A Look at the Sequence of American Strategies Targeting the Region and Its Countries

The various strategies that the United States has pursued in dealing with its adversaries and enemies since the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and beyond have depended on its patterns in dealing with the international community. At each juncture, from one period to the next, its tools and means have varied. It has moved from one place to another according to the international situation and its interests.

In the ‘60s and the ‘70s the policy of the United States was the principle of balance in international relations. Kissinger was an American political engineer and advisor to American President Jimmy Carter. Kissinger eventually became the secretary of State, beginning the current design of American foreign policy. This was established in reaction to the bipolar international scene.

This was during the time of the United States and the Soviet Union, when countries followed either the socialist or capitalist systems and were linked to the system they followed through alliances, treaties and mutual cooperation. The balance was established by the U.S. National Security Adviser — later Secretary of State — Henry Kissinger. He is the one who designed the former relationship between the Soviet Union and the Western camp. The relationship’s foundations were based on the principle of balance, and from then on there was a psychological cold war between the two.

But this war stayed within the framework of conventional wars, which, to some extent, did do damage to both of them. This was because both sides had the power and strength to not be deterred by the side that singled out the capabilities of the international community. But the Western world, led by the United States, remained dominant in terms of economic and technological power, while the Soviet Union depended on deterrent military force through a massive arms campaign that was adopted to build its arsenal. This began to worry the United States and the Western camp; in fact, it became the primary source of their panic and fear of the Russian bear that was facing Western visionary interests. This is why the U.S. was seeking warm waters and wealthy sections of the Gulf region, while the eyes of the Soviet Union were on Iraqi oil. This is when they began building strong relations through joint cooperation treaties with Iraq.

At that time, Russia put this country in a position of defense and tried through several attempts to swallow Iraq in conspiracy with its neighboring states or major powers, such as Great Britain or the U.S. Its ambition was to extend its influence to all parts of the Gulf region. It was its dream to control the wealth of Iraq and the Gulf states; this is what dissolved the bedfellows of the Soviet Union, who had been trying to stymie American greed. These countries shared the Arab oil states through their alliances, treaties and mutual cooperation. Each party knew that the other couldn’t be overcome or circumvented.

Later, the United States found that its interests did not require appeasement with the Soviet Union, nor secret wars against it. In an attempt to put an end to Russian military progress, the United States’ interest became finding an alternative to balance theory. This is when Zbigniew Brezinki’s theory of containment came into effect, in the time of Ronald Reagan. The establishment of this theory led to more advanced cases of confrontation with the Eastern bloc, led by the Soviet Union. It seems that the application of this theory spread throughout the 1980s and demonstrates its reliance on trying to destabilize the identities of powerful states. This is how the United States penetrated through the Soviet Union: by means of containment and slowly pulling the Soviet Union apart, while also undermining it until its later collapse, after the United States destroyed its foundation. This was all done through U.S. foreign policy. After that, they tried to weaken the former Soviet Union and the system of socialist countries in Eastern Europe at the time.

At the beginning of this century, the same theory has spread creative chaos. The theory depends on spreading chaos in the world and inciting people against their rulers. What is most important now is that Condoleezza Rice promoted this concept within the two poles of American politics, and now the Americans are in Iraq. Then the rest of the Arab countries were covered by the American flood and the U.S. began to extend its control over the majority of the Arab world, felling their systems one after the other, like a terrible earthquake lashing the region. Iraq was the strongest that had been targeted. Currently the abilities of the American forces in the region are being undermined, and all subsequent scenarios will include all of the Arab people without exception.

Thus, the multiple strategies that have been developed by the chief architects of U.S. policy have been implemented because of their prospects. We have seen these strategies prepared on a number of occasions and accordingly reproduced them in laboratories and research centers. Now decision-makers carry a high level of professionalism and awareness in the development of these strategies.