The Middle East seems to be in chaos; why is that happening?

Question

http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-path-out-of-the-middle-east-collapse-1445037513

• 5 votes
• Read all opinions

	It's Obama's fault.
	It's Hillary's fault.
	It's Kerry's fault.
	It's Putin's fault.
	It's Netanyahu's fault.
	It's Bush's fault.
	It's Iran's fault.
	It's Saudi Arabia's fault.
	Other (please explain)

Answer 1

Has there ever been a time that it's not been in chaos?

Comments

Probably not, but it is worse than usual at present.

Answer 2

you might start with the lines drawn by Sykes & Picot after WWI, in divvying up the Ottoman Empire

Comments

Naah... it goes much further back than that, like say when the Ottomans brought Middle Eastern chaos to southeaster Europe for hundreds of years, starting in the 1300s.

That followed hundreds of years of chaos inflicted on Spain and France by the Moors.

Oh, and let's not forget the Barbary pirates, although they were relatively small potatoes by comparison.

Answer 3

America should never have gotten involved over there.

Comments

Tell the Democrats.

Answer 4

I took some trouble to give a historical perspective on this but my answer has been deleted. Unless it was accidental, that will happen only ONCE more . There won't be a third opportunity.

(My vote was for Other. That's still there.)

Comments

I don't know why it would have been deleted. In any case, I wouldn't (indeed couldn't) have done it.

Would you care to repeat your historical perspective?

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Nah. There was too much detail in it but thanks for asking.

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A question: how many people have the ability to delete Q&A?

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Two, that I know of. Dan and Serenity.

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OK thanks.

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I discovered two more: Support and Danae.

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I didn't delete it.

Answer 5

It's the only thing they excel at.

Comments

Good point.

Makes me wonder why the Europeans are taking this viper into their bosom, as events in Cologne and other German cities over New Year have again shown.

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Two words, "Political Correctness".

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Yep, that's the name of the derangement.

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Pretty sad that leaders are more worried about people saying, "you're a meanie" than "your leadership has put us all in peril".

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The same kind of thing just happened in Germany over New Years.
Many women were assaulted by um... immigrants... and what do the PC politicians in charge try to do? That's right, cover it up.

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Yeah. Nothing will create vigilante justice quicker than "the law" turning a blind eye.

Answer 6

There are a host of different answers...starting with Muslims being belligerent and generally impossible to get along with.

...And then there's our constant meddling spanning generations.

Comments

The strategic location (e.g., the Suez Canal) and the oil has been the cause of much meddling.

And then of course, the Muslims can't get along with each other; of the nearly 500 attacks in 2015, the great majority have been Muslims attacking other Muslims.

http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php

Answer 7

If there is one constant fact about the middle east, it is chaos.