American intervention prevented Soviet domination of the Middle East

Evidence

In 1948, when President Harry S. Truman became the first head of state to recognize the state of Israel after Jewish militias violently expelled approximately 700,000 Palestinians, America dealt a decisive blow to Palestinian aspirations for self-determination. During an era when indigenous populations around the world were fighting European colonial powers for their independence, US support for Israel—which became nearly unconditional after 1967—coupled with US extraction of oil in the Persian Gulf established the United States as an imperialist nation in the Middle East. Since then, the United States has been a major player in regional geopolitics through economic and military aid to dictator allies, business dealings, military interventions, and covert intelligence operations against Arab nationalist leaders. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 100 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Reagan’s military buildup did not end the Soviet project — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 105; Only overwhelming US military preponderance prevents great power war, neocons held; Decolonization risked replacing Western with Soviet domination of the Middle East — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1199 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• US support for Israel and oil extraction established American imperialism in the Middle East #complicates (0.75) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 100