I recently talked with a friend of mine who's a Lebanon-born Christian. We were watching an Egyptian movie from the 60s, the golden age of Arab cinema. You may ask, what does this have to do with the terror attacks in Paris, Sinai, Beirut, Ankara, Iraq and Yemen? Well, do bear with me.
The movie was about a group of holiday-makers, several family
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Correction, highly recommended.
A concise yet wide-ranging analysis of the situation. To some extent this is Lawrence's fault. He was midwife to a certain form of Arab nationalism, which became associated in a romantic fashion with the House of Saud. In hindsight it seems that Lawrence's superiors may have had the right take on Arabia, Arab nationalism, and the disintegrating remnants of the Ottoman Empire. But the blame cannot solely lie upon a maverick English adventurer. The US, UK, France, and subsequently Europe have all played a role, as you rightly point out.
FUBAR. And unless KSA changes tack it seems unlikely to get any better. Maybe the powers-that-be need to start putting pressure on KSA.
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+1.
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Now ain't that the key to understanding why any military operation is doomed to fail, unless coupled with a profound total-overhaul effort that'd require a painful long-term commitment and lots of resources - which no Western politician in their right mind would ever dare doing.
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