Why the new world is as dangerous as the old imperialist order

Pride of the nation? Iran’s Shahed-136 drone

The fight to dominate the Middle East has reached a crucial stage. The military might of the United States, which has long regarded the region as its own, now faces challengers from among both “friends” and “enemies”.

Commentators usually present this competition as being solely between warring states, such as Israel and Iran. But it is more than that. It is the result of imperialism—a global system of inter-state rivalries in which economic competition spills over into military competition.

In the Middle East, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among those that strive to become independent centres of profit. All want to exert influence over the region.

They want to compete in the cut-throat capitalist world on their own terms and break out of the old colonial order. That set up, they argue, had trapped them as merely producers of raw materials and markets for Western goods.

This competition has only intensified in the wake of US military defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as US economic power weakens.

As the superpower’s vulnerabilities are revealed, there’s an even more intense competition as regional imperialist countries try to muscle in and fill the gap. Such powers have become increasingly assertive as their own economic strength develops.

The rapid growth of Israel’s tech sector, where its semiconductor chip designers now play a major role for Western tech firms, is an example of this.

Israel now plays a key role in the global network of US-allied semiconductor chip manufacturers. Here, the US competes with China for control of production of a vital part for electronic devices. Iran’s strength lies in its huge, state-run oil industry, which US economic sanctions did severely damage but which has been recovering with the rise of new markets in Asia.

Iran is selling more to these countries, especially China, which it has established close relations with, resulting in oil sales set for a return to pre-sanctions levels.

Israel has a massive military and economic advantage over Iran. That is because it benefits from the unique role it plays in defending the West’s interests in the region. It is US military aid that gives Israel a military technology advantage over the region.

Conversely, the US has viewed Iran with hostility and suspicion since the 1979 revolution that brought the conservative Islamic clergy to power. Iran has nevertheless emerged as the main beneficiary from the US defeat in Iraq. US failure opened the door to an expansion of Iran’s military reach.

Another shift is that for decades Middle Eastern states have been some of the world’s largest consumers of weapons. But this changed recently with the development of national military industries.

Israel leads the field with its arms exports doubling in the decade up to 2022 to £9.5 billion. Drone sales make up a quarter of this total.

UAE, Bahrain and Morocco accounted for 24 percent of Israeli arms exports in 2021, with UAE using its drones to stoke war in Yemen and Sudan. Iran too has grown its arms industry. It has successfully developed the advanced Shahed-136 drone, which is testament to its growing military capacity.

It has been supplying drones to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, recently developing a large drone factory within Russia’s border with the aim of supplying thousands more. Iranian drones have supplied Syrian military forces and Iraqi armed groups allied with Iran. Drone production has been part of the wider manufacturing growth Iran has had in recent years.

The manufacture and use of Israeli and Iranian drones shows how middle‑ranking powers are key players in regional imperialist competition.

Many on the left will rightly cheer the weakening of the US, the world’s most powerful superpower and biggest—and most bloody—imperialist force. But the new world of inter-imperialist rivalries is proving to be just as vicious and destructive as the old.