and gives it to friends of the US. In fact, the "Better Middle East" appears to be a place
where Iran has no natural resources at all. On this map, Iran's Khuzestan region (where most of the oil is) and
much of its Persian Gulf coast is awarded to a proposed Arab Shia State. Iranian coastline on the Caspian Sea
is given to the US-backed dictator of Azerbaijan while other oil-fields in the North-West are given to a proposed
"Free Kurdistan". The Kurdish state also contains the best of the Iraqi oilfields near Kirkuk. Interestingly enough,
the article attached to this map notes that a newly created Kurdish homeland would be "the most pro-Western
state between Bulgaria and Japan".
The map calls for Turkey and Pakistan to surrender territory to ethnic minorities. It also calls for the Saudis to
surrender territory, including the area around Mecca and Medina so that an "Islamic Sacred State" can be created.
Good luck figuring out who would govern that place.
This map represents the incredible arrogance of the US military. This is imperial hubris at its worst. No nation
is going to willingly give up even small parcels of land, let alone large swaths of territory containing giant
oilfields. For the "Better Middle East" to become a reality, the US would have to greatly expand its list of
countries to be invaded. Unjust as the current borders may be, their dissolution could only be achieved through
a long series of military campaigns. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, we go to war with the countries we have, not
the ones we'd like to have. Could Neo-conservatives at the Pentagon be so blinded by ideology as to believe that
this "Better Middle East" is achievable? They are the same people who said that US soldiers in Iraq would be
greeted as liberators. Let's hope that this map is intended to be a discussion piece and not a reflection of
US policy.