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Why the West’s Interest in the Middle East is Waning

October 16, 2017

A question that has captured the minds of many is why the West shows so much interest in the Middle East. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, two reasons for this interest stand out. First, the fact that the industrial prosperity in the West depended on Middle Eastern oil renders, favorable political arrangements, and geopolitics in the region – a matter of prime concern for Western strategists since a misappropriation of the oil resources or political turmoil – could send devastating shock waves across Western economies. The second interest for Western countries has been to safeguard the security of Israel. Israel plays an important role in preserving the post-war liberal order in the West. For a prosperous Israel and integrated liberal Jewish communities in the West provide bulwarks against the rise of anti-Semitism in West. Rising anti-Semitism has always been the harbinger of a slide into virulent nationalism. Two world wars that brought misery and destruction of unprecedented scales are strident warnings against the tragic consequences that would ensue when nationalism holds sway. In our present time, those two reasons are increasingly losing their traction, if they haven’t…


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