{"id":12119,"date":"2020-01-10T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12119"},"modified":"2020-01-07T08:14:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T16:14:23","slug":"what-is-the-middle-east-in-the-middle-of-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/what-is-the-middle-east-in-the-middle-of-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the Middle East In the Middle Of Anymore?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since World War II, the United States has been involved in a series of crises and wars in the Middle East on the premise of protecting U.S., Western, or global interests, or purportedly all three combined. Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the hub of three continents, and of three great religions, and the maritime intersection between East and West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In modern times American strategic concerns in no particular order were usually the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) Guaranteeing reliable oil supplies for the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) Ensuring that no hostile power\u2014most notably the Soviet Union between 1946-1989 and local Arab or Iranian strongmen thereafter\u2014gained control of the Middle East and used its wealth and oil power to disrupt the economies and security of the Western world, Europe in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3) Preventing radical Islamic terrorists from carving out sanctuaries and bases of operations to attack the United States or its close allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4) Aiding Israel to survive in a hostile neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5) Keeping shipping lanes in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Persian Gulf open and accessible to world commerce at the historical nexus of three continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2020\/01\/05\/what-is-the-middle-east-in-the-middle-of-anymore\/\">Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Since World War II, the United States has been involved in a series of crises and wars in the Middle East on the premise of protecting U.S., Western, or global interests, or purportedly all three combined. Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the hub of three continents, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-39t","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6709,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-double-dealing-middle-east-is-double-dealt\/","url_meta":{"origin":12119,"position":0},"title":"The Double-Dealing Middle East Is Double-Dealt","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media\u00a0 Boo-hoo, Middle East About every day or so, a throat-clearing Middle East pundit weighs in to warn us of the Obama\u2019s administration\u2019s dereliction of traditional American engagement. They rightly lament \u201clead from behind\u201d in Libya. After Benghazi, Libya has turned into something like Somalia.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Libya&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Libya","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/libya\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/100925206_bf609a8dcf-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12156,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/must-america-be-in-the-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":12119,"position":1},"title":"Must America Be in the Middle East?","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Since World War II, the United States has identified a number of national interests in the Greater Middle East, a region often defined quite loosely as the Arab nations (including those of North Africa), Israel, and sometimes Turkey, as well as Iran, the Horn\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5914,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/an-irrelevant-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":12119,"position":2},"title":"An Irrelevant Middle East","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to oil discoveries elsewhere, the region is losing its geostrategic clout. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the trading nexus of three continents \u2014 Asia, Europe, and Africa \u2014 and the vibrant birthplace of three of the world\u2019s great religions. Middle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/economy-europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8704,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/why-the-iran-deal-ensures-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":12119,"position":3},"title":"Why the Iran Deal Ensures War","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Iran agreement will remake the Middle East \u2014 for the worse. by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ National Review Online\u00a0 There are several scenarios the Obama administration may be entertaining as it pursues its diplomacy in the Middle East. It may believe that the new agreement with Iran will lead to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Civilians survey damage after an air strike in Douma, Syria. (Abd Doumany\/AFP\/Getty) Read more at: http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/425107\/why-iran-deal-ensures-war?target=author&tid=900280","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/iran-deal-chaos-in-middle-east-500x292.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4057,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/americans-shouldnt-always-wish-to-be-liked\/","url_meta":{"origin":12119,"position":4},"title":"Americans Shouldn&#8217;t Always Wish To Be Liked","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services When the golden dome of the Askariya shrine, a holy Shiite site in Iraq, was blown up last week, enraged militias did not attack American bases but rather went after Sunni extremists who, they privately believed, were the real culprits. How could that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;March 2006&quot;","block_context":{"text":"March 2006","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2006\/march-2006\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8693,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-hope-and-change-foreign-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":12119,"position":5},"title":"Obama\u2019s Hope-and-Change Foreign Policy","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"President Obama applies the same principles abroad that he does at home. by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ National Review Online At home President Obama is well known for his preference for perceived parity over liberty. Most of his domestic agenda \u2014Obamacare, executive-order amnesties, open borders, near-zero interest rates, quantitative easing, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Obama Administration&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Obama Administration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/whats-the-three-headed-monster-challenging-obamas-foreign-policy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12126,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119\/revisions\/12126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}