How the US Weaponizes Tech in the Middle East w/ Laleh Khalili

The United States controls the flow and development of critical technologies to maintain its imperial dominance, especially in the Middle East. This control extends to restricting access to technologies like nuclear enrichment and advanced AI to prefer allies such as Israel and Gulf states while limiting adversaries like Iran.

US allies in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, benefit from technology transfers — including surveillance and AI — that serve geopolitical aims by strengthening their authoritarian control and tying them closer to US interests.

Israel acts as a technological laboratory with close ties to US military funding, developing cutting-edge surveillance and military tech that is exported regionally, reinforcing US influence. This dynamic creates a stark technological inequality underpinning regional conflicts and power balances.

The United States' technological empire is maintained through a mix of intellectual property enforcement, military investments, and strategic alliances, ensuring it remains the global hegemon while shaping who can access life-altering and war-making technologies.

• The US limits technological transfer to control global power, benefiting from its geopolitical hegemony.
• Technologies are key not only for capital accumulation but also for resource extraction, especially in oil exploration.

• The US allows allies like Israel nuclear capabilities while restricting adversaries like Iran.
• This asymmetry is rooted in strategic alliances and historic geopolitical calculations.