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Recreating the map of Middle East using guns not pens
Global Village Space |
Zeeshan Munir |
The post-WWI Middle Eastern fault lines were jolted in the year 2003 when the US set foot on Iraqi soil. A series of events, starting with the removal of Saddam Hussain from power, led to the distortion of the contemporary Middle East formed under the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. This region, now, is embroiled in civil wars, sectarian conflicts, and ethno-nationalist terrorism. The instability and balkanization of this region, which was considered unrealistic only a decade ago, is now a reality.
From where it all started…
The insurgency against the US occupation was accompanied by the sectarian conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites thus dividing the nation.
The New Middle East notion gained prominence in the post-Saddam Iraq. Iraqi politics had previously been based upon the sectarian identities, namely the Shia and Sunni identities, which were supplemented by the ethnic divide between the Arabs and Kurds.
Read more: By targeting Iran Trump stokes sectarian fires across the Middle East
The imposition of US-backed Shiite government after the 2003 invasion, exposed deep divisions within Iraqi society. The insurgency against the US occupation was accompanied by the sectarian conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites thus dividing the nation. However, the US surge in Iraq, starting in 2006, curbed this violence and it experienced a brief period of stability. President Barack Obama pulled out the forces from Iraq in 2011 and the Shiite government in Baghdad was expected to unite the country and bring prosperity in the war-torn nation.
The oppressive and discriminatory attitude of the central government, though, once again kindled the sectarian division in Iraq. The crackdown of Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces on Sunni minority carved out a way for the rise of self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) which quickly captured large swaths of Sunni-majority areas in the country.
The civil war in Syria created a vacuum which was filled by the IS and it became one of the most powerful non-state terrorist groups in history. The Iraqi and Syrian government forces are now at loggerheads with this extremist group.
This IS blitzkrieg was happening at a time when the region was experiencing a wave of revolutions, categorized as the Arab Spring. This so-called pro-democracy movement showed the doors to many dictators who had been ruling Arab states for decades. These dictators, since then, have been replaced by other dictators or Islamist regimes. However, high hopes tied to this Arab Spring were shattered and this revolution came to a halt in Syria where pro-democracy protests quickly turned into a complex civil war.
Read full article:
Recreating the map of Middle East using guns not pens
Global Village Space |
Zeeshan Munir |
The post-WWI Middle Eastern fault lines were jolted in the year 2003 when the US set foot on Iraqi soil. A series of events, starting with the removal of Saddam Hussain from power, led to the distortion of the contemporary Middle East formed under the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. This region, now, is embroiled in civil wars, sectarian conflicts, and ethno-nationalist terrorism. The instability and balkanization of this region, which was considered unrealistic only a decade ago, is now a reality.
From where it all started…
The insurgency against the US occupation was accompanied by the sectarian conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites thus dividing the nation.
The New Middle East notion gained prominence in the post-Saddam Iraq. Iraqi politics had previously been based upon the sectarian identities, namely the Shia and Sunni identities, which were supplemented by the ethnic divide between the Arabs and Kurds.
Read more: By targeting Iran Trump stokes sectarian fires across the Middle East
The imposition of US-backed Shiite government after the 2003 invasion, exposed deep divisions within Iraqi society. The insurgency against the US occupation was accompanied by the sectarian conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites thus dividing the nation. However, the US surge in Iraq, starting in 2006, curbed this violence and it experienced a brief period of stability. President Barack Obama pulled out the forces from Iraq in 2011 and the Shiite government in Baghdad was expected to unite the country and bring prosperity in the war-torn nation.
The oppressive and discriminatory attitude of the central government, though, once again kindled the sectarian division in Iraq. The crackdown of Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces on Sunni minority carved out a way for the rise of self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) which quickly captured large swaths of Sunni-majority areas in the country.
The civil war in Syria created a vacuum which was filled by the IS and it became one of the most powerful non-state terrorist groups in history. The Iraqi and Syrian government forces are now at loggerheads with this extremist group.
This IS blitzkrieg was happening at a time when the region was experiencing a wave of revolutions, categorized as the Arab Spring. This so-called pro-democracy movement showed the doors to many dictators who had been ruling Arab states for decades. These dictators, since then, have been replaced by other dictators or Islamist regimes. However, high hopes tied to this Arab Spring were shattered and this revolution came to a halt in Syria where pro-democracy protests quickly turned into a complex civil war.
Read full article:
Recreating the map of Middle East using guns not pens
