Greater Middle East

Traditional definition of the Middle East G8 definition of the Greater Middle East Areas sometimes associated with the Middle East (socio-political connections) The Greater Middle East is a political term coined by the Bush administration to englobe together various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world , specifically Iran , Turkey , Afghanistan and Pakistan . Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included. Some speakers may use the term to denote areas with significant Muslim majorities, but this usage is not universal. The Greater Middle East is sometimes referred to as "The New Middle East" , or "The Great Middle East Project". This expanded term was introduced in the U.S. administration's preparatory work for the G8 summit of 2004 as part of a proposal for sweeping change in the way the West deals with the Middle East. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski , alluded to the modern Middle East as a control lever on an area he calls the Eurasian Balkans. The Eurasian Balkans consists of the Caucasus (Georgia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Armenia) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan) and Turkey. Turkey forms the northernmost part of the Middle East (though some of the country lies in the Caucasus). Turkey's Western lands (i.e. the Eastern Thrace and the areas around Istanbul) are considered a part of the Southeastern Europe, and not the Middle East. "Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a "New Middle East" " .

Traditional definition of the Middle East G8 definition of the Middle East Areas sometimes associated with the Middle East (socio-political connections) The Greater Middle East was a political term coined by the second Bush administration in the first decade of the 21st century, to denote various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world , specifically Iran , Turkey , Afghanistan and Pakistan . Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included. Some speakers may use the term to denote areas with significant Muslim majorities, but this usage is not universal. The Greater Middle East is sometimes referred to as "The New Middle East", or "The Great Middle East Project". This expanded term was introduced in the U.S. administration's preparatory work for the G8 summit of 2004 as part of a proposal for sweeping change in the way the West deals with the Middle East. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski , alluded to the modern Middle East as a control lever on an area he calls the Eurasian Balkans. The Eurasian Balkans consists of the Caucasus (Georgia, the Republic of Armenia, and Azerbaijan) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan). Turkey and Iran form the northernmost part of the Middle East (although some part of both counties lays in the Caucasus ). "Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a "New Middle East" " .

The narrow definition of the Middle East Greater Middle East (An area of common religion currently undergoing major political re-alignment) Areas sometimes associated with the Middle East (Common socio-cultural connections) The Greater Middle East , also known as MENA ( M iddle E ast and N orth A frica ) or MENAP ( M iddle E ast, N orth Africa, A fghanistan , and P akistan ), is a political term, introduced in the early 2000s, denoting a set of contiguously connected countries stretching from the Maghreb region in the west all the way to Afghanistan in Central Asia and Pakistan in South Asia . Various countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia are sometimes also grouped together with countries from West Asia , North Africa , and the Horn of Africa . According to Andrew Bacevich in his book America's war for the Greater Middle East (2016), the career soldier and Professor Emeritus at Boston University states that this region is the theatre for a series of conflicts dating back to 1980, which heralded the start of the Iran–Iraq War . Since then, the U.S. has been involved in balancing conflicts amongst these culturally interconnected nations in order to further its interests in the region. The Greater Middle East is sometimes referred to as the "New Middle East" or "The Great Middle East Project". This term was more clearly defined to denote a specific region in the U.S. administration's preparatory work for the G8 summit of 2004 as part of a proposal for sweeping change in the way the West deals with the Middle East . National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski stated that a "political awakening" is taking place in this region which may be an indicator of the multi-polar world that is now developing. He alluded to the Greater Middle East as the "Global Balkans ", and as a control lever on an area he refers to as Eurasia . A New Middle East Is in the Making" . "A Myth of Peace: 'The Vision of the New Middle East' and Its Transformations in the Israeli Political and Public Spheres".

Loose political term introduced in the 2000s The Greater Middle East is a geopolitical term introduced in March 2004 in a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as part of the United States ' preparatory work for the Group of Eight summit of June 2004. The paper presented a proposal for sweeping change in the way the West deals with the Middle East and North Africa . It also denotes a vaguely defined region encompassing the Arab world , along with Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iran , Turkey , Israel , Cyprus , and sometimes the Caucasus and Central Asia . Adam Garfinkle of the Foreign Policy Research Institute defined the Greater Middle East as the MENA region together with the Caucasus and Central Asia. The future of the Greater Middle East has sometimes been referred to as the "new Middle East", first so by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , who presented the second-term Bush administration's vision for the region's future in June 2006 in Dubai. Rice said it would be achieved through "constructive chaos", a phrase she repeated a few weeks later during a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert when the 2006 Lebanon War had broken out; the meaning of this phrase and the Bush administration's vision have been much debated since. The efforts to achieve this new Middle East are sometimes called "The Great Middle East Project". Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski stated that a "political awakening" is taking place in this region which may be an indicator of the multipolar world that is now developing. He alluded to the Greater Middle East as the "Global Balkans ", and as a control lever on an area he refers to as Eurasia . According to Andrew Bacevich 's 2016 book America's War for the Greater Middle East , this region is the theater for a series of conflicts dating back to 1980, which heralded the start of the Iran–Iraq War . A New Middle East Is in the Making" . "A Myth of Peace: 'The Vision of the New Middle East' and Its Transformations in the Israeli Political and Public Spheres". Emin Gürses in SAU" .