Skip to main content

Economic Roots of the Middle-East Crisis

  • Chapter
International Business and Political Economy
  • 172 Accesses

Abstract

The invasion of Syria started in 2011, after the destruction of Libya, when Syria was a prosperous stable country with no apparent economic problems. Just like in the Ukraine and Georgia, and also in Egypt and Tunisia, some very violent crowds were hired by some strange shadowy agency, financed by a group of countries in the Arabian gulf and Turkey. The purpose was to change the regime first by creating mass demonstrations and then concerted international denouncements by mainly the Western media, followed by some violence and ultimately a change of the regime by force (Brzezinski, 1997, 2010; Rice, 2000; Shulsky and Schmitt, 2002). The same pattern was used in country after country with two major exceptions, Libya and Syria. In both cases initial mass demonstrations were followed by armed insurrections supported by foreign powers. In Libya, the foreign powers were France, the USA, the UK, and NATO, with some involvement from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Turkey. However, in Syria the armed groups came directly from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Libya, and Turkey to change the regime. The Libyan regime collapsed quickly because of the direct attacks from NATO. In Syria, NATO was not able to take part because of the opposition raised by Russia and China in the UN Security Council.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 2015 Dipak Basu and Victoria Miroshnik

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Basu, D., Miroshnik, V. (2015). Economic Roots of the Middle-East Crisis. In: International Business and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137474865_21

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics