Revolutions in the Middle East

Our lecture on Muslims and Jews got me thinking about the Revolutions currently occurring in the Middle East and Africa. While several African countries are ruled under a dictatorship and are in midst of having a civil war, one can wonder why western countries have only focused their attention on Libya. For example, Countries such as Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe have more or less a similar situation going on as Libya.  However, they barely receive any attention from both the western government media.  One of the potential reasons behind the ongoing involvement of the west with Libya could be its large oil reserves. According to United States Central Intelligence Agency, Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the ninth largest in the world. In addition, Libya is also located in a strategic point in the region where it is fairly close to Western Europe and North America. This means that when exporting Libya’s oil, there is no need to go through the sensitive areas of Persian Gulf and The Red Sea. Therefore, when observing the unrest in Libya from an independent point of view, one can conclude that Western nations very smartly took advantage of the unrest in Libya to once and for all get rid of Ghadafi and gain access to the countries oil wealth. 

It made me think of Iran, whose revolution basically started a year and a half ago after the 2009 presidential elections fraud. All the American government/the UN did was condemn the actions of the Iranian government, while many were being were being killed by the Iranian government on the streets during protests. Of course I understand that it isn’t as simple as I make it. The US isn't a superhero and can’t just waltz in and try to take over the country.  But they definitely do seem choosy about who they are willing to help for their own interests.