Arab Spring

The Greater Middle East Project was put forth by Colin Powel, the Minister of Defense at George Bush Administration on 12 September, 2002. The objectives which have been posed for this plan include: Economic reform, promotion of human rights, establishment of democracy and freedom of election in the Middle East which could be implemented by different instruments and tactics. Of course, it is necessary to detach a division between the announced (explicit) objectives of this plan and hidden objectives of America, because in developing this plan, attempts have been made to have progressive and philanthropic objectives as a cover to its real objectives. The designers of this tricky plan have other objectives in mind. Among these objectives, one may refer to the supply of the security of production and display of energy for America, maintaining the survival of Zionist regime and confrontation with the Political Islam. The question is: What is the nature of recent changes of revolution in the Middle East and to what direction do they incline? The present research has been organized in an analytic-descriptive method and the findings of the research indicate that despite the claims of the analysts and politicians of America to fulfill the Greater Middle East, the colorful presence of Islamic streams at the top of recent changes of the Middle East in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and the presence of religious leaders at the top of the revolutionaries specify that the nature of recent changes is the fulfillment of Islamic Awakening and defeat of the Greater Middle East Project.

Egypt is a strategic country for the United States. On the one hand, maintaining Egypt friendly to the West due to its geopolitical location and influence in Arab League, keeping Suez Canal open for economic and military interests, following the market development opportunities, and securing a settlement with Israel is among the reasons which make Egypt vital for U.S. policymakers on the other the Egyptian foreign policy pattern is based on geography, national interests, cold War setting and leaders of Egypt is mainly affected by U.S. policies. This study uses foreign aid political theory to discuss how the United States uses foreign aid to maintain its interests in Egypt despite the political instability caused by the Arab Spring. The archival research on USAID and U.S. foreign policy towards Egypt demonstratesthat after Nasser's presidency and since the late 1970s, the United States has provided significant military and economic assistance to Egypt to pursue its interests in the Middle East. Although Arab Spring and Egyptian uprisings in 2011 and the Egyptian military’s coup in 2013 made the Obama administration suspend temporarily some U.S. assistance to Egypt, after the re-establishment of aids, the steady rate of U.S. military assistance to Egypt hasn’t been changed. This issue shows that U.S. unceasing influence in Egyptian circles of power was saved by foreign aid and proves the permanence of U.S. strategic interests in the region. As a result, the U.S. utilizes these aids as an influential tool to control Egypt and to pursue its goals in the Middle Eastern countries, including Iran. Due to the close partnership with the United State and Israel, Egypt doesn’t have a stable relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran.