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How Can We Make the Middle East Stable? BillDoll.com
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How Can We Make the Middle East Stable?
The Middle East has been one of the most politically volatile regions for the last fifty years. This volatility is even more significant as some of the countries comprising the Middle East hold over 50% of the total global oil reserves.
Why did the Middle East result in what it is today, and what are the ways by which stability can be brought to this important region? This section of Billion Dollar Questions explores these aspects in-depth and provides inputs and web resources.
This page like all the other pages at BillDoll.com, The Billion Dollar Questions Site - is a work-in-progress and stuff will get added regularly.
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Content Derived from Wikipedia Article on Middle East
The Middle East is a historical and cultural region of Africa-Eurasia with no clear definition; it traditionally includes countries or regions in Southwest Asia and parts of North Africa.
Characteristics
In the Western world, the Middle East is generally thought of as a predominantly Arab community, although this is not necessarily true of all states in the region. The ethnic groups in the region may include Africans, Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, Azeris, Berbers, Druze, Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Maronites, Persians, Turks and Turkmen. Arabic in its numerous varieties is the most widely spoken language in the Arab countries ; other languages spoken in the region include Armenian, Assyrian (a form of Aramaic), Azeri,Berber languages,Georgian, Hebrew, Kurdish, Persian, Turkish, Greek, and Urdu (Greater Middle East). The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. Many Western definitions of the "Middle East" in both established reference books and common usage define the region as 'nations in Southwest Asia, from Afghanistan to Egypt.'
Egypt, with its Sinai Peninsula in Asia, is often considered part of the 'Middle East', although most of the country lies geographically in North Africa. North African nations without Asian links, such as Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, are increasingly being called North African as opposed to Middle Eastern (Iran to Egypt-Asia) by international media outlets. However, North African countries can also be considered part of the Middle East. Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, is also considered part of the "Greater Middle East".
One widely used definition of "Middle East" is that of the airline industry,[1] maintained by the IATA standards organization. This definition as of early 2006 includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza strip), Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen [2]. This definition is used in world-wide airfare and tax calculations for passengers and cargo.
History
The Middle East (specifically, the Fertile Crescent) was one of the first centers of agriculture (see history of agriculture), and therefore of civilization. It lies at the juncture of Eurasia and Africa and of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is the birthplace and spiritual center of the Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Yezidi, Iran: Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Bahα'ν Faith. The Garden of Eden was also thought to be located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, making the Middle East the cradle of civilization. Thus, throughout its history it has been a major center of world affairs; a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area. Starting in the 20th century, its significant stocks of crude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. The region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict and war. After the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire the modern Middle East was formed.
Geography
Middle East defines a cultural area, so it does not have precise borders. The most common and highly arbitrary definition includes: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Palestinian Territories. Iran is often the eastern border, but Afghanistan is also occasionally included because of their close relationship (ethnically and religiously) to the larger group of Iranian peoples as well as historical connections to the Middle East including being part of the various empires that have spanned the region such as those of the Persians and Arabs among others. Afghanistan, Tajikistan and western parts of Pakistan, share close cultural, linguistic, and historical ties with Iran and are also part of the Iranian plateau, whereas Iran's relationship with Arab states is based more upon religion and geographic proximity.
North Africa or the Maghreb, although often placed outside the Middle East proper, does have strong cultural and linguistic links to the region, and historically has shared many of the events that have shaped the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions including those prompted by Phoenician-colonized Carthage and Greco-Roman civilization as well as Muslim Arab-Berber and Ottoman empires. The Maghreb is sometimes included, sometimes excluded from the Middle East by the media and in informal usage, while most academics continue to identify North Africa as geographically a part of Africa, but being closely related to southwestern Asia in terms of politics, culture, religion, language, history, and genetics.
The Caucasus region (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia) and Cyprus is often grouped into Southwest Asia, but are generally considered European because of historical, cultural and recently also political ties to Europe, examples are a Christian majority, Indo-European linguistic background and membership (Cyprus) or aspirations to membership (Armenia and Georgia) in mainly European organisations (NATO, OSCE and EU). Throughout their histories, Armenia as well as Georgia have been distancing themselves from surrounding Islamic nations. Since the beginning of 19th century, all three South Caucasian states were also strongly influenced by the dominion of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Currently they are viewed more as 'European' than Middle Eastern and generally viewed as the separate regional bloc of the Caucasus.
Other countries of the Middle East speak Indo-European languages (Iran for example) or have a Christian majority (Cyprus, Greece), but are still considered Middle Eastern. Turkey possesses neither of these European traits, but is partly geographically in Europe and it was the site of the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires that included large parts of Europe. Turkey distanced itself from Islamic law via Atatόrk's Reforms during early 20th century and the Turkish Constitution puts strong emphasis upon the principles of laοcitι and democracy. It is a long-time member of NATO and the Council of Europe, a founding member of OECD and OSCE, is currently in accession talks to join the European Union, and has a Latin alphabet. Even so Turkey is in some contexts considered Middle Eastern, because of its Muslim population and geographic proximity to the region.
Central Asian countries from the former Soviet Bloc also show varying degrees of affinity and historical ties to the Middle East, but not in any uniform fashion. While the southern states of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan display many cultural, historical, and socio-political similarities to the Middle East, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have a more remote and mixed culture. These states are often viewed as Eurasian and their Soviet past has set them apart from the Middle East. In some countries, like Tajikistan there has been a movement to re-establish ties to the region based upon their kinship with Iran and Afghanistan. Like the Caucasus and Turkey, Central Asia has a strong secular and 'western' culture from their Soviet legacies. This may change with the renaissance and resurgence of Islamic identity that were suppressed by Soviet authorities.
The State of Israel is unique in the Middle East. Although geographically in the Middle East, it was founded by European immigrants from the Jewish Diaspora, is predominantly Jewish and in continuous conflict with Islamic neighbour countries. Therefore it is often not considered "culturally" Middle Eastern. Part of the Israeli population retain European appearance and characteristics, but many are of Middle Eastern descent (including Sephardic Jews and Israeli Arabs), and Middle Eastern influence is notable in Israeli cultural life and cuisine.
The original Turks were nomads from Central Asia who mixed with the European communities of Turkey's Asian side, giving many a more European appearance. Some Turks also have Russian descent.
Changes in meaning over time
Until World War II, WW2, it was customary to refer to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the Near East. The Middle East then meant the area from Mesopotamia to Burma, namely the area between the Near East and the Far East (which includes areas such as India). The sense described in this article evolved during the war, perhaps influenced by the ancient idea of the Mediterranean as the "sea in the middle".
Criticism and usage
Some have criticized the term Middle East for its perceived Eurocentrism[3], because it was originally coined by Europeans and reflects the geographical position of the region from a European perspective. Today the term is used by Europeans and non-Europeans alike, unlike the similar term Mashreq, used exclusively in Arabic-language contexts. The region is only east from the perspective of Europe. To an Indian, it lies to the west; to a Russian, it lies to the south. The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Persia, Kurdistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, Turkistan and the Caucasus. In contrast, Far East refers to the countries of East Asia, e.g. China, Japan, Koreas, Hong Kong (China), Taiwan, etc. Such critics usually advise using an alternative term, such as "West Asia". The official UN designation of the area is "Southwest Asia".
With the disappearance of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1918, Near East largely fell out of common use in English, while Middle East came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the Islamic world. However, the usage of Near East was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history, where it describes an area identical to the term Middle East, which is not used by these disciplines (see Ancient Near East). So in shorter words, the term Middle East came about when the UK/French part of the world used the term. In German the term Naher Osten (Near East) is still in common use and in Russian Ближний Восток (Near East) remains as the only appropriate term for the region.
Indirect translations
There are terms similar to Near East and Middle East in other European languages, but, since it is a relative description, the meanings depend on the country and are different from the English terms generally. See fr:Proche-Orient, fr:Moyen-Orient, de:Naher Osten, and 'Blizhniy Vostok' ru:Ближний Восток for examples.
