Can There Be Peace in the Middle East
“Can there be peace in the Middle East?”
To ask the question of whether there can be peace in the Middle East is an interesting and quite personal question. The question, to me has always been a resounding YES, as I myself live there and for me there is no option but to answer yes in answer. This particular question though, runs deeper than a mere comment, and answer it in such a short time, we must first look at the problems in general.
Oil ! That is what the modern Middle Eastern geopolitics have usually been about. Given the vast energy resources that form the backbone of western economies, influence and involvement in the Middle East has been of paramount importance for the former and current super powers, including France, Britain, USA and the former Soviet Union.
Prior to the discovery of oil, the region had already been a hotbed for conflict, mainly of a religious nature, and wars over other rich resources and arable land these varied from the Crusades in the middle ages to the present conflicts being waged in the region.
The interests that the West (primarily Britain and France during European colonial times and now the US) had was been due to the energy and resource interests and to battle against the Ottoman Empire.
IRAN
Iran has had a turbulent history not just its recent past. From a democracy in the 1950s, Iran seems to have moved backwards, from an authoritarian regime that overthrew the democratic one, to a religious fundamentalist regime toppling the authoritarian one and taking an anti-West stance. The brutal war through the 1980s against Iraq where over 1 million people died has left deep and lasting political and ethnic scars between the two countries. More recently, Iran was described as being part of an “axis of evil” by US President George Bush, as part of his “war on terror.” The US has also accused Iran of pursuing the development of nuclear weapons, while Iran says it is only pursuing peaceful development. The resistance of iran
To ask the question of whether there can be peace in the Middle East is an interesting and quite personal question. The question, to me has always been a resounding YES, as I myself live there and for me there is no option but to answer yes in answer. This particular question though, runs deeper than a mere comment, and answer it in such a short time, we must first look at the problems in general.
Oil ! That is what the modern Middle Eastern geopolitics have usually been about. Given the vast energy resources that form the backbone of western economies, influence and involvement in the Middle East has been of paramount importance for the former and current super powers, including France, Britain, USA and the former Soviet Union.
Prior to the discovery of oil, the region had already been a hotbed for conflict, mainly of a religious nature, and wars over other rich resources and arable land these varied from the Crusades in the middle ages to the present conflicts being waged in the region.
The interests that the West (primarily Britain and France during European colonial times and now the US) had was been due to the energy and resource interests and to battle against the Ottoman Empire.
IRAN
Iran has had a turbulent history not just its recent past. From a democracy in the 1950s, Iran seems to have moved backwards, from an authoritarian regime that overthrew the democratic one, to a religious fundamentalist regime toppling the authoritarian one and taking an anti-West stance. The brutal war through the 1980s against Iraq where over 1 million people died has left deep and lasting political and ethnic scars between the two countries. More recently, Iran was described as being part of an “axis of evil” by US President George Bush, as part of his “war on terror.” The US has also accused Iran of pursuing the development of nuclear weapons, while Iran says it is only pursuing peaceful development. The resistance of iran