“The so-called European Civil War, a term used to describe the period of bloody violence that racked Europe from 1914 onwards, came to an end in 1945.”
When I read that bit of drivel (typical of Spiegel writers) I quit...Nonsense is nonsense no matter the source
Interesting article.
Would have been better had the author shared his insights on the borders that would have NOT resulted in ongoing problems.
The only alternative mentioned was a nation-state composed of all of what is now Israel and the Arab Middle East.
It seems fairly obvious such a state would have fallen apart quickly, and there is no particular reason to believe that the region would be any more peaceful today.
seems to me central Europe has a long and glorious history of being at war? Going back centuries prior to 1914. Wonder why that is?
It’s very doubtful that the story about the Syrian army gassing children was true. There were all kinds of contradictions involved. Several reports said that it was false. And at least some of the children in the photos were Druz and Christians, kidnapped and murdered by the al Qaeda revolutionaries.
While I don’t completely agree with the article, I agree with its central theme:
Europe screwed up the middle east.
They did - and now they have a very annoying ‘holier than thou’ attitude when the US tries to fix it. As noted in the article, much of the violence in the middle east centers around Israel. I’ve got no problem with Israel. They are a shining example of democracy in a sea of ignorance and poverty. But....why is there an ‘Israel’? Why isn’t the region inhabited by a small number of nomadic herders, like it was 100 years ago? Frankly, its because of Europeans...Europeans who apparently couldn’t stand to live side by side with jews, exterminated them (not just the Nazis either), and gave a ‘consolation prize’ to the survivors whose property and belongings had been stolen. Yet Europeans now, at best, want to ignore problems in the middle east, and at worst actually oppose Israeli moves to continue their very existence. And of course, people from the US are encouraged to ‘not dress American’ while in Europe, or some garcon will spit in your drink...all because we are supposedly the heathens for supporting Israel.
Anyway, on some counts I agree with the article. Yes, the region would probably had plenty of their own wars with or without European intervention...but Europe’s negative impact on the region is not nihl.