Regions
Anatolia Iranian Plateau Mediterranean Sea - Cyprus, Greece Arabia, see Persian Gulf States - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, U.A.E., Oman, Yemen, Bahrain and Iraq The Levant - collective name for the countries of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean from Egypt to, and including, Turkey
Related Topics
List of tallest towers in the Middle East Fertile Crescent Southwest Asia Near East Cradle of Humanity Byzantium Greater Middle East Middle East Studies Association of North America Orientalism ODAM Arabic alphabet
Countries and territories of the Middle East
Bahrain · Egypt · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Jordan · Kuwait · Lebanon · Oman · Palestinian territories · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · Syria · United Arab Emirates · Yemen
Sometimes included: Afghanistan · Cyprus · Turkey
End of Wikipedia content, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East
Wikipedia Reference Article on Democracy in the Middle East
Democracy in the Middle East is considered by many to be rarer than in other regions of the world, but this is disputed by many governments in the region, many of whom claim to be democratic. Proposed reasons for the relative absence of liberal democracy in the Middle East are diverse, from the long history of imperial rule by the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France and the contemporary political and miltiary intervention by the U.S. to the problem that most of the states in the region are rentier states, which experience the theorized resource curse. This article traces the history and assesses the current state and future prospects of democracy, democratic tendencies, and democratic movements in all countries in the broadly-defined Middle East region.
Current state
The level of democracy varies widely from country to country. A few countries, such as Saudi Arabia, do not claim to be democracies; however, most of the larger states claim to be democracies, although this claim is in most cases disputed.
Arab Socialism
A number of republics embracing Arab Socialism, such as Syria and Egypt, regularly hold elections, but critics assert that these are single-party states or unfair dominant-party systems and not full multi-party systems. Yemen, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, while also partly accepting this ideology, are generally considered more democratic than other states that do so, but the power of institutions in the latter two are limited by the domination of Syria and Israel, respectively.
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is more common in the Middle East than elsewhere, and even a number of kingdoms with parliaments have been claimed to fall broadly under this category. Saudi Arabia and most other kingdoms on the Arabian Peninsula are usually considered absolute monarchies.
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy can be said to be at least partly embraced in some countries that are generally considered more democratic. Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain are examples of this category.
Islamic governments
Establishment of islamic laws in Iran following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 has produced an electoral system that is limited by the vetoing power of a religious leader. However some elections in Iran, as the election of city councils satisfies democratic criteria. In other countries, the ideology (usually out of power) has fostered both pro-democratic and anti-democratic sentiments. The Justice and Development Party is a moderate democratic Islamist party that has come to power in traditionally secular Turkey. Its moderate ideology has been compared to Christian Democracy in Europe. The United Iraqi Alliance, the winner of the recent elections in Iraq, is a coalition including many religious parties.
Islamism
Al-Qaeda and its allies are deeply anti-democratic Islamists, believing that since sharia represents God's law, there is no place for law made by men.
Israel/Palestine
Israel is usually considered to be a democracy within its 1948 borders, but not in its administration of the Palestinian territories. The Palestinian Authority, which exercises only limited sovereignty, has generally been considered to be more open than most Arab governments, particularly in light of the most recent presidential election.
Secularism
Secularism in the region was pioneered by Kemal Atatόrk, who, though he himself had some authoritarian tendencies, helped establish the first modern Middle Eastern democracy in Turkey. Arab Socialism has also fostered secularism, though sometimes in what has been seen as a less democratic context. Secularism is not the same as freedom of religion, and secular governments have at times denied the rights of Islamists and other religious parties. A trend of a more liberal secularism supporting broader freedom of religion has developed recently in Turkey, while some Arab Socialist states have moved away from secularism to some extent, increasingly embracing religion, though many say without really increasing the rights of religious parties.
Western intervention
After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, many of the empire's former territories fell under the rule of European countries under League of Nations mandates. Thus, European powers were instrumental in establishing the first independent governments that emerged out of the Ottoman Empire. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed for allies in the region and the U.S. has been accused of supporting dictatorships contrary to its stated democratic principles. The U.S., with some allies, has in recent years invaded Afghanistan and Iraq with a partially stated purpose of establishing democracies there, to the opposition of those who say that democracy cannot be imposed from outside. The two countries have since had relatively successful elections, but have also experienced serious security and development problems.
End of Wikipedia content, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_the_Middle_East
Content Derived from Wikipedia Article on List of Conflicts in the Middle East
In the last 60 years, there have been a number of conflicts in the Middle East. See also List of conflicts in the Maghreb.
Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Israel-Lebanon conflict
1948 Arab-Israeli War (Israeli War of Independence) 1956 Suez War 1967 Six Day War 1970 War of Attrition 1973 Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War 1982-2000 South Lebanon conflict 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis
Jordan-Syria tensions
As part of the broader tensions between monarchical, pro-Western governments and Nasserite, socialist governments, the Syrian governments of the sixties were opposed to the Jordanian monarchy; in 1960, the assassination of the Jordanian prime minister Hazza al-Majali was blamed on Syria (at the time, the United Arab Republic.) Tensions increased further after King Hussein ended official support for the PLO in 1966; in September 1970, a Syrian military unit crossed into Jordan to aid the PLO against the Jordanian army (see Black September in Jordan). The Syrian force was repulsed, but relations remained tense and were severed in July 1971. In 1975, Jordan and Syria attempted to put aside past hostilities between them and create a new alliance. In 1979, King Hussein of Jordan proposed an alternative to the Camp David accords to which Hafez al-Assad of Syria strongly objected; this marked the beginning of a rapid deterioration in Jordanian-Syrian relations. In 1979 Syria accused the Kingdom of Jordan of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood's attacks against Assad's government. Since then the tensions have dissipated and now relations between the two countries are normal.
Jacob Civil War PLO-Jordanian government war in September 1970.
Lebanese civil war
(19751990) Because of religious and ethnic tensions, the country became socially unstable. Interference from the outside, mainly Western, exacerbated the situation and caused a civil war. The civil war spanned over two decades and grabbed the attention of the world through abductions of Westerners. Ultimately the United Nations decided to intervene. By trial and error the situation ultimately got under control, but tensions still rest in the Lebanese society, and although the war ended, the risk of civil war is still present.
Libya-Egypt conflict
Following Egypt's first negotiations with Israel in 1973, Libya became hostile to Egypt. In 1977, not long after demonstrators in the two countries attacked each other's consulates, the two countries fought a four-day war (July 21-July 24) during which several Libyan aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The war ended with a peace treaty signed with Egypt and Libya to unite in a war effort against Arab Extremists.
Iraq-Kuwait clashes
Kuwait and Iraq had a serious territorial dispute that led to armed warfare in 1973 and again in 1976. Iraq wanted Kuwait's oil and ports, and argued that Kuwait was rightfully theirs due to pre-British imperial boundaries. In 1990 Iraq occupied Kuwait, but was expelled in 1991.
April 1967 Iraq-Kuwait conflict in Al-Ratqa, Kuwait March 1973 Iraq-Kuwait conflict in Al-Sameta, Kuwait 1976 Iraq-Kuwait conflict in Al-Sameta, Kuwait 1990-1991 The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq (Gulf War)
The 1980 Iran-Iraq War
Sometimes called the First Persian Gulf War. In this war Syria entered on the side of Iran, against Iraq, with aid and supplies. All other Arab countries, the United States and Western World, as well as the USSR supported Iraq, imposing embargoes on Iran. The war ended after 8 years, when after Iraq, Iran accepted a resolution of the UN asking for the halt of military activities. The frontiers were re-established to those before the war.
UN-Iraq conflict
1990-1991 Gulf War During the Gulf War, a United Nations force led by the United States restored Kuwaiti sovereignty after the 1990 Iraqi invasion. nartard
General conflicts of the US and its allies "War on Terrorism" is a collective term for US involvement in several countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Coalition Invasion of Iraq
2003-2006 2003 invasion of Iraq
In 2003, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded and occupied Iraq after a dispute over the status of the Iraqi Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical weapons programs. This war is sometimes known as the Second Gulf War.
