Bob Eichfeld on the Middle East

Posted by Rich Newman 
on Feb 01, 2016
 
Bob Eichfeld spoke to the club about the Middle East at our meeting of Wednesday, January 27, 2016. By way of background, Bob lived in Muslim countries for 18 years in two assignments with Citibank. He sits on the board of a bank in Cairo and works for charities in the region. He loves the culture and has always been treated with respect and has a lot of Arab friends.
 
Bob said that he thought that the chaos in the area was likely to get worse because:
  • The area’s boundaries were artificially drawn after World War II
  • There is an abundance and lack of natural resources in the region.  There is a great deal of oil, especially in Iran. Water, however is in short supply, as is food.
  • The population growth is high, with a lot of young people unemployed.
  • There is a tremendous gap in wealth
  • The political process is exclusive
  • All of this results in a fractured society
Bob pointed out that Islam has taken over the entire life of people who live in the region. There is a division between Sunnis and Shiites with Sunnis in Saudi Arabia and Shiites in Iran. The Iranians are trying to control geographical choke points and the Saudis do not trust them.
 
Bob talked about the role played by the United States in the area
  • Saudi Arabia is a big ally.  The United States has invested a large amount of money in Saudi Arabia and the Saudis have invested billions in the United States
  • Turkey is very weary of Iran and Russia.  They were reluctant to allow us to use military bases there, but that has been changing
  • Iran’s regime still expresses hatred towards the United States, but we have been able hammer out a historic deal to limit their nuclear weapons development
  • Egypt is a major US arms buyer.  They run the Suez Canal and are weary of Russia; however, they do threaten to buy Russian arms.  Egypt went back to a military dictatorship after the Arab Spring
  • Israel has a deep and long term relationship with the United States.  The Saudis and the Israelis surprisingly often work closely together
Bob said that our country is going to have to deal with issues such as mass migration from the area, five failed states where terrorism thrives and how our actions affect other countries like Russia and China. In order to respond to everything that is going on in the Middle East we need to:
  • Focus on the big picture
  • Protect key states
  • Negotiate up to a point with our enemies
  • Maintain bases and carrier groups
  • Use technology extensively
  • Work towards a balance of power in the region
There are a number of reasons why we should stay involved in the area, such as
  • There is a concern about Russia and China intervening
  • We need to protect Israel
  • We need to be concerned with the oil in the region.  The rest of the world needs the oil to prevent their economies from tanking
  • We need to make sure there is no nuclear arms race there
  • Bob said that ISIS will be around for a long time, but they are containable
Thank you Bob’s for an enlightening presentation!