Uploaded August 2012 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Now Available on DVD
mediaed.org
The New Great Game
The Decline of the West & the Struggle for Middle Eastern Oil
After 500 years of Western domination, the waterways of the Middle East are now being contested in unprecedented ways. Pirates are roaming sea lanes. Local powers are threatening chokepoints. And the people are rising up to bring their authoritarian rulers down. With no simple solutions for maintaining control of oil flows, the West is facing a crucial decision. Already weakened by extended military interventions, faltering economies, and strained global partnerships, the US and Europe must decide whether violent intervention or benevolent passivity is the best course of action.
This timely documentary charts these murky new waters and shows how the logic of empire is being tested by a rapidly changing Middle East. With fresh-from-the-ground footage and testimony from experts and actors in the region, the film zeroes in on how disparate events occurring on land in such places as Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Yemen, and at sea in the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea, are all part of the same story -- a story about the slow dismantling of the old order, and the emergence of a new geopolitical game.
Now Available on DVD
mediaed.org
The New Great Game
The Decline of the West & the Struggle for Middle Eastern Oil
After 500 years of Western domination, the waterways of the Middle East are now being contested in unprecedented ways. Pirates are roaming sea lanes. Local powers are threatening chokepoints. And the people are rising up to bring their authoritarian rulers down. With no simple solutions for maintaining control of oil flows, the West is facing a crucial decision. Already weakened by extended military interventions, faltering economies, and strained global partnerships, the US and Europe must decide whether violent intervention or benevolent passivity is the best course of action.
This timely documentary charts these murky new waters and shows how the logic of empire is being tested by a rapidly changing Middle East. With fresh-from-the-ground footage and testimony from experts and actors in the region, the film zeroes in on how disparate events occurring on land in such places as Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Yemen, and at sea in the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea, are all part of the same story -- a story about the slow dismantling of the old order, and the emergence of a new geopolitical game.





![Amy Goodman: The Exception to the Rulers (3 of 6)
http://www.mediaed.org
A 1984 graduate of Harvard University, Goodman is best known as the principal host of Pacifica Radios Democracy Now! program, where she has been described by the Los Angeles Times as radios voice of the disenfranchised left.[1] Coverage of the peace and human rights movements — and support of the independent media — are the hallmarks of her work. As an investigative journalist, she has received acclaim for exposés of human rights violations in East Timor and Nigeria. Amy Goodman: The Exception to the Rulers (3 of 6)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GQm74XDNPkc/mqdefault.jpg)




