05-10-2016, 12:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-10-2016, 12:19 PM by John J. Xenakis.)
With the death of the Fourth Turning Forum, and with the community
moving to this forum, these are the Generational Dynamics World View
articles.
When Neil Howe announced that he was killing the Fourth Turning Forum,
he invited everyone to copy any content they like. There are in fact
hundreds of threads that contain valuable discussion, particularly
about history and other countries. As a public service, I've created
a Generational Dynamics Fourth Turning Forum Archive at
http://generationaldynamics.com/tftarchive/
If you're looking for an old thread, you'll find it in the archive
if you're lucky.
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
*** 10-May-16 World View -- Arab countries seek to overturn the century old Sykes-Picot agreement
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Arab countries seek to overturn the century old Sykes-Picot agreement
****
![[Image: g160123b.gif]](http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g160123b.gif)
The 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement split the Mideast between Britain and France (Jewish Virtual Library)
Few American have heard of the Sykes-Picot agreement of May, 1916,
although today it's a matter of widespread interest in the Arab world,
and is considered to be a piece of Western treachery that has caused
untold misery in the Arab world for the last century.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement, named
after Frenchman Francois Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes. The
secret agreement was reached on May 9, 1916, and signed a week later
by Britain, France and Tsarist Russia on May 15, 1916. The purpose of
the agreement was to split up the remains of the Arab countries after
the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled them for centuries.
During the British fight against the Turkish Ottomans, the British had
obtained the help of Arab armies by promising that after the war there
would be a truly independent Syrian state that included Palestine,
Transjordan, and Lebanon. However, that promise was made in the
knowledge that it would be betrayed, because the secret Sykes-Picot
agreement described how the region would be split between France and
Britain as their respective colonies. The betrayal was exposed when
the secret agreement was revealed, and that occurred after the
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, when Leon Trotsky published the
details of the deal in November 1917.
The next betrayal was the Balfour Declaration by the British in 1917,
promising the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
The borders set by Sykes-Picot/Balfour have remained largely intact,
with few exceptions. There was the independence of Sudan from Egypt,
and then the secession of South Sudan. North and South Yemen were
unified, as were the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There were also
changes to the Palestinian territories and Palestine, related to the
establishment of Israel.
But there are many Arabs, especially Palestinians, who blame
Sykes-Picot/Balfour as the source of all their misery. The so-called
Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) has specifically said that
Sykes-Picot is dead, but other nationalist Arab groups are calling for
its abolition, mostly for local political reasons. The Kurds have
been leading the calls for an end to Sykes-Picot, and the creation of
a Kurdistan state.
In the past two decades, and especially since the "Arab Spring" of
2011, the Arab world has been disintegrating, with wars in Syria,
Libya, Iraq and Yemen. Many Arabs blame todays troubles on the
Sykes-Picot agreement that was signed a century ago.
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, to suggest that the
Arab world has disintegrated in the war because of an agreement signed
in 1917 is nonsense. The Mideast has been in an almost constant state
of war for centuries, and no Western agreement could have either
caused or prevented further wars. As I've been writing for years, the
entire Mideast is headed for massive sectarian and ethnic wars, and
those wars are coming about because of powerful generational forces
that no politicians can control.
The Gulf News has done a series of articles on the effects of the
Sykes-Picot agreement on different Mideast countries, and those
articles are summarized in the sections below. Globe and Mail (Canada) and Sputnik News (Moscow) and Deutsche Welle
****
**** Syria: A victim of colonial politics
****
As the Ottomans were leaving Syria in 1920, the French forces landed
on Syria's coast and started marching toward Damascus, with the
specific objective of taking control of France's share of the
Sykes-Picot agreement. The French crushed the Syrian army, imposed
martial rule, and divided Syria into border-free mini-states. Syria's
borders with the British Mandate Palestine, the newly-created State of
Greater Lebanon, and the newly created emirate of Transjordan were all
set by the French.
Syria declared a republic in 1932, and became independent in 1946,
when it was a co-founder of both the Arab League and the United
Nations.
Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser merged Syria and Egypt in 1958
to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). It lasted only 43 months, and
crashed in September 1961. The UAR was an attempt to reshape the
borders defined by Sykes-Picot, however it failed and the original
borders are still standing. Gulf News (Dubai) and Gulf News
****
**** Palestine: Sykes-Picot and Balfour Declaration left a 'savage legacy'
****
As the Ottoman armies retried, the British, with the help of their
Arab allies, conquