Middle East

TheMiddle Eastis a geographical region that encompasses roughly a majority ofWestern Asia(excluding the Caucasus) as well asEgypt.The term is used as a synonym forNear East,in opposition toFar East.The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. The largest ethnic group in the Middle East areArabs,withTurks,Turkomans,Persians,Kurds,Azeris,Copts,Jews,Assyrians,Maronites,Circassians,Somalis,Armenians,Druzeand numerous additional minor ethnic groups forming other significant populations.

Map of the Middle East

Quotes

Arranged alphabetically by author or source:
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A

When the Middle East is not stable, the world cannot be stable. ~Bashar al-Assad

• Let’s turn to a favorite area for the enthusiasts of theculturehypothesis: the Middle East. Middle Eastern countries are primarilyIslamic,and the non–oil producers among them are very poor, as we have already noted.Oilproducers are richer, but this windfall ofwealthhas done little to create diversified moderneconomiesinSaudi ArabiaorKuwait.Don’t these facts show convincingly thatreligionmatters? Though plausible, this argument is not right, either. Yes, countries such asSyriaandEgyptare poor, and their populations are primarilyMuslim.But these countries also systemically differ in other ways that are far more important for prosperity. For one, they were all provinces of theOttoman Empire,which heavily, and adversely, shaped the way they developed. After Ottoman rule collapsed, the Middle East was absorbed into theEnglishandFrench colonial empires,which, again, stunted their possibilities. After independence, they followed much of theformer colonial worldby developing hierarchical,authoritarianpolitical regimes with few of the political and economic institutions that, we will argue, are crucial for generating economic success. This development path was forged largely by the history of Ottoman andEuropeanrule. The relationship between the Islamic religion and poverty in the Middle East is largely spurious.
  • Daron Acemoglu and Jame A. Robinson,Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Poverty, and Prosperity(2012),
• ... Middle Easterners, those whose their tired souls are only comfortable withextremism,extremism in reaction... and extremism in revenge. This extremism stems from all the other extremes that govern our lives and envelops our souls with a thick layer of anger, outrage, and emotional violence.
  • Ibtihal Al-Khatib,alquds.co.uk

• It's about the whole situation in the world, 'cause you cannot separate thesituation in Syriafrom the situation in the Middle East, when the Middle East is not stable, the world cannot be stable.
  • Bashar al-Assad,Interview with Bill Neely(July 2016) on "NBC: Exclusive Interview with Bashar al-Assad"

C

• AndIsraelis not only our ally; it is a beacon of whatdemocracycan and should mean… If the people of the Middle East are not sure what democracy means, let them look to Israel.
  • Hillary Clinton,Hanukkah dinner speechatYeshiva University(December 2005)

• This country was taken over by a group of people with a 'policy coup'!WolfowitzandCheneyandRumsfeld,and...you can name a...dozen other collaborators from 'Project for a New American Century' they wanted us to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control.It went back to those comments in 1991, Did they bother to tell you that? Was there a national dialogue on this? Did senators, and congressmen stand up and denounce this plan? Was there a full flag American debate on this? Absolutely not, and there's still isn't [...] Whether you are aDemocrator aRepublican,if you're an American you ought to be concern about strategy of the United States in this region, What is our aim? What is our purpose? Why are we there? Why are Americans dying in this region? That is the issue.
  • Wesley Clark,Address to Commonwealth Club of California (3 October 2007)

D

• Sinceprogressis the rare exception, and not the rule, among the communities of mankind, it is less important to speculate about the reasons for its cessation among theancient Egyptiansthan to observe how thetechnologicaladvances made in the Near East became by degrees more widely diffused until they penetratedEurope.NeitherMesopotamianorEgypthad the resources which would have enabled it to develop itscivilizationon a basis ofautarky.They had never been self-contained as regardstimberormetalsor evenivory:in the second millenium B.C. the development of largershipsand better organizedlandtransportencouraged greater efforts to satisfy their needs byimportations.In exchanging the products of their superior technology for raw materials they stimulated imitation. Moreover, inancientas inmoderntimes the needs oftradeoften stimulated the desire forconquest,which likewise left its mark upon the life of neighboring peoples long after the tide of conquest had receded.Aggressionthen provoked counter-aggression: some barbarian intruders were eventually absorbed into the life of the twoempires,others clashed with them, and kept their independence.
  • T. K. Derry & Trevor I. Williams,A Short History of Technology: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900(1960) Ch.1 General Historical Survey; "Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilizations"

• Things in the Middle East can always be worse than they are. And give it time, and they’ll get there.
  • Ryan Crocker,interview with PBS Frontline

• I'm very worried about living conditions faced byChristianswho are suffering from conflicts and tensions in many areas of the Middle East. So oftenEgypt,IraqandSyriaand other areas in the Holy Land ooze tears.
  • Pope Francis,as quoted in"Pope asks Middle East governments to protect Christians"(22 November 2013),Ecumenical News