Between the 1990/91 and 2003/06 wars, the US, UK, and (until 1996) France continued to enforce no-fly zones over large areas of Iraq, to protect Shiite and Kurdish Iraqis from air attack by the Iraqi government. Many people of Iraq and other countries considered this to be a continuous invasion of Iraqi airspace, and thus, one war from 1990-2006. The United Nations ran a maritime blockade Iraq's Persian Gulf oil ports between the two wars, to enforce sanctions in response to Iraq's refusal to comply fully with UN inspections, to verify that it no longer had weapons of mass destruction.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_the_Middle_East
End of Wikipedia content
Middle East Glossary of Terms
A Abna'al-Balad Adalah Administered Territories Al-Aqsa Intifada Al-Aqsa Mosque Al Haq Aliyah Al-Naqba Al Quds Alternative Information Center (Aic) Amman Anti-Semitism Applied Research Institute Of Jerusalem (Arij) Arab Summit Of November 1987 In Amman Arafat, Yasser Areas A, B, C Association For Civil Rights In Israel (Acri) Ashkenazim Autonomy Plan
B Badil Bagrut Baladna Balfour Declaration Bantustan Baqa'a Camp Bat Shalom Beirut Benvenisti, Meron Bereaved Families Forum Birzeit University Brit Shalom British Mandate B'tselem
C Camp David Accords Of 1978 Camp David 2000 Christian Peacemaker Teams (Cpt) Christian Zionism Churches For A Middle East Peace (Cmep) Coalition Of Women For A Just Peace Compassionate Peace Corpus Separatum Courage To Refuse Custodian Of Absentee Property
D Damascus Debkeh Diaspora Dome Of The Rock Druze Dunum
E East Bank East Jerusalem Ein El-Hilweh Camp Eretz Israel Erez Checkpoint European Union (Eu)
F Fatah Final Status Issues Fourth Geneva Convention Of 1949
G Galilee Gaza Strip Geneva Accord Golan Heights Greater Jerusalem Green Line Gush Emunim Gush Shalom
H Ha'aretz Ha-Kotel Hamas Haram al-Sharif Al-Haram Al-Sharif Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan Herod's Temple Hezbollah Holocaust
I IDF Ihud International Solidarity Movement (Ism) Intifada Islamic Jihad Israeli Arabs Israel/Palestinian Center For Research And Information (Ipcri) Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (Ichad) Israeli Defense Forces (Idf) Israeli-Palestinian Physicians For Human Rights Ittijah
J Jabalia Camp Jaffee Center For Strategic Studies Jahalin Jewish Agency Jewish National Fund (Jnf) Judea And Samaria
K Karnei Shomron Kibbutz (Plural: Kibbutzim) Kiryat Arba Knesset
L Labor Party Land For Peace Land Of Israel Law Of Return Likud
M Madrid Ma'ale Adumim Mandate Palestine Mapai Mapam Meretz Mizrahi Moledet Moratinos Document Municipal Elections Of 1976
N Nakba Nablus New Profile Nusseibeh/Ayalon Statement Of Principles
O Occupied Palestinian Territories (Opt) Old City Operation Defensive Shield Operation Peace For Galilee Or Committee Oriental Jews Orthodox Jews Oslo Outpost Occupied Territories
P Palestine Liberation Organization (Plo) Palestine National Council (Pnc) Palestinian Authority (Pa) Palestinian Center For Rapprochement Palestinian Israelis Partition Plan Passia Palestine National Authority Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (Pflp) Population Transfer Principles For A Just And Lasting Peace
Q Qur'an Quartet
R Rabbis For Human Rights Rabin, Yitzhak Ramallah Ramallah Friends Schools Reform Jews Revisionism Right Of Return Roadmap For Peace
S Sabeel Sabra And Shatila Saudi Initiative Of March 2002 Search For Peace In The Middle East Secular Democratic State Semitic Sephardim Settlers Settlements Sharon, Ariel ("Arik") Shatila Shi'ite Muslims Sinai Six Day War Sulha Sumoud Sunni Muslims
T Ta'ayush Taba Tawjihi Tehran Temple Mount Torah Triangle
U Um El-Fahm Unified National Leadership Of The Uprising (Unlu) Union Of Medical Relief Committees (Upmrc) United Nations High Commission For Refugees (Unhcr) United Nations Resolution 181 United Nations Resolution 194 United Nations Resolution 242 United Nations Resolution 338 United Nations Relief And Works Agency (Unrwa)
V Via Dolorosa
W West Bank West Jerusalem Western Israel Women In Black World Zionist Organization (Wzo)
Y Yerushalayim Yesh Gvul Yishuv Yom Kippur War
Z Zionism
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