The disastrous problems in the Middle East have a lot of causes,

[MineralMan]

but a primary one is meddling by people who don't care one whit about relations between Muslims. Not the US. Not Russia. Not anyone, really. The Western nations don't understand the differences between ethnic and traditional tribal groups in the region, and they don't really care about those differences. It's all economic and political.

So, we all stick our noses in there and do incredibly stupid things, like dividing a traditional ethnic territory, like Kurdistan, and giving half of it to one country and half to another, because we think the border should be drawn so it make sense geographically or for some other reason.

Then, we wonder why the people in that divided area try to bring it back together and hate the people who now own their land by decree. We're stupid, and we don't care, really, about any of that nonsense. Instead, we ask, "Where's the oil? Where are the mines?"

And then, we just keep doing it again and again and try to force people who don't like each other already to get along because its better for us. It's bullshit, and will never work.

The western nations and Russia are also using the Middle East as a proxy for our own conflicts, and we don't care if a bunch of Muslims get hurt in the process. We'd rather them him and them fight, instead of fighting ourselves.

And all of that is why there will never be peace in that part of the world as long as we insist that the peace happen in a way that benefits us economically. It's a hopeless mission.

[gratuitous]

1. Understanding is hard werk and takes too much time

Blowing things up is so much more gratifying.

[Beringia]

2. Didn't Carter do some good things?

[MineralMan]

3. I don't know. I don't see much evidence of it.

Mostly, we're using the Middle East for our own benefit, or as a surrogate for our own disputes. It's been a long time since Carter was involved.

I'm not at all optimistic about any positive changes coming to the region. Not at all.