Foreign interests and the roles of competing super powers in the Middle East: A historical perspective of United States, Russia and china

The United States and Russia have a long history in the involvement in the affairs of the Middle East while China has not reallybeen an active actor in Middle East politics.Maintaining a balance between China’s relations with Israel and the Arab States as well as between the Sunni Arab States and Iran has been a guiding principle of China’s Middle East policy. China has cordial relations with Israel but at the same time it supports a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and supports a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD)-Free Zone in the Middle East.This study discussed the interests and roles of the United States, Russia and China in the Middle East, emphasizing more on the historical context. The study adopted qualitative method. The population for the study was the Middle East, particularly the Arab states and Syria and Iran. Data were collected through documentary review of publications as well as journals and materials from the internet. Data were descriptively analyzed in the historical context. The study found that the Middle East is arena for foreign interests’ competition amongst the superpowers of United States, Russia and China. In addition, the Gulf States’ disillusionment with the US, along with their economic pragmatism in light of the global power transition to the East, motivated them to diversify their political and security relations. Furthermore, Russia whose interest was to engage the Middle Eastern states economically, played a marginal role in the economies of the Gulf States. The study concluded that Middle East is volatile region that has faced immense challenges. The strategic location and the energy richness of the region is a contributing factor that has attracted outside powers to expand their influence in the region. The regional rivalries have been harnessed by the outside powers by directly supporting the states and their proxies. In this regard, the Syrian case was the best example to illustrate the involvement of regional as well as extra-regional states and the drastic consequences of such involvement for regional peace and stability. The inherent instability which is caused by ethnic, tribal and sectarian conflicts and strategic competition between regional as well as extra-regional powers Russia and the US make the Middle East a crisis ridden region.