The Journal for Interdisciplinary Middle Eastern Studies Volume 6, No. 2, Fall 2020, pp. 131-163 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26351/JIMES/6-2/2 ISSN: 2522-347X (print); 2522-6959 (online) The Strategic Roots of Russian Expansionism in the Middle East Reza Parchizadeh Abstract Russian expansionism in the Middle East follows a systematic approach to the region that is predicated on a profound understanding of the geopolitical, cultural, and religious landscape of the Middle East along the lines of the historical Russian strategic imperatives. For the time being, Russia’s aim is to supplant the United States as the main political power in the Middle East. However, in the long run, the ultimate Russian goal is to dominate the world as the sole global superpower. My argument is that although Russia’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed throughout modern history, what the Russian political establishment has demonstrated in regard to ideological/territorial expansionism, from the Tsarist Empire to the USSR to the Russian Federation, is strategic continuity. As such, in this article I am going to conduct a strategic survey of the Russian expansionism in the Middle East throughout modern history and then warn of the impending dangers of unchecked Russian expansionism for contemporary US and Middle East security and for the future of global democracy and liberal world order. Keywords: Aleksandr Dugin, Eurasianism, geopolitics, Halford John Mackinder, Middle East, Russian expansionism, Vladimir Putin Dr. Reza Parchizadeh – Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP);
[email protected] 131 132 Reza Parchizadeh Introduction Russia is no stranger to the Middle East, and Russian expansionism in that region of the world is by no means a new phenomenon.