The situation in Syria and the Greater Middle East Project

What is happening in Syria inevitably brings to mind the Greater Middle East Project, one of the most significant projects of US imperialism over roughly the last quarter-century, which has unfortunately made considerable progress.

Known briefly as the GMEP, and later renamed the GMEI, or the Greater Middle East and North Africa Initiative, the project once had many supporters, defenders, advocates, and admirers in our country.

So much so that they believed the US would bring peace, tranquility, stability, prosperity, democracy, human rights, and freedom to our region through this project.

Let us recall that the US Secretary of State personally stated that, within the scope of the GMEP, the borders and regimes of 22 countries would be changed. Maps showing our country as fragmented were published in the media, in books, and even in a US Department of Defense magazine.

According to its supporters, the pillars of the GMEP were as follows:

First, the economic pillar. Free market economies would develop in the region, free trade would be strengthened, and free trade zones would be established. In this way, the countries of the region would both prosper, resolve their problems among themselves, and integrate with the world.

Second, the political pillar. The countries of the region would become democratized. This democratization would resolve their problems with each other and with the West.

Third, the security pillar. This was the pillar the US cared about the most. Europeans, on the other hand, prioritized the economic and political pillars. According to US calculations, security concerns between the countries of the region would be addressed, conflicts would be prevented, and the political, social, economic, and cultural environments where terrorist organizations find ground would be eliminated.

Despite all these polished words, everyone saw what the true goal of the US was with the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.

However, there is a large segment that does not understand what the US's priorities are and persistently expects democracy from it. They refuse to see the US's desire to control its influence over oil-producing countries, its desire to control energy routes, the importance it places on Israel, and its desire to establish a Kurdish state.

Yet, while the US has its own rich oil resources, and has even made a major breakthrough in shale gas and LNG production in recent years, it wants to hold the valve of oil in the region—not because of its own needs, but because it is the region from which China, which it defines as a rival state, supplies large amounts of energy. It is trying to push back the influence of China and Russia in the region.

The democracy promised by the US did not come with the Arab Spring, which began in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread rapidly across the region in 2011. Moreover, there is not the slightest sign that it will come hereafter.

However, isn't the real problem expecting democracy, human rights, and freedom from the US?