Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East

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Shifting Sands Balancing U.S. Interests in the
Middle East

• The Choices Program for the 21st Century, Brown
  University.

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Part One The Creation of the Modern Middle East
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I. An Historical Overview

• The Middle East as the cradle of civilization
• Birthplace of Judaism
• Birthplace of Christianity
• Birthplace of Islam

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The Ottoman Empire

• By 1500 the Ottoman Empire had created a huge
  empire that stretched from the Persian Gulf to
  the western end of North Africa.

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Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• The Ottoman Empire was in decline by the
  beginning of the 19th century.
• By the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman
  Empire was known as the sick old man of Europe.
• The empire ultimately collapsed in the aftermath
  of the First World War.

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Breakup of the Ottoman Empire
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Colonial Control

• The 1916 Sykes-Picot Accord British and French
  mandates in the Middle East
• The 1917 Balfour Declaration British pledge to
  help establish a national home for Jews

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League of Nations Mandates
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Palestine at the time of the British Mandate
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II. The Politics of Oil

• U.S. involvement in oil politics of the Middle
  East
• World War II and the Middle East
• The birth of modern Israel (1948)

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The 1947 UN Partition
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III. The Cold War in the Middle East

• Soviet interests in the Middle East
• The Truman Doctrine and the Middle East
• Conflict resulting from the creation of Israel
• U.S. involvement and peace initiatives

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Israel and Palestine, 1947-1967
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Egypt-Israeli conflicts, 1956, 1967, 1973
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Area occupied by Israel after the Six Day War,
1967
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Return of Sinai to Egypt, 1974-1982
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IV. Rise of Radical Islamists

• The Iranian Revolution
• The Iran-Iraq War

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V. The First Persian Gulf War Reshapes U.S. Policy

• The U.S. response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

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Part Two Weighing U.S. Priorities in the Middle
East
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I. Regional Security

• Iraq
• Iran

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II. Political Islam

• The shaping of U.S. relations with allies in the
  Middle East

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III. Resolving the Arab-Israeli Conflict

• Challenges facing the Palestinian Liberation
  Organization
• The involvement of Jordan and Syria
• The U.S. role in peacekeeping

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IV. Oil Trends