11-04-2018, 10:36 AM
(11-03-2018, 06:35 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote: My opinion stays the same...
Decolonisation was certainly a 4T for the Arab Middle East. It was about a change in secular institution (from foreign rule to a native elite) and has virtually no spiritual component. Some Arab countries like Iraq were not colonies, but they still had a transition from relatively lenient and pro-Western monarchies to secular, militaristic Ba'athism (which is an extreme example of a civic-oriented ideology). Religiosity was weak in the 1960s Arab world. Many urban women walked around with hair uncovered. Lack of interest in religion is typical for civic rather than prophetic generations. The 80s-90s were the heyday of Arab strongmen: Saddam, Assad, Mubarak ruled unchallenged. Looks like 1T, doesn't it? Then the awakening in the early 2000s culminated with the Arab Spring, who was called the Islamic Awakening by many people in the region. The Arab Spring was a movement comparable to the Polish Solidarity, hopefully we agree that was an awakening.
Iran is a different kettle of fish. It is not ethnically Arab, it's form of Islam is considered heretical by most Arabs, and it was never a colony. Note how the Arab Spring never engulfed Iran. So I reckon Iran's saeculum is out of sync with the Sunni Arab one.
I agree for the most part. If I had to pick two specific events that acted as precursors of the ME mess we have today, I would pick the defat of the Ottoman Empire, and the mess the Brits and French made chopping the place into pieces, and the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.