There seems to be a popular belief among Muslims that all of the problems in the Middle East are the fault of the West.
I don't think that the West has fucked up the Middle East. The West has fucked up the Middle East if those countries were good until the West came and destroyed them. I don't believe this is the case.
Arab countries have been plagued by violent upheaval since the rise of Islam and before. The Islamic Golden Age occurred at least in part as a result of knowledge from the West, being transmitted to the Middle East. During the 20th century, it was Middle Eastern nations like the Ottoman Empire and Arab League that reached out to the West, forming alliances with Axis and Allied powers. Though the West installed many oppressive dictators in the Middle East, many arose without the help of the West. The Saudi Royal Family, for example, was not installed by the West. We have not fucked up or intervened in Saudi Arabia at all, and yet it is a shit hole. On the other hand, the West has intervened in many Arab countries and been blamed for fucking everything up regardless of the West's actions. There were populist movements in many countries like Iraq, Libya, and Syria, calling on the West to come and intervene militarily. Whether we intervened or not, the West was blamed by Arabs generally and terrorists alike for the result. In contrast, the West has tried to intervene, successfully and unsuccessfully, in many non-Arab countries, such as Iran, China, India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, and yet many of these countries have survived and thrived as secular societies.
So because Arab countries are shit holes with or without Western intervention, and the West has intervened in many countries that have become secular and successful, I don't think that the West is to blame for the state of affairs in the Middle East.
>>55774581
Most of them are though.
>>55774581
No.
The Middle East has been the locale for human conflict and massacre for thousands of years because of its status as the home of the Abrahamic religions. This is just the latest episode in the ongoing drama of human death and suffering in the area.
I feel that the Middle East would be a shit hole with or without intervention from the West.
I don't think that intervention from the West is the determining factor in whether or not your country is shit. But even if it was the determining factor, there seems to be stronger evidence that Western intervention fuels development rather than destruction.
Blame all white people. Deny anything then your racist.
>>55776141
I don't think it's correct to imply that Abrahamic religions are the cause of the violence. If that were the case, instances of conflict and massacre would not have been common before the birth of Abrahamic religions. Persian, Mesopotamian, and Assyrian regimes were all incredibly brutal at times. On the contrary, Jews and Christians were able to coexist fairly peacefully under Roman rule. Massacres like the one of Jews by the Romans at Masada may have survived in the histories in part because they were so rare.
I also don't think it's accurate to equate all Abrahamic religions. If they were all equally the cause of violence, then the rate of death and destruction would be consistent since the creation of Judaism. Instead, there is a sharp increase after the introduction of Islam. So I think that there's more correlation between violence and Islam than there is between violence and Abrahamic religion.
>>55774581
There is no such thing as 'at fault' when it comes to geopolitics. It's as much their fault for making moves that led to us doing what we've done as it is our fault for doing it.
>>55776910
They are the causes of shit tonnes of violence since their creation. There are other causes of violence and other religious causes as well. What I said was that in that area of the world since that time, those have been the leading causes of violence.
Really the only thing bigger for killing people would be WWII.
>>55774581
Guilt. Please kill yourself, OP. Gentle asphyxiation would be sufficient.
wow it's like you can make history say anything if you look at it simplistically enough
10/10 essay
I start reading your post but my head started to hurt from the stupid. What a simplification of geopolitical relations in the Middle East. For example, even if we didn't directly install the Saudi royal family that doesn't mean anything. It's not all about sending in tanks or bombing a country or even using subterfuge to dispose of a leader.... why the fuck am I wasting my time typing this out. I'm glad I at least didn't spend the time reading your full post.
