MIDDLE EASTERN VIOLENCE: Thanks, Sykes-Picot!

Written by Suzanne Olden on September 24, 2014

I am a student of history. I love to study it, to see where we’ve been. It can tell us a lot about where we are going, and if we ignore it, how we get ourselves into holes that we’ve been in before. The Middle East is a quagmire that no one can seem to get out of, and the place where today’s issues can be pinpointed goes back just about 100 years.

Yes, I am completely aware that the Christian/Jew/Muslim history goes back millennia. The “it was the Crusades!” cries when trying to deflect today’s anger is actually kind of ridiculous and not accurate. Yes, Islam was violently taking over vast portions of the Middle East, including Jerusalem. Yes, they were attacking people who were either trading with the area or making religious pilgrimages there to visit holy sites. Yes Christians went there en masse to defend the “Holy Land”, its historical Christian/Jewish sites, as well as trade routes. Yes, it was bloody and horrible.

No, it wasn’t what the left would have us believe, and NO it isn’t the basis of what issues are in the area TODAY. The issues between Israel and the rest of the Middle East, the rise of ISIS and all the other conflicts can actually be placed solely at the feet of an Agreement called the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Understanding the rise of terrorism, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and ISIS (among others) depends on understanding exactly what happened before and after World War I and the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Glenn Beck did a program on The Blaze TV and nailed it quite well. Before 1916, there was an Islamic Caliphate, the last one in existence, and it was the Ottoman Empire. It controlled the area completely and controlled key shipping routes. At that time Britain was a world power and controlled vast portions of the Near and Far East. Britain needed those routes, so it sent T.E. Lawrence, an Army Officer, to deal with the situation.

Yes, that’s the base character for the movie with Peter O’Toole called Lawrence of Arabia.

Read more: ClashDaily

Thanks for posting.

This explains how the middle east was broken up into inherently unstable countries.

Glenn's information about "Understanding the rise of terrorism, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and ISIS (among others)" is not complete. Here are some additional facts to be considered: