MILNET: The Middle East and North Africa

Examples of Forces in the Middle East
Active Map of the Middle East

The Middle East is perched at the Southeastern corner of the European Continent and marks the intersection between Sothern Europe and the North African Continent. For many years, the Mid-East was a forgotten, biblical land, with little to offer but vast deserts and 18th century living. Apart from the rustic appeal, the British Colonies in the area festered under the iron hand of Britain as their caretaker forces kept a tight rein on the regions. But as the British Empire began to lose its hold in places like "Palestine" (the entire Suez region) and "India" (the entire Indian/Pakistani/Burma area), things began to change.

The pilgramage of Jews out of the oppression from Hitler's Germany began the exodus that would later create the nation of Israel. This contensious movement creatd havoc amongst the Arab countries, a force of conflict that had existed many years before and continues today.

Today, the peace is an unsettled one, and Middle East peace talks will most likely continue for years, as Israel stubbornly holds onto her hard fought gains she likens to buffer zones.

The discovery of vast reserves of oil in the Arab countries has made them a centerpiece of world strategic balance, with the oil being considered the major strategic resource that all countries covet. Thus everytime the balance of power shifts in the region, the world's nations begin to shift their own forces in and around the Middle East.

The small areas surrounding Israel on her Northern and Eastern borders are another source of the modern conflicts, with "true" palestinians wanting to cede portions of this land to their own splinter state.

A realm of terror spread across the Middle East in the late 60s and early 1970s,threatening to break out into world war, with the Soviet Government aiding the Arabs, and Israel being held up by enormous expenditures of cash and equipment from the U.S. and other western allied nations. The terrorism spread out into Europe and set an example for other would be third world powers...a new method for bringing about statehood, terrorism.

The region still persists in violence on at least a weekly basis, with only small hope for settling of the ancient differences. With the spectre of nuclear weapons in the region, doomsayers have predicted for a decade that the region would draw the world into a world war using nuclear armament.

Below we list the important military strengths in the region:

Western Allied: Middle East and North Africa

Non Western Allied: Middle East and North Africa


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