The Middle East is a reality with far reaching implications for the peace, prosperity and overall security and economic well being of the world. Is it the realization of the Clash of Civilizations thesis as was argued by the American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures and people's cultural and religious identities, which will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world OR it is the manifestation of continued struggle among leading world powers post World Wars for the domination of Global Commons to consolidate and further expand their respective spheres of influence? In a series of pieces, an effort will be made to re-examine the history of the region, the rise and fall of empires, with tussle among civilization, various religions and political entities, which have bled and finally led to the current precarious environment. The land of the prophets called The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle East has had several lingua franca: Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic. From the 7th century, Islam spread rapidly, expanding Arab identity in the region. The Seljuk dynasty displaced Arab dominance in the 11th century, followed by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire invaded most of Anatolia, and dissolved the Byzantine Empire by capturing Constantinople in 1453. The Ottomans and the Safavid dynasty were rivals from the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans were pushed out of Hungary.
The British Empire gained control over the Persian Gulf in the 19th century, while French colonial empire extended into Lebanon and Syria. Regional rulers sought modernization to match European powers. A key moment came with the discovery of oil, first in Persia (1908), then in Saudi Arabia (1938), and other Gulf states, leading to increased Western interest in the region. In the 1920s to 1940s, Syria and Egypt pursued independence. The British, French, and Soviets withdrew from much of the region during and after World War II. The Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine. Amid Cold War tensions, pan-Arabism emerged in the region. The end of European colonial control, the establishment of Israel, and the rise of the petroleum industry shaped the modern Middle East. Despite economic growth, many countries faced challenges like political restrictions, corruption, cronyism and over-reliance on oil. The wealthiest per capita are the small, oil/gas-rich Gulf states, namely Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
Several key events shaped the modern Middle East, such as the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, and the rise of Salafism/Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia that led to rise of Islamism. Additionally, the Iranian Revolution contributed to a significant contestant Shia Islamic revival. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 by joint venture launched by USA, KSA and Pakistan ended the Cold War, and regional conflict was soon made part of the War on Terror by the US led NATO/ISAF coalition’s military operations in Afghanistan in 2001 with catastrophic consequences for the regional peace and stability, which then paved the way for simultaneous pulverization of the Middle Eastern countries one by one; Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon being the latest victims.
In the early 2010s, the Arab Spring triggered major protests and revolutions in the region. Clashes in western Iraq in 2013 set the stage for the Islamic State (IS)'s expansion; a well funded, armed, trained and freely travelling ghost who always acted as a catalyst by its preceding emergence justifying NATO/ US’ led military and political misadventures with particular focus on the ancient Middle East. The AQ/ Islamic State given names kept transforming with the expansion of Western Military decimation of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen as AQI, AQIS, AQIL, IS-I, IS-IS, IS-KP etc. Ironically, as pointed out in a recently published piece titled “Trumpian Villanova”, in pursuit of lingering strategic interests, for expansion of the sphere of influence and possession of precious natural resource or at least check-mate China and Russia, the USA is once again going to shift focus to EURASIA with eyes on potential nuclear Iran, and Afghanistan with re-emergence of IS-K and taking back American left behind military assets as an excuse; and with the same old unenviable role envisaged for Pakistan without any change in the darker side of the Great Game. Quite alarmingly, the people in the helms of affairs in Pakistan have thoughtlessly commenced giving statements, which tacitly support the pointed put American disastrous plan in the offing and started presenting themselves as Devil’s advocates for self-preservation in the domestic power games--to be continued.
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