Middle East geopolitics explained simply || The Middle East explained in a nutshell

the middle east geopolitics explained simply what is the middle east the middle east is a loosely defined region at the crossroads of asia europe and africa normally included in the list of middle eastern countries are the countries of the arabian peninsula that is saudi arabia yemen oman united arab emirates qatar bahrain kuwait as well as egypt turkey syria lebanon israel palestine jordan iraq and iran the term middle east can be used to refer to countries that are predominantly islamic in culture this usage expands the term to include the remaining states of north africa as well as afghanistan and even perhaps pakistan why is the middle east always in the news the middle east is always in the news because the region is embroiled in many conflicts for reasons which we will go on to explore the conflicts are covered extensively in world news as the middle east is globally important several countries in the region are rich in oil and natural resources which it exports to the rest of the world at competitive prices who lives in the middle east the middle east is home to several ethnic minorities including arabs turks persians kurds and jews the three major abrahamic religions were born in the middle east judaism christianity and islam islam is the major religion in the region the two major branches of islam are sunni islam and shia islam what are the reasons for the conflicts in the middle east the main causes behind the conflicts in the middle east can be boiled down to the following 1. the way the middle east was divided by foreign powers after the world wars 2 the spread of wahhabism across the region 3 the israeli-palestinian conflict 4 the regional rivalry between saudi arabia and iran and 5 american foreign policy we'll look at each point in more detail division of the middle east by foreign powers during world war one the british and the french convinced the arabs to revolt against the ottoman empire in exchange for an independent arab state after the projected fall of the ottoman empire however after the allies won world war one the middle east was divided up between britain and france according to their own interests rather than what would be good for the diverse range of people and ethnic groups that lived in the region after world war ii britain and france could no longer afford to continue their imperialist strategies and left the region but the borders they had established remained this meant that people with deeply held but differing beliefs and ideologies ended up living side by side in the same country ethnic groups such as the kurds ended up with no homeland at all the spread of wahhabism a powerful dynasty the house of swords had been fighting for control of much of the arabian peninsula from the 16th century onwards by 1932 they were successful in creating a unified saudi arabia with the house of sword the ruling royal family of saudi arabia controlling the country as an absolute monarchy the rulers of saudi arabia follow a fundamentalist doctrine of islam known as wahhabism when vast amounts of oil was discovered in saudi arabia the country became unimaginably wealthy overnight which allowed the export of wahhabism throughout the middle east promoting an ardent religious feather over a more moderate religious culture the israel-palestine conflict both jews and palestinians lay claim to a land in a small part of the middle east the claims arise from historical and religious connections after the first world war and the fall of the ottoman empire the british came to control the region in question it was known as the british mandate for palestine throughout the 20th century both jewish nationalism and arab nationalism gained traction zionism was and is a movement that promoted the establishment of a jewish state in their ancestral homeland what was the british palestine mandate the movement inspired mass immigration of jews into british palestine which caused tensions with the existing palestinians already living there after the second world war the world had immense sympathy with the jewish people having borne witness to the holocaust and hitler's actions the british who had promised to help establish a jewish state were unable to come up with a satisfactory plan for both jews and palestinians and look to the united nations in 1947 the u.n proposed a plan which would allow both the jews and palestinians to have two separate states but as soon as the british left the region and israel declared independence war broke out between israel and the surrounding hostile arab nations israel not only won the war but managed to gain territory in what was meant to be part of the palestinian state over time israel has emerged as a power to be reckoned with and arab nations have begrudgingly accepted israel's existence as a consequence the wider arab israeli conflict has reduced down to a more localized israeli-palestinian conflict over the course of multiple wars palestinian refugees have been displaced from their homes and the palestinians who do remain within what was meant to be palestine are now effectively under israeli control with international facilitation israeli and palestinian leaders have made attempts to find a resolution however each time the peace process has been derailed by extremist players on both sides israel continues to face open hostility in the middle east from nations such as iran and syria as well as militant political groups such as hamas based in the gaza strip and hezbollah based in lebanon israel is no longer making any real attempt to give palestinians their land back and palestinians are losing hope the existence of israel and how it came to be remains a source of resentment for many in the middle east saudi arabia and iran rivalry relations between saudi arabia and iran soured after the iranian revolution in 1979. prior to that both nations were governed by western-backed monarchies but iran's revolution overthrew the iranian shah and a new regime with a different ideology took its place iran was ruled by a religious theocracy where saudi arabia was an absolute monarchy and iranian leaders had no qualms in denouncing the saudi arabian regime as un-islamic the countries began competing for dominance and influence in the middle east which resulted in several proxy boards being fought in places such as yemen and syria proxy wars are wars where competing powers don't fight each other directly but get involved in foreign wars backing opposing sides