Centermass556
Expert
Now, I am by far not an expert on the Middle east. But, I don't think anyone is. There are just groups of people that seem to understand the history and how it effecting the present and shaping the future. I've never worked a desk in the CIA, been an analyst at the NIO, or have been able to spell NSA...But I did stay at a holiday in express and I have spent a good amount of time in the area, with the people, doing different types of work
So here it is in a bit of stream of conscious poured onto the page.
As most of use will agree, the Middle East is where all recorded history began. Far Eastern mythos will say it began in China or India. But I’m not gonna debate that.
Out of the Middle East, great empires have rose, great empires have fallen. Empires from the west have ruled there, and great empires from the east have died there. But over all the conquests only four basic groups have truly been there. Those four groups are the Hebrew, Arabs, Kurdish, and Persian. Christian and Hebrews will tell you that Hebrews were the first followed by the Arab and Persian.
It is important to understand the Arab, Kurdish, and Persian cultures established themselves and thrived prior to the advent of Islam. I can’t stress the importance of this. Because of above all of the religious posturing, these people cling to the ethnic identity. They cling to the ethnic idea more than they cling to national identity. National lines have really only existed in the Middle East since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and League of Nations. It is still a very new idea. Kurds still very much exemplify this. Kurds are an ethnicity that was born out of a mix ethnicities and are almost the Gypsies of the Middles East. Kurd territory stretches from Northern Iraq into Syria and southern Turkey.
Back to the Islam and Jewish overlay. It is not fair to say Judaism is an overlay on the Hebrew people because as it is recorded in the bible, it was the first religion. There were no Hebrew people before the religion. This was not the same with the Arabs and Persians. They had a Myriad of religions over the span of time. Most of them where polytheist, similar to the Greek, Egyptian, and Roman concepts. With the Empires from the Arab lands conquering or warring against the Hebrew lands, this built the start of the current day split. But, it has always been more of cousins fighting rather than neighbors fighting. They can still trace everything back to the original tribes. It is the Persians and their global conquest that muddle things. Neither the Hebrew nor the Arabs have ever identified with the Persians….Now enter Islam. At some point, Mohammed feel off his camel during one of his trade caravans and established Islam in ~615ish. He preached in Mecca was chased around, preached in Medina, preached in other areas, and spread his word. He even went so far as to help establish a Constitution of religion in Medina that outlined fair treatment for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and pagan tribes of the area. He then later united all of the Arabic tribes under one order….SIDE NOTE….The United Arab League includes 13 African Nations, from North Africa to Sudan.….Then Mohammed died. At first no big deal. Mohammed’s close friend picked up the reigns. He died in a conquest. Then Umar Took over…Umar was killed by Persians, that’s right more drama to the Arab-Persian split. Then a leader was elected!! This was met by opposition. But he was killed, so that is three rulers of Islam in about 24 years. Then Ali took over. Now most folks agreed the first four rulers were legitimate rulers for Islam. These became known as Sunni. A Small majority believed that Ali was the only rightful ruler. These became known as Shia. Well…Ali was killed by an Islamic offshoot that believed anyone in the Islamic community had the right to lead, not just those on the “in crowd” After Ali was put down, there were some more skirmishes over who should rule and they got ugly. The Shia and the remaining bits fled to Persia….BOOM, last bit of drama between Arabs and Persians to cement an immortal hatred for each other.
So that is that…Fast forward a few hundred years…Now, we know the west came in and out over time. There was alexander the great, the romans, the ottomans (Eurasian bastard kids…not Arab, nor European), the Brits, the French…heck even the Germans got some in there. But the first biggest blow to the wealth of the Arab lands came with the ottomans. After sea routes were discovered to the Far East, the spice, silk, and commodity roads through Iraq and Syria were no longer needed. The ottomans took over and instead of trying to find alternate means to sustain the create cultures and riches of the Arab lands, they sucked the riches and beat the culture down. The Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra provinces of the Ottoman Empire were by far the poorest when the empire finally left.
Then the Brits marched in with the rest of the major European powers and started dividing up the land with western values and religion. The Arabs immediately thought once again back to the crusades and the great “Christian repression “ that almost occurred then. This spurred on movements and subcultures within the Arab and Muslim society. Wahabbism was born along with other extremist cults. Their desire was to preserve the way of life they thought was threatened. But now they are not just fighting for their families’ way of life, but also their religions!!
