The problem with the Middle East, as Robert Gates volunteered in an interview with Charlie Rose, are the borders created by the British Empire.
In order to control the Middle East nations more easily, Britain drew the national boundaries, which previously didn't exist in these nomadic regions, in a way which broke large ethnic/religious groups into several nations.
In this way each Middle East nation would always be a volatile mix of competing factions which the British could easily play off against each other in order to control the new independent nation. The enmity between different Moslem denominations was so great that Britain was often able to place a extreme minority Coptic Christian or military figure in charge.
Europe endured 30 years of all out war between Catholics and Protestants, with additional wars later. Imagine how an outside super-power could have inflamed these Christian sect wars to their advantage, and England did in Ireland?
After WW-II America took over Britain's role in the Middle East using CIA ops to install the Saud Family in Saudi Arabia and the Shah in Iran.
Can you imagine how angry Americans would be with China if China had been playing these games in North American politics for the past 100 years redistricting out national boundaries and deposing our elected leaders in coups with someone more to China's liking?
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.
AI
