Before World War II, tensions and conflicts in the Middle East were said to be caused by the colonial presence in about 60 percent of the region. After the war and the end of most colonialism, the opposite happened. The intensity of conflicts mounted, and most of the blame was placed on the Western-Soviet conflict in the context of the Cold War.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, and there was only one superpower left in the world, wars emerged in Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq, and crises flared in Egypt, Algeria, South Yemen and Eritrea. It was then said the reason was political vacuums. Then the unipolar world order and vacuums ended with Russia’s resurgence.
Wars, bigger and more dangerous than ever before, have broken out as there are no longer boundaries or respectable red lines. The numbers of dead, wounded and homeless people, and the havoc caused by civil wars, have exceeded all the wars of the last 50 years combined, and tragedies continue. We can thus conclude that the region’s disasters and crises are due to its high susceptibility to them.
If the region’s countries succeed in thwarting this game, they will finally overcome Iran. Without alliances, Tehran’s absurd game, which has harmed Iranians and the peoples of the region, will end.
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Eastern Europe’s wars ceased due to a deal between the Cold War camps. When the Soviet camp collapsed, the situation was brought under control, with Czechoslovakia’s dissolution and Yugoslavia’s collapse via European cooperation. This was preceded by Southeast Asian arrangements after the US was defeated in Vietnam, when the situation in the whole region was resettled. Even a unified Vietnam returned to cooperation with the West.
What does the Middle East need to stabilize? The region still poses a danger to itself and to the world. It has been clear since the 1980s that Iran is the primary source of regional tension and chaos, followed by Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. The later was overthrown, pulling Iraq out of the equation of regional evil, as was Libya’s slain dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Successive US administrations have sought to reassure Iran that they seek to improve its behavior rather than change its regime. If the world succeeded in changing Tehran’s behavior and ending its aggression, perhaps the Middle East would live without unrest for the first time in its modern history.
Most of today’s chaos is directly or indirectly related to Iran, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, extremist militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and others in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bahrain. Iran claims to defend the region’s causes on Islamic and humanitarian grounds, but it has become the most hated country.
Fortunately, the region’s countries are aware of the problem. They do not want to revive the international camps. They are trying to convince Moscow not to be dragged by Tehran into the game of axes: The US and the Gulf states against Russia and Iran. If the region’s countries succeed in thwarting this game, they will finally overcome Iran. Without alliances, Tehran’s absurd game, which has harmed Iranians and the peoples of the region, will end.
• Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a veteran columnist. He is the former general manager of Al Arabiya News Channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, where this
article was originally published.