• Foregrounding these historical and global dimensions helps make clear that the enormous scale ofthe current crisisis not simply a question ofviralepidemiologyand a lack ofbiological resistanceto anovel pathogen.The ways that most people acrossAfrica,Latin America,the Middle East, andAsiawill experience the coming pandemic is a direct consequence of aglobal economysystemicallystructured aroundtheexploitation of the resourcesandpeoplesof the South. In this sense, the pandemic is very much a social andhuman-made disaster— not simply a calamity arising from natural or biological causes. [...] The Middle East, for example, is the site of the largestforced displacementsince theSecond World War,withmassive numbers of refugeesandinternally displaced peopleas a result of the ongoing wars in countries such asSyria,Yemen,Libya,andIraq.Most of these people live inrefugee campsor overcrowded urban spaces, and often lack the rudimentaryrights to health caretypically associated withcitizenship.The widespread prevalence ofmalnutritionand otherdiseases(such as thereappearance of cholera in Yemen) make these displaced communities particularly susceptible tothe virusitself. [...] One microcosm of this can be seen in theGaza Strip,where over 70 percent of thepopulationarerefugeesliving in one of the mostdenselypacked areas in the world. [...] Underblockadeand closure for most of the past decade,Gazahas been shut to the world long before the current pandemic. The region could be the proverbial canary in theCOVID-19coalmine — foreshadowing the future path of the infection among refugee communities across the Middle East and elsewhere.
  • Adam Haniehon theCOVID-19 pandemic,This is a Global Pandemic – Let’s Treat it as Such,27 March 2020,Verso Books

• Israelis the Middle East’s only legitimatedemocracy,surrounded by cadres, warlords and villains that do not respect democracy orhuman rights.These bellicose nations jealously regard Israel, envying its success, stability, and might. Israel faces an impossiblecalculusbetween defending itself and facing angry outcries or risking its own destruction.
  • Stephen Harper,as quoted in "We Must Support Democracy in the Middle East"(31 January 2014),The Barrie Examiner.

• When theIFPIreleased its 2018 Global Music Report in Apr. 2018, one region was completely absent from its pages: the Middle East.
  Themusicindustry has historically turned a blind eye on the Middle East andNorth Africa(MENA) because the vast majority of the region's consumers still listen to music for free -- either through legal ad-supported channels, or throughphysicaloronlinpiracy.By some reports, piracy still costs the wider MENA entertainment industry $500 million annually.
  Yet, 2018 also marked the year major labels and streaming platforms invested more capital into the region than ever before.
  • Cherie Hu,”Why the Music Business Can't Afford to Ignore the Middle East In 2019”,Billboard,(12/19/2018).

• Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East, Israel is what isrightabout the Middle East... Now the threat to my country cannot be overstated. Those who dismiss it are sticking their heads in the sand.
  • Benjamin Netanyahu,address to joint meeting of the U.S. Congress(24 May 2011).

• Theinvasion of Iraqhas resulted in the almost complete annihilation of that country’sChristiancommunity, and the attempt to removeBashar Assadfrom power in Syria has seen that country’s Christians mercilessly attacked by the agents of US power,radical Islamists.To be a Christian in the Middle East is to be in constant fear that theUSAwill set its sights on your country because wherever it arrives,Mujahideenare never that far away.
  • Niccolo Soldo,Saturday Commentary and Review #63,Substack,29 November 2021

• I would rather visitLatin Americaor the Middle East thanEurope.The people – especiallyArabsandKurds– are more pleasant to be around.
  • Michael Totten,"51 Facts About Me"(26 June 2006),World Affairs Journal

• [P]olitics in the Middle East isn’t as personal as it often is inthe West,in part because Middle Easterners are accustomed to having their politics dictated to them by the powerful. Politicians are usually above accountability and beyond control of the people. They assume that’s how it is in theWesterncountries as well.
  • Michael Totten,"Hanging With Hezbollah"(1 January 2007),World Affairs Journal

• Middle Eastern people and rulers despise each other as much as, and sometimes even more than, they despise Israel. That has been true since the day Israel was born, and it hasn’t stopped being true for even five minutes... [I]f you can’t afford to enrage Arab leaders, you can’t make alliances with anyone in the Middle East, Jewish or Arab.
  • Michael Totten,"We Are Still Living With Eisenhower’s Biggest Mistake"(February 2017),The Tower

• That effort led to a war of choice with Iraq — one that resulted in catastrophic losses for the region and the United States-led coalition, and that destabilized the entire Middle East.
  • Lawrence Wilkerson,I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once. It’s Happening Again,The New York Times(5 Feb 2018)

• TheIsrael-Hezbollahceasefireagreement has taken effect inLebanon,according to atimelinelaid out by PresidentJoe Biden,who said it was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Biden also said theUSwould help lead another push to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal inGaza.

The deal stipulates a 60-day halt inhostilities,which negotiators have described as the foundation of a lasting truce. In that time,Hezbollahfighters are expected to retreat 40 kilometers (25 miles) from theIsraelborder, whileIsraeliground forces should withdraw fromLebanese territory.

Israel’smilitarybombedBeirut’ssouthernsuburbs20 times in two minutes in the hours before the agreement, in one of the most intense bombardments since the start of [[the [war]]. Israeli strikes inLebanonkilled at least 25 people on Tuesday, including at least 10 people in central Beirut.

• • November 26, 2024 - Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire newsCNN

See also

• Arab Spring

External Links

• Encyclopedic article onMiddle Easton Wikipedia
• Media related toMiddle Easton Wikimedia CommonsTwitter Account
• Middle Easttravel guide from Wikivoyage

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