As the 20th century progressed and the western incursion continued into Middle East affairs. More and more groups began to spring up. But in the wake of new and falling regimes, these groups were less concerned about religion than they were about the power that could be gained. The Ba’ath party was one of these groups. IT started in Syria as a movement to reestablish the Pan Arab idea created by Mohammed, but Saddam used that to put himself in power and to seek more power. He turned the Iraq Ba’ath party into an organization of greed and destruction. His biggest sin in the Arab world eyes was invading Kuwait. You do not attack your brother over greed. That is why we had the backing of the Arab nations to kick him out. The world thinks we were there for the little guy, the Arabs used us their army to do the work they couldn’t.
Also over time, the Persian influence crept back across the desert to the med. It planted seeds in Lebanon and Syria. The Shia led Hezbollah faction is Iranian supported and funded. The Iranians have used them to destabilize that region for over 30 years now. And with their hands in Syria and Iraq, they see a way to stretch the empire to the sea once again.
The other Sunni Players emerged to claim power. They came in the for of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. But just as the Ba’ath party started out as an idea with Arab merit, these groups started out with Islamic merit. They came from the Muhajideen that rose to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, Chetznia , and other soviet states. In the end, the didn’t want the freedom of Islam…they wanted the power to control a country in their image.
The Hamas is another Sunni group. They have been the driving force of the Palestinians for years. They also go under the name Muslim Brotherhood. State sponsored and Saudi funded.
The Saudi Royals…there literally hundreds of them…Fund about anything they want without the Ruling family’s consent, and in some cases without their knowledge. So something may seem funded by “the Saudi royal family”, but in fact is only funded by one of the many Saudi royal families.
Jordon carries a lot of clout in the Middle East, and they are by far the most humane and accepting Islamic state. They have been a behind the scenes friend with a lot of things we have done in the Middle East. Their royal prince has attended and passed our ranger school and SFQC. Their army has trained and shared with small groups units of our army on numerous occasions. They are good to people and only want peace and stability.
The Gulf States fall into two groups, either rich playgrounds or castaway Arab states. Oman, parts of UAE, and Yemen are cast offs and are havens for Al-Qaeda and Wahhabi groups. Bahrain, Qatar, other parts of UAE, Kuwait are rich playgrounds.
That is a bit…I may write more later as I get time
So here it is in a bit of stream of conscious poured onto the page.
As most of use will agree, the Middle East is where all recorded history began. Far Eastern mythos will say it began in China or India. But I’m not gonna debate that.
Out of the Middle East, great empires have rose, great empires have fallen. Empires from the west have ruled there, and great empires from the east have died there. But over all the conquests only four basic groups have truly been there. Those four groups are the Hebrew, Arabs, Kurdish, and Persian. Christian and Hebrews will tell you that Hebrews were the first followed by the Arab and Persian.
It is important to understand the Arab, Kurdish, and Persian cultures established themselves and thrived prior to the advent of Islam. I can’t stress the importance of this. Because of above all of the religious posturing, these people cling to the ethnic identity. They cling to the ethnic idea more than they cling to national identity. National lines have really only existed in the Middle East since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and League of Nations. It is still a very new idea. Kurds still very much exemplify this. Kurds are an ethnicity that was born out of a mix ethnicities and are almost the Gypsies of the Middles East. Kurd territory stretches from Northern Iraq into Syria and southern Turkey.