saudi arabia has a majority sunni muslim population and iran has a majority shia muslim population in the conflicts across the middle east saudi arabia generally supports sunni groups and iran supports shia groups american foreign policy after the second world war america and the soviet union emerged as the two competing world powers both had ideological differences america was and is a capitalist democracy whereas the soviet union espoused communism as the best method for governance america's presence in the middle east after the second world war was there to stem the spread of soviet-backed communism americans were initially welcomed in the region being viewed in a favorable light when compared to the imperialist european powers that had previously had a strong foothold in that part of the world when oil was discovered in the middle east it became even more important for america to protect its interests in the region modern life is dependent on oil energy america's consumers and therefore their economy demand oil and as such it is important to america that the middle east is stable however try as they might america's peacekeeping and nation-building efforts have failed and sometimes exacerbated the situation on the ground america also has strong ties with israel which doesn't make it popular in the middle east israel is a strong and stable democracy and has proved its military might in the region the american public remember the holocaust and there is a prominent pro-israel lobby in america all these factors contribute to the strong relationship between the two countries and america's backing of israel america also has strong ties with saudi arabia an absolute monarchy their alliance stems from the economics of oil this alliance can be viewed as either american pragmatism or alternatively american hypocrisy those who level the hypocrisy accusation argue that america is spouses democracy and anti-dictators sentiment only when it comes to dealing with regimes and dictators that don't play ball they argue that saudi arabia and several of the countries in the middle east who have ruling monarchies are the very antithesis of democracy and yet america continues to be their ally on the 11th of september 2001 a terrorist group al-qaeda carried out the twin tower terror attacks in new york killing thousands of civilians in response america invaded afghanistan where the leader of al-qaeda osama bin laden had been given shelter the u.s government under the bush administration then proposed a preemptive strike against iraq linking president saddam hussein with supporting terrorism and shoring up weapons of mass destruction after 9 11 anti-muslim sentiment had reached high levels in the american psyche and terrorist organizations had successfully managed to muddy the waters between fundamentalist muslim fighters with the political agenda and moderate muslim civilians this meant that it was relatively easy for the american public to initially support the invasion of iraq however as a war in iraq dragged on and it transpired that much of the evidence for going to war in the first place was not supported by strong intelligence the appetite for war dwindled and america ultimately withdrew from iraq in 2011. the aftermath of the war in iraq led to fertile ground for fundamentalist terrorist organizations to flourish namely the islamic state of iraq also known as isi that same year the arab spring protests erupted a series of pro-democracy anti-government movements across the middle east which led to the outbreak of civil war in syria this gave isi a chance to spread across to syria and they became known as the islamic state of iraq and syria otherwise known as isis isis declared a worldwide caliphate and claimed religious political and military authority over all muslims across the globe this was strongly rejected by mainstream muslim groups the un and international governments in 2014 the us was once again compelled to intervene directly in the middle east in light of the growing influence of isis the u.s faces a conundrum when it comes to the middle east they stay in the region to protect their allies and their own national interests but their presence and military interventions are used by terrorist organizations to radicalize displaced young men which have resulted in attacks carried out on american soil to assess an extent the world has looked to the u.s to lead and they have but toppling regimes and attempting to export democracy in a region with such a different culture background and history has proved unsuccessful timeline of major conflicts and events in the middle east to understand the current status of the middle east it's helpful to rewind back through the major conflicts and events that happened in the region from the middle of the 20th century to the present day we've already touched on how the middle east was divided up after the first world war the american and soviet union influence in the region after the second world war the establishment of israel and the discovery of oil so let us now look at the 1979 iranian revolution the iranian oil industry was developed by the british who enjoyed the monopoly and sale of iranian oil by 1952 iranians had grown part of the status quo and their democratically elected prime minister nationalized iranian oil in response the british and americans organized a military coup to ask the prime minister the shah of iran who favored modernization and westernization of the country was unpopular the rapid modernization was an affront to religious values and the corruption of his government and brutal political oppression by his secret police fueled public resentment all this culminated in the 1979 iranian revolution when the shah was ousted and replaced by religious leaders the ayatollahs the ayatollahs denounced the us refused to recognize israel and argued against saudi arabia's absolute monarchy unsurprisingly none of this made iran popular with the u.s israel and saudi arabia iran-iraq war 1980-1988 in 1980 iraq's president saddam hussein saw an opportunity in the chaos of the irani revolution to annex all rich iranian territory and to quell the chance of a rebellion in his own country saudi arabia backed iraq against iran and the u.s reluctantly did the same the war lasted for eight years with no border changes soviet afghan war 1979-1989 at the same time the soviet union invaded afghanistan in order to prop up the soviet-backed communist government against insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen atheist communism