The Middle East is a far off
destination from the shores of South Africa, yet many South African’s lives are
somehow intertwined with the developments and chaos emanating from it. We have South
African muslims advocating their support of various factions and religious
groups in that part of the world. We have South Africans from Jewish descent
similarly exercising their right to show solidarity with their affiliation to
the Middle East. South African
Christians also share an affinity with their religious counterparts from the
region. The same goes for descendants of Middle Eastern origin, in other distant
lands far removed from the Middle East.
Powerful governments around the
world likewise have an economic and geostrategic interest in any events that
shape developments in the Middle East. Their reasons are more capitalistic,
economic and power driven than the groups mentioned above. It’s a known fact
that most countries in this region are rich in natural resources, i.e. black
gold (oil) and natural gas are the main resources found there. The quantity of these resources around the Persian
Gulf and Caspian sea is unknown, with global corporate companies fighting for a
piece of this bounty. Contrary to popular opinion (being democracy for the
people), this is the main reason why the Western powers are continually
declaring war on governments in the region. (I’ll probably be castigated,
vilified and branded a traitor to Western allegiance for making a statement
like that).
There are various opinions and
views of the war/s and faction fighting taking place in the Middle East. Below,
is my view of the chaos happening between ethnic groups and external powers
trying to shape the region to their benefit. Your comments and contributions
are welcome.
In the countries stretching from
North Africa, that is, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia through to Syria, Iraq, Iran,
Afghanistan and Turkey, there are hundreds of different ethnic groups and
religious sects cohabiting this region.
The predominant religious groups from the Middle East are Sunni and
Shi’íte Muslims. The other groups are Kurds, Jews (Sephardic and Ashkenazi ),
Christians and various smaller ones who are partly affiliated with the major
groups. The ruling governments from the various countries are either Sunni or
Shiíte muslims. Sunni muslims rule the
countries of Saudi Arabia (Wahabbis), Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey,
Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and others. Shi’ite muslims rule the
countries of Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria (Alawites), and Lebanon. As can be seen,
the majority of Arab nations are ruled by Sunni muslims, although the majority
of the population in some are Shiíte muslims. The history of the region is
littered with factual literature of Sunni dictatorships and oppression of the
minority groups.
At the time of the rise of the
“Ärab Spring” in 2011, the resistance of shiíte muslims against their Sunni
dictators and oppressors had reached fever pitch. The Arab Spring was sparked
off by one individual’s act of self-immolation, due to his street wares being
confiscated by a deliberate act of vindictiveness. This simple event sparked off the Arab
revolution from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc. As a result of the revolution in
these countries, all the smaller ethnic groups and tribes wanted to be
recognised by representation in their new governments. The trend of the
revolution was marked by a relentless coup repeated in all the countries
affected. In tandem with the revolution, Western powers realised a golden
opportunity to rid themselves of any government who stood in the way of their
Imperial objectives for the Middle East.
One of the leaders who would not
play along to the Imperial agenda was Libya’s Muammar Gadaffi. Gadaffi had an intention
of trading the country’s wealth of hydrocarbons in a currency other than the US
dollar. Naturally this infuriated the US Imperialists, who sought to demonise
and brand Gadaffi a terrorist who murders his own people. What followed was the
familiar exercise of regime change and democracy for the people. Prior to the
fall and killing of Gadaffi, Libya was the most prosperous nation in Africa,
with a healthy, growing economy and a thriving population. Subsequent to his
demise in 2011, the country has been torn apart by fundamentalist groups and US
sponsored rebels. To this day, there is turmoil and disaster in Libya, with half
the population fleeing for their lives.
The same happened to Iraq’s
Saddam Hussein in 2003, when he similarly had ambitious plans to dump the
dollar as the primary trade currency for his hydrocarbon production. As in
Libya, there is still chaos and mayhem in Iraq as a result of this US
intervention. There never was any WMD, and the only WMD that Saddam Hussein had,
was the intention of dumping the dollar, which to the Imperialists, was
equivalent to a crime of premeditated murder. Prior to the fall of Gadaffi,
Iraq was a thriving nation with a stable and growing economy.
