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The Riddled Geo-Politics of Near Eastern Geo-Strategy

An Islamic Point of View

Omar Alansari-Kreger
The geo-political equation of the Near East is one that resembles the likes of an abysmal
riddle. The current construct of the Middle East prevents the indigenous peoples of its greater
region to regain control over its own affairs. That describes the overall scope of Western foreign
policy toward the developmentally challenged world. Perpetual dependency breeds perpetual
servitude which implies that the phenomenon of national independence was nothing but an
extension of neo-colonialism after World War Two. Whenever and wherever nations are created
out of thin air, there is geo-political polarization which is rooted in the manipulation of geostrategy. On that note, it becomes crucial to realize that geo-strategy is the language of geopolitics. The shared relationship between both is similar to that of physics and mathematics; from
a binary standpoint, whenever a merger occurs between geo-strategy and geo-politics, the end
result is none other than the geophysics of human civilization.
The former defines the conceptually theoretic properties of a sociologically derived law
or equation while the latter produces the psychological language to interpret it. With the
exclusion of Israel, it can be argued that the Modern Middle East has been principally dominated
between the regional camps of Saudi Arabia and Iran. The West, America in particular, has
exploited this polarity to the advantage of its own foreign policy ambitions in the Middle East;
however, the British are the true authors of this paradigm. We are now witnessing a trend where
one regional geo-political power is played against another. The fallout of this maneuver is
designed to maintain American hegemony over the region at all possible costs. The most
dedicated geo-strategist of empire will deploy two contending proxies against each other; once
the wars, battles, and skirmishes have been fought, hegemonic empires almost always absorb the
benefits of the geopolitical fallout.
The end result produces a reality of mutually derived destruction which leaves an
empire of hegemony, I.E. the United States, as the only geo-political power that will gesture the
last laugh; the latter qualifies as a show of putrid force, metaphorically that is. The irony is that
Washington has normalized relations with the Iranians to undermine the Saudis; the Saudis may
bankroll certain aspects of the American economy, but the House of Saud will remain perpetually
dependent on military alliances of empire to ensure the sovereignty of its own existence. The
Iranians employ the illusion of their self-sufficiency as regionally derived geo-political leverage
which creates a gesture of geo-physical power without actually having it. An overambitious
Saudi Arabia is embarrassing for Washington and the Iranians can be appeased with economic
aid which keeps their so called Islamic Revolution afloat; the latter is nothing but the regional
expansion of Iranian foreign policy.
Regional powers are unavoidably prone to foreign manipulation because they are not the
true architects of world power. Unfortunately, we mistakenly confuse both as being one and the

same thing; oversimplifications are deadly to the big picture. The entire geo-political equation of
the Middle East in addition to whole of Dar-Al-Islam has been denominated by the geo-strategy
of Western hegemony; this has been the reality of the world for the last two hundred years. We
often forget that a premier world power does not need boots on the ground to maintain geopolitical control. For example, the British Empire kept the whole of South Asia under its control
through the tutelage of the Raj system; a world where the indigenous peoples facilitate the
heavy lifting of empire. As a Muslim, I would insist that the persistency of the current balance of
power is designed to prevent the reestablishment of the Khilafah. Our depravity, backwardness,
and debauchery is rooted in our disunity.
We betray each other mindlessly, shamelessly, and treacherously without the slightest after
thought. Our greatest problem is that we are living in a world devoid of the Khilafah.
Nationalism, tribalism, capitalism, and communism have divided the Muslims into polarizing
camps which only benefits the architects of divide and conquer. Ever since the rise of the West,
the intelligentsia of the world, our imputable human heritage, has been incrementally coopted by
an intellectual inquisition that has been deliberately poised against Islam and the Muslims.
Each and every one of us must concern our personal conscience with the following question:
what are we going to do about it?