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United States military transfers towards the Middle East
by Caroline Pailhe
If figures often explain the big tendencies of international politics better than any other form of analysis, this is irrefutably true of the military transfers of the United States towards the Middle East. The hard power indeed serves as diplomacy there, and gathers all attention and all budgets.

In the 20th century, the Middle East has become America’s major strategic concern, no matter which international geostrategical context and no matter which american perception of threats. Since the 1970s, the region has become the main beneficiary worldwide of American weapon sales and military assistance. From the struggle against communism to the eradication of radical Islam or the global war on terrorism, the different administrations all made of this region the centre of their foreign policy, trying "to stabilize" it and « strengthen the strategic allies» by pouring massive security assistance.

Facing the unfortunate tendency of the United States to grant military means a preponderant place in their foreign policy, the Middle East indeed has become the archetype of this militaristic policy, whose importance is proportional to its ineffectiveness. Although counterproductive, this pyromaniac policy has not been challenged as it should have after the events of September 11th, 2001. This is shown in this report which examines the military transfers (sales and military assistance) of the United States towards this over-armed area of tensions, that the US never stopped militarizing.
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La politique pyromane de Washington
Caroline PAILHE, 2009, 58 p.
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