How can particular countries maintain influence on the middle east?

What is the relationship between America and Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia, an extremely oil populated country, located in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is an economical powerhouse, due to its constant producing of oil.However Saudi Arabia has major responsibilities, America relies on Saudi Arabia to produce Oil for them and in return America provide security for their country. However recently a rumour on the internet broke out that soon Saudi Arabia’s supply of oil will rapidly depreciate, now America are curious as to if their current deal will be broken. Saudi Arabia however remain adamant that there oil will stay firmly where it originates from. The middle eastern oil has worked its magic since the early twentieth century, its charm has worked particularly on the United States. The relationship began because of the Oil and brewed in the 1930s, geologists working in California discovered lots of oil in the Eastern shores of Saudi Arabia. An obsession grew for oil after world war 2, after the war it became crystal clear that oil was certainly not an industrial item but a commodity. In 1945 Franklin Roosevelt hosted a meeting with the Saudi Arabian monarch at Lake Bitter in Egypt. The meeting permanently linked the middle eastern oil with the American national security. It also helped forge one of the twentieth century’s most important strategic relationships, in which the Saudis would supply cheap oil to global markets in exchange for American protection.Over the course of the twentieth century, preserving the security not just of Saudi Arabia but of the entire Persian Gulf region and the flow of Middle Eastern oil were among the United States’ concerns. Saudi Arabia’s popularity grew and so did their oil supplies, however certain countries have gained hatred for the Middle eastern country. This nearly progressed to bloodshed in the 1970’s,Saudi Arabia knew that they could get into arguments or debate without it leading to war as they had America backing them all the way. The US led the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this represented Americas latest stage of militarism, a long period of strategic and political thinking about how oil will enable us to further grow our economies followed. To this day America and Saudi Arabia are still locking horns with each other but tension is now rising with the introduction of ISIS, reports say that Saudi Arabia are funding the extremist organisation and now tensions are rising higher than ever. Will a war break out between the two economical powerhouses?

(Muhsin)

What is the influence between the different religions in the Middle East?

In the Middle East there are an array of faiths and religions,the region is predominately Islamic.There are different variances which people believe in, here are a few of the following:
Islam:
Sunni
Shia
Wahhabi
Ahmadia
Christianity:
Coptic
Maronites.
Saudi Arabia is a nation which is massively influenced by religion. With a population of 19,409,058 of which hundred percent are of the Islamic faith. Mecca is the main focus point in Saudi Arabia as it is the pilgrimage for the Muslims, the iconic structure called the Kabba is also located in Mecca, many Muslims strive to go to Mecca to preform the act of Hajj or Ummrah. This has a massive influence in the Middle East because no matter what happens people will always travel to Saudi Arabia due to the Kabba. It is governed entirely by the teachings and rulings found in the Holy Q’uran, [the Islamic holy book.] The pious Muslims believe that the Holy Q’uran is the guidance sent down by Allah [God] to help them to live a righteous and God-fearing life. It is to keep them on the straight path [Sirat Al Mustakeem] which as a result will guarantee them a place in Paradise [Jannah] in the hereafter. Those who chose to disobey and are disloyal to the teachings the only consequence for them is the Hell fire [Johanam.] However there are different types of Islam for instance Sunni,Shia and Wahhabi. Sunni and Shia Islam are different because of what happened after Prophet Muhammad sadly passed away, the religions differed as Sunni people thought someone should be in charge but Shia people thought otherwise. This caused a dispute ever since then, Wahhabi is different to Sunni due to the beliefs and rituals. 90 percent of Muslims around the world are Sunni with a split ten percent between Wahhabi and Shia. Coptic Christians are mostly located in the modern area of Egypt, They are the largest variation of Christianity in Egypt, Sudan and Libya. Now with the Middle East being mostly populated with Muslims it certainly means they have less influence than they would like, but eventually there could be an up stir within the Coptic Christian community. This also could result in debates and maybe some conflict,for most of Middle East’s existence it has been ruled by religion. But will this mean an eventual religion war occur?

(Muhsin)

What is the oil problem in the Middle East?

The oil in the Middle East is running out that’s is proven by the facts I have come across on the website Telegraph which is really reliable as it is a very well-known newspaper: If the oil futures market is correct, Saudi Arabia will start running into trouble within two years. It will be in existential crisis by the end of the decade. The contract price of US crude oil for delivery in December 2020 is currently $62.05, implying a drastic change in the economic landscape for the Middle East. The Saudis took a huge gamble last November when they stopped supporting prices and opted instead to flood the market and drive out rivals, boosting their own output to 10.6m barrels a day (b/d) into the teeth of the downturn.

This causes Saudi Arabia to be more careful on how they produce or spend their oil as they are running out hence the fact that they’re in trouble. The reason Saudi Arabia is wealthy in the first place is because of the oil productions and how oil is the most important source of energy. Saudi Arabia has around of the world’s 2/3 of the worlds buried oils. Potential wealth with all this oil would offer the lucky countries in the Middle East to fund a better life for some of their citizens. The oil problem in the Middle East is growing every second. Oil is the backbone of the Middle East and without it they would not have the support or wealth they do now. The Oil also helps the stronger countries in the world such as France UK and many more. One of The Middle East’s and more importantly Saudi Arabia’s main buyer is America who buy the oil from Saudi Arabia very cheap in return for defense that’s why Saudi Arabia still hasn’t been attacked for its oil. Even if they did they would have more than enough money to upgrade defenses. But as you read from the other paragraph Saudi Arabia is running into an oil problem meaning that Americas treaty with it is running out but who knows. Saudi Arabia is also using around 33% of the oil they produced compared to the 20% they spent in 2000. This is proving one of the ways that the Middle East all together is running into an oil problem altogether with the increase of population adding to the list of problems.
(Mohamed)

Will money in Saudi Arabia ever run out?

Money in Saudi Arabia will run out in an estimated 10 years thanks to the pace that Saudi Arabia is spending or selling their oil compared to the rate that they are producing it. Although they have a lot of saved money the amount they have lowered their price for oil per barrel is too low for them to have their country to carry on a healthy and wealthy lifestyle. There are other countries such as the Bahrain and Oman are also at risk of exhausting their financial assets by 2025. These countries also have lowered their prices for oil resulting in their country getting under pressure by the IMF, however other countries such as Kuwait and Qatar have taken advantage over this and can last a lot longer than Saudi in the money business. Another reason why Saudi Arabia is running low on money fast is how they use it and how more importantly they waste. For example do you think that offering 1 billion pounds for a celebrity to spend a night with the prince of Saudi Arabia. Do you think this is a good way to spend your money?? This is why many people think that Saudi Arabia will run out of money in recent years. Apart from all this they still have a lot of money stored up for back up purpose just in case they do go into financial trouble which in my opinion is a good idea. These are the reasons which lead me to believe that in a few years time Saudi Arabia will run into financial ruins but until then they can have fun with the money they have.This sums up the essay How can particular countries have influence on the middle east.

(Mohamed)