How Did We Get To Where We Are ?…
But More Importantly, How Do We Get Away From There?
First off, for the record, let’s be clear here; Islamists are all Muslim but the majority of Muslims are not Islamists. So that’s my politically correct statement; but the fact is, it is true.
Muslims date their religious beliefs back to their Founder, Muhammad (born around 570 A.D.). Islamists are the Minority of Muslims who distort the Muslim Religion to justify their sadistic ways. Moreover, most of their victims are fellow Muslims. That said, Islamists have an especial hate for Jews /Israel and to a lesser extent, the United States of America. But all Western Society is held in distain.
Islamists live in the past – the far past dating back to the Middle Ages. It was then that Christians fought the Muslims in numerous Crusades between the 11th and 13th Centuries. Christians were endeavouring to retake the Holy Lands which were lost when Rome declined over the latter part of the 1st Millennia. Christians have moved on from those distant years, but Islamists are still mired in the distant past.
So that’s where the Anti-Social Proclivities of Islamists began and today it runs rampant throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. And even though in the minority, they are well organized zealots who succeed over the indifference of the majority. (Sadly, this apathy is prevalent here in the West as well).
After the Crusades, the West’s attention turned to matters of exploration, trade, industrialization so the goings on of the Arab World became of little interest; until of course the discovery of their vast reserves of oil. But I am getting a little ahead of myself.
World War I came along an represented another watershed in the souring of relationships between Europe and Arabia. The Arabs fought with the British in that War to get themselves out from under Rule by Turkey. These were the days of Lawrence of Arabia. After the War, the Brits promised the Palestinians their own lands which was great save for the fact that they made the same promise to the Jews. This led to fighting against the British by Jews and Arabs alike, ending in 1948 with the formation of Israel which angered the Arabs / Palestinians. They felt, for good reason, betrayed by the West.
When I say that, I am not diminishing in any way the Jews right to Israel I am merely pointing out that two very distinct cultures have legitimate claims to live in the Middle East. The Jews claim, like that of the Arabs, goes back thousands of years.
But it is these events of the last century and back to the middle ages, which fuels the current animosity between West and Middle East and the violence we are witnessing today has spawned from that.
Since then, to keep the peace in this volatile mixture, the West has supported a number of strongmen – Dictators if you will – to keep the lid on hostilities. And just as importantly – or perhaps more importantly, to ensure Western access to Middle East Oil.
Some of these Dictators were benevolent; the Shaw of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan, Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak. Some were bad; Gamal Nasser, Hafez and Bashar al Assad. One was a clown – Muammar Gaddafi. One was bad – Iraq’s Saddam Hussein - but acted as a great barrier to the aspirations of Iran and One was really bad – Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei.
It is of more than of passing interest to note that when the Great Shaw of Iran fell and when the Ayatollah was allowed to enter Iran, it was Jimmy Carter who occupied the White House and when Hosni Mubarak fell it was Barack Obama who called that place Home.
One can criticize the Dictators all he or she wants, but the fact remains, none of these countries were then or are today ready for the implementation of Democracy and the Rule of Law.
And with the Dictators gone, along came the Arab Spring which I have consistently referred to as the Arab Winter. It is but a vehicle to allow the Islamists to take control of Muslim Government and Society. Violence as we have seen recently will become the norm.
The greatest threat though will remain the danger that Iran will acquire Nuclear Weapons. They most likely have them now and are just refining their delivery. Obama, like Carter in the 70s, prefers accommodation over confrontation and if he continues to stick to this it will force Israel to strike Iran by air in an attempt to knock out their nuclear potential. And if that occurs, as it most likely will – all Hell will break out in the Middle East. It could very well end in the total destruction of Israel but then again, Israel is damned either way and better to go down fighting for their rights.
So that’s where we are – my next Blog will deal with how best to get out from under all this.
As I see it …
‘K.D. Galagher’
