Affects of the Cold War on the Middle East Essay - 1

Affects of the Cold War on the Middle East - Essay Example The effects of the Cold War on the socio-political affairs in the Middle East were very diverse and discursive in nature due to a number of economic, historical, political and religious causes such the Arab-Israel antagonism, the overt anti-religious nature of Communism, the vast reserve of furnace oil in the Middle Eastern countries, the non-democratic and most likely monarchic political systems in those countries during the Cold War and Islam as the religion of the majority of the people in the Middle East. Since most of the political governments of the Middle East were non-democratic and, to a great extent, monarchic after the Second World War up to 2000, the then rulers were forced to take shelter either in the US block or the Soviet in order to survive in the countries’ power with the support of any of the two superpowers. Also due to the vast reserve of oil, the Middle Eastern countries were strategically important for both of the superpowers. Therefore, the rulers of th ese countries needed backings of any of these two superpowers against the expansionist invasions of the others. Before the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, the Arab countries were more or less neutral, though because of being geographically close to the Soviet Union and the overt US support for Israel in this region, the countries were more influenced by the Soviet Leaders. Because of the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, the countries were alarmed; they began to feel the threat from the Soviet Union’s aggressive nature.