Middle east becoming even more unstable

[zenfootball2]

This part of the world has had more than it's shares of wars and instability, between Israel and attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, we have the us and UK carrying out air strikes on yemenan, Azerbaijan ethnic cleansing of Armenians, Syria, and now Iran launching missile and drone strikes on Pakistan against what Iran describes as militan terrorists.

[Worthingshrew]

It seems that the rivalry between Sunni and Shia Muslims is responsible for much of the conflict in this part of the world.

[martinshrew]

Eradicate religion and 90% of the worlds problems simply go away.

[staffordshrew]

Jan 18, 2024 7:49:41 GMT 1 martinshrew said:

Eradicate religion and 90% of the worlds problems simply go away.

I used to think like that, but it's the "characters" who use religion that's the problem, they would just move on to something else without religion.

[servernaside]

I don't believe the Middle East is currently more unstable than it has been for the past 100 years.

Here are a few;
1914-18 Arab Revolt
1948 Israeli Independence Conflict
1967 Six-Day War
1973 Yom Kippur War
1979 Iran - Iraq War
1990 Invasion of Kuwait
2011 Arab Spring

This does not include any of the interminable domestic civil wars which have taken place during this time....Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan as well as the formation of countless political paramilitaries who can be found in virtually all countries in the Middle East. I would suggest that the Middle East has never been stable.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2024 13:59:40 GMT 1 servernaside said:

I don't believe the Middle East is currently more unstable than it has been for the past 100 years.

Here are a few;
1914-18 Arab Revolt
1948 Israeli Independence Conflict
1967 Six-Day War
1973 Yom Kippur War
1979 Iran - Iraq War
1990 Invasion of Kuwait
2011 Arab Spring

This does not include any of the interminable domestic civil wars which have taken place during this time....Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan as well as the formation of countless political paramilitaries who can be found in virtually all countries in the Middle East. I would suggest that the Middle East has never been stable.

The first two you mention are interesting. The Arab Revolt was against the Ottoman Empire at the behest of Britain and France to aid the Allies in WWI. The British and French then reneged on their deal with the Arab, known as the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and redrew the map to suit themselves.

The second one is again down to Britain interfering in the area thanks to the 1917 Balfour Declaration which none of the Arab leaders had agreed to prior to doing our dirty work in the Arab Revolt. It was hardly good diplomacy to use the Arab forces in one war and then s**t on them again following WWII, but that seems to be a common thread when countries deal with us. 

That being sh*t upon lead to the following two wars as the Arab countries quite rightly weren't happy and Israel weren't exactly doing anything to improve the situation in the years following the theft of Palestine.

The Iran-Iraq war was just a bloody mess, but it didn't help that it was being financed and armed by the USSR, the West and the Gulf States. Yugoslavia and Portugal actually gave support to both side at the same time, talk about hedging your bets.

Funny how the US and UK were all up in arms about Iraq invading Kuwait after all the support that they gave to Saddam Hussein in his fight with Iran and the lack of action when he was using chemical weapons in that conflict.

The Arab Spring encompasses too many conflicts to break down individually, so I'll just pick two. The call for change in Bahrain was quelled by Saudi Arabian troops, the same Saudi Arabia that was created by the UK and France and is a major supporter and customer of the UK arms industry. The call for change in Libya however was supported by the west. Shocker.

There seems to be a common thread running through most of the conflicts you mentioned. See if you can find it.

While you're at it you might like to have a look at that how that thread runs through conflicts between India and Pakistan, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, the Iranian Islamic Revolution and pretty much every other chuffin' conflict in the Middle East over the last half a century