Back to the Islam and Jewish overlay. It is not fair to say Judaism is an overlay on the Hebrew people because as it is recorded in the bible, it was the first religion. There were no Hebrew people before the religion. This was not the same with the Arabs and Persians. They had a Myriad of religions over the span of time. Most of them where polytheist, similar to the Greek, Egyptian, and Roman concepts. With the Empires from the Arab lands conquering or warring against the Hebrew lands, this built the start of the current day split. But, it has always been more of cousins fighting rather than neighbors fighting. They can still trace everything back to the original tribes. It is the Persians and their global conquest that muddle things. Neither the Hebrew nor the Arabs have ever identified with the Persians….Now enter Islam. At some point, Mohammed feel off his camel during one of his trade caravans and established Islam in ~615ish. He preached in Mecca was chased around, preached in Medina, preached in other areas, and spread his word. He even went so far as to help establish a Constitution of religion in Medina that outlined fair treatment for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and pagan tribes of the area. He then later united all of the Arabic tribes under one order….SIDE NOTE….The United Arab League includes 13 African Nations, from North Africa to Sudan.….Then Mohammed died. At first no big deal. Mohammed’s close friend picked up the reigns. He died in a conquest. Then Umar Took over…Umar was killed by Persians, that’s right more drama to the Arab-Persian split. Then a leader was elected!! This was met by opposition. But he was killed, so that is three rulers of Islam in about 24 years. Then Ali took over. Now most folks agreed the first four rulers were legitimate rulers for Islam. These became known as Sunni. A Small majority believed that Ali was the only rightful ruler. These became known as Shia. Well…Ali was killed by an Islamic offshoot that believed anyone in the Islamic community had the right to lead, not just those on the “in crowd” After Ali was put down, there were some more skirmishes over who should rule and they got ugly. The Shia and the remaining bits fled to Persia….BOOM, last bit of drama between Arabs and Persians to cement an immortal hatred for each other.
So that is that…Fast forward a few hundred years…Now, we know the west came in and out over time. There was alexander the great, the romans, the ottomans (Eurasian bastard kids…not Arab, nor European), the Brits, the French…heck even the Germans got some in there. But the first biggest blow to the wealth of the Arab lands came with the ottomans. After sea routes were discovered to the Far East, the spice, silk, and commodity roads through Iraq and Syria were no longer needed. The ottomans took over and instead of trying to find alternate means to sustain the create cultures and riches of the Arab lands, they sucked the riches and beat the culture down. The Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra provinces of the Ottoman Empire were by far the poorest when the empire finally left.
Then the Brits marched in with the rest of the major European powers and started dividing up the land with western values and religion. The Arabs immediately thought once again back to the crusades and the great “Christian repression “ that almost occurred then. This spurred on movements and subcultures within the Arab and Muslim society. Wahabbism was born along with other extremist cults. Their desire was to preserve the way of life they thought was threatened. But now they are not just fighting for their families’ way of life, but also their religions!!
As the 20th century progressed and the western incursion continued into Middle East affairs. More and more groups began to spring up. But in the wake of new and falling regimes, these groups were less concerned about religion than they were about the power that could be gained. The Ba’ath party was one of these groups. IT started in Syria as a movement to reestablish the Pan Arab idea created by Mohammed, but Saddam used that to put himself in power and to seek more power. He turned the Iraq Ba’ath party into an organization of greed and destruction. His biggest sin in the Arab world eyes was invading Kuwait. You do not attack your brother over greed. That is why we had the backing of the Arab nations to kick him out. The world thinks we were there for the little guy, the Arabs used us their army to do the work they couldn’t.
Also over time, the Persian influence crept back across the desert to the med. It planted seeds in Lebanon and Syria. The Shia led Hezbollah faction is Iranian supported and funded. The Iranians have used them to destabilize that region for over 30 years now. And with their hands in Syria and Iraq, they see a way to stretch the empire to the sea once again.
The other Sunni Players emerged to claim power. They came in the for of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. But just as the Ba’ath party started out as an idea with Arab merit, these groups started out with Islamic merit. They came from the Muhajideen that rose to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, Chetznia , and other soviet states. In the end, the didn’t want the freedom of Islam…they wanted the power to control a country in their image.
The Hamas is another Sunni group. They have been the driving force of the Palestinians for years. They also go under the name Muslim Brotherhood. State sponsored and Saudi funded.
The Saudi Royals…there literally hundreds of them…Fund about anything they want without the Ruling family’s consent, and in some cases without their knowledge. So something may seem funded by “the Saudi royal family”, but in fact is only funded by one of the many Saudi royal families.
Jordon carries a lot of clout in the Middle East, and they are by far the most humane and accepting Islamic state. They have been a behind the scenes friend with a lot of things we have done in the Middle East. Their royal prince has attended and passed our ranger school and SFQC. Their army has trained and shared with small groups units of our army on numerous occasions. They are good to people and only want peace and stability.
The Gulf States fall into two groups, either rich playgrounds or castaway Arab states. Oman, parts of UAE, and Yemen are cast offs and are havens for Al-Qaeda and Wahhabi groups. Bahrain, Qatar, other parts of UAE, Kuwait are rich playgrounds.
That is a bit…I may write more later as I get time