So, bringing the brand of Western
democracy to the people of the Middle East, in conjunction with the Arab spring
revolution, resulted in chaos, anarchy, and mayhem in every country. In Iraq
the new Shiite government propped up by the Western powers, was unable to
contain the uprising of Sunni extremists who organised themselves in various
groups with a distinct agenda to unsettle the new government and cause as much
terror in the country to make it ungovernable. With the country being
ungovernable, an influx of foreign rebel fighters allegedly funded and armed by
the Western powers and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) flowed freely. The
Gulf Cooperation Council is made up of the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Oman. Suffice it to say, they are all Sunni dominated
governments. One might say the standoff between the Sunni and Shiite muslim
factions in the Middle East, started in Iraq after the Hussein regime was
ousted.
This scenario was repeated in Egypt,
Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen (where the Shiite uprising was
brutally contained by Saudi and Bahraini military forces through an illegal war
in that country). The fighting between factions in Iraq conveniently spilled
over the border to Syria, with the subsequent rise and dominance of the ISIS/ISIL
(Sunni ) movement in the region. The government of Syria is controlled by the
Alawites, which is a religious ethnic group that follows the Shia religion. Naturally,
with their Shia allegiance, and their refusal to bow to Western dictates, the
Syrian government was next in line for regime change by the Western powers and
the GCC. After 4 years of intensive fighting between ISIS/ISIL, the Syrian
army, Syrian rebels, and other militant islamist groups, like Al-Qaeda, the
Al-Nusra Front, Ansar Al-Islam, the country of Syria and parts of Iraq has been
gradually demarcated through seizure by ISIS/ISIL.
To the North of Syria, the Sunni
government of Turkey pretentiously supported the ouster of ISIS/ISIL in the
region by providing military aid to the Western sponsored rebels. The Turkish
government conveniently used this as a pretext to enforce their dominance and
authority over another group, the Kurds who make up 25% of the Turkish
population. The Kurds are the third largest ethnic group in the Middle East and
includes a significant portion of the populations in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.
The majority of the Kurdish population are Sunni muslims with a minority of Shia
Kurds located along the borders of Iraq and Iran.
The situation in Israel/Palestine/Lebanon
remains tense, with daily skirmishes between the IDF(Israeli Defence Force)/Israeli
settlers and the Palestinian people. In Gaza (identified as the largest open
air prison in the world) the ruling party (Hamas) is predominantly Sunni
muslims. Because of their refusal to
acknowledge the Zionist government of Israel, they are deemed a terrorist
organization, and supported by the people of Gaza who are collectively intent on
the destruction of the State of Israel. Incidentally, Hamas was voted into
power in a 2006 referendum in Gaza. The result was not what the Zionists
wanted, hence the demonization of the people of Gaza and their ruling party
Hamas. Although being of Sunni ethnicity, the Hamas government do not enjoy the
support of their Sunni counterparts in the GCC, for similar reasons that Israel
sees them, i.e. as terrorists. They do however receive support from the Syrian
and Iranian governments, for geostrategic purposes, i.e. to contain the Zionist
government from wiping out all of Palestine and gradually carving out more land
for themselves into the greater Middle East.
Together, the Gaza strip and the
West Bank forms the regions identified as the Palestinian territories. It’s
ruled by the PA (Palestinian Authority, formerly PLO), who is also predominantly
Sunni muslim. As an alliance with Hamas in Gaza, they form the basis of their
people’s fight for a Palestinian state.
Lebanon, the land north of
Israel, is ruled by the Shiite dominated Hezbollah political party. They are
funded and supported predominantly by the Syrian and Iranian governments. Their
main political objective is resistance to Israeli occupation in Lebanon.
Although the various political
parties in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon have similar dispensations and
objectives, i.e. the resistance to Israeli occupation and the formation of a
Palestinian state, the rivalry and factionalism resulting from the groups has
caused confusion, division, and ultimately alienation from each other. This is
mainly due to the dissimilar support and influences the various parties
receives from their regional benefactors who share the same disunity, i.e. the
GCC (Sunni) opposing the governments of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon (Shiite).
The ultimate goal of these governments is for regional dominance in the Middle
East. Throw in the agenda of the Western powers and Israel, and you have the
current scenario of perpetual war and endless fighting. Whoever controls the
region controls the resources…
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