is at odds with the muslim faith and the mujahideen waged a holy war to gain control of the country the mujahideen were backed extensively by saudi arabia the u.s and pakistan muslim militants across the arab world joined the fight in afghanistan and among them was osama bin laden who would go on to become the founder of al-qaeda a fundamentalist islamic terrorist organization after the afghan government collapsed the taliban and afghan faction of the mujahideen emerged and took control over roughly three quarters of afghanistan gulf war 1990-1991 two years after the iraq iran war iraq invaded kuwait in what was a blatant attempt at oil grab this allowed both saudi arabia and the u.s and the former look to their powerful military allies for support iraq was driven back and the u.s military stayed on in saudi arabia signaling their willingness to defend saudi arabias and also their own interests in the middle east 911 and the u.s invasion of afghanistan 2001. in 2001 al qaeda managed to carry out a series of terrorist attacks on the u.s where passenger airliners were crashed into the twin towers and the pentagon bin laden cited u.s support of israel the presence of u.s troops in saudi arabia and sanctions against iraq as reasons for their attacks bin laden was living in afghanistan and america demanded the taliban hand him over and expel al qaeda from the country when the taliban failed to comply america invaded afghanistan after a decade-long manhunt bin laden was found and killed in pakistan although america forcibly removed the taliban from power and a new democratically elected government was formed a significant area of the country is still controlled by the taliban invasion of iraq 2003 in 2003 america accused iraq of promoting terrorism and possessing and developing weapons of mass destruction the us then initiated preemptive military action by organizing a coalition to invade iraq and remove saddam hussein from power the american public still reeling from the events of 9 11 were convinced by the american government's arguments that this was an extension of the war on terror although no real links between saddam hussein and al-qaeda were established it transpired that iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction as described and the reasons for going to war in iraq have since been highly criticized the country descended into a bloody civil war along sectarian lines and much like in the soviet afghan war fundamentalist extremists flooded into the country to fight america became bogged down until eventually the iraqi government was deemed stable enough to allow the us to withdraw in 2011 the arab spring 2010. starting in 2010 a series of pro-democracy rallies and protests spread across the arab world which led to the toppling of regimes in tunisia libya egypt and yemen the protests which began peacefully in syria were violently put down and in response the protesters took up arms the country became embroiled in a civil war meanwhile the circumstances in neighboring iraq allowed for the rise of islamic state and the group became notorious for their brutality taking hostages and recording beheadings carrying out massacres and suicide bombings spotting an opportunity islamic state spread to syria and their mission was to establish a worldwide caliphate i.e a single islamic government ruling over all muslims the islamic state of iraq and syria isis continued to grow and in 2014 america once again stepped in and their so-called caliphate was destroyed other international powers also became involved in the fight for syria iran and russia supported the shia government while saudi arabia most other gulf states and america initially supported the rebels but as more and more violent fundamentalist groups joined the rebels it became harder for those countries to continue supporting them russia has been instrumental in the syrian regime hanging onto power providing military support and with this they have signaled that they should once again be considered a global power yemen is also another tragedy to emerge from the fallout of the arab spring iranian-backed shia rebels the houthis took hold of the north of the country whereas the saudi-backed government struggled to regain control seeing an opportunity al qaeda and islamic state affiliates took control of the south of the country in 2015 saudi arabia fearing iran's influence on their borders launched a military intervention to restore the yemeni government chaos ensued and the country's infrastructure has been destroyed conclusion this video is for those looking for a high level overview of what is happening in the middle east and how it came to be this way this is a broad brush strokes explanation for the average person who is utterly confused by what is happening in the middle east this video is not about taking sides with middle eastern regimes or condemning the us and assuming they purposefully move to destabilize the region this video is also not intended to attack israel surrounded by hostile countries and it does not ignore the fact that the jewish people have been subjected to anti-semitism throughout history at the same time this video is not unsympathetic to palestinians who have effectively had their land taken away governments respond to domestic pressures and will act in their own national interests people in power will have their own agendas be it an inherited sense of entitlement or a misguided attempt at nation building the real tragedy in the middle east is the number of innocent civilians israelis palestinians iraqis yemenis syrians etc all of whom have had their lives disrupted or even taken away as a result of competing agendas and ideologies if you would like to learn more about the various issues in the middle east a list of resources will be left in the description below as always i hope you found this video useful and informative make sure to subscribe and i'll see you next time you

Channel: LondonCityGirl

Views: 389,849

Keywords: Middle east conflicts explained, Sunni vs Shia, Caspain Report, Vox, VanDeGraph, Alternative History, Syrian civil war explained, Yemen war explained, America vs Middle East, Israel and Palestine explained, ISIS explained, 9/11 explained, What is the middle east?, Who lives in the middle east?, Division of the middle east after World War I, The Israel vs Palestine conflict explained simply, Saudi Arabia and Iran regional rivalry explained simply

Id: BpTDDKsdMcY

Length: 18min 41sec (1121 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 24 2020