Paradigm wrote:While I'm tempted to mock the premise in the way Fasces has done, I think we would do well to remember the degree to which the current problems in the Middle East can be traced back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire following WWI, and the European colonial rule that followed.
Although I fail to see how the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I leads to the current state of affairs in the Middle East, European colonial rule, particularly in Palestine, coupled with the Zionist movement, does, in fact, contribute to the political affairs of the region today. Zionism was a movement founded by Theodor Herzl in the 19th century, designed to create a Jewish homeland, lost to their peoples in the uprising against Rome in 70 A.D., which dispersed the Jews throughout the world. The British offered the Jews a nation-state in Uganda, which, for obvious historical and religious reasons, was rejected. Zionism existed under the Ottoman rule, the movement was later controlled and directed by Chaim Weizmann, who was largely responsible for getting the colonial British to agree to the 1917 Balfour Declaration during World War I. Jews and Arabs coexisted in Palestine reasonably peacefully for decades, with occasional flareups because of the Zionist immigration of Jews into Palestine - which wasn't condoned or supported by the British. The Arabs did not want to be outnumbered by the Jews. Persecution of the Jews throughout history, particularly in Europe and Russia, would lead, following the Holocaust by Nazi Germany against European Jewry, to the establishment of a Jewish state, which came into existence in 1948 by the United Nations resolution. A mass exodus of Palestinians from areas which would come under the new state of Israel's political control follows, and the Arab nations fight a series of wars against Israel, unsuccessfully, in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. Islam hasn't been a particularly viable military force since Charles Martel stopped its spread in Europe hundred's of years earlier. A form of Zionism, Israeli settlements in occupied territory reserved by the UN for a Palestinian state, continues to this day and creates increased tensions for Israel with its Arab neighbors.
Backed by military aid from the United States for almost 65 years, Israel is the most powerful state in the Middle East, and really has nothing to fear militarily from its Arab neighbors now, with the weakened political conditions of Iraq, Egypt and Syria. Saudi Arabia, a government very friendly to America, which controls a population very hostile to us, doesn't usually interfere in the Middle East political problems, but they do provide financial support to terrorists against Israel and America, from which Al Quida and 9/11 sprang. They have maintained normal, peaceful relations with Jordan for most of their history. Only Iran is a serious threat to Israel with a potential nuclear capability, however, Israel has over 100 nuclear weapons of its own to counter that. Interestingly, the Iranian Fundamentalist government controls one of the Middle East's population that is friendly to America........Stan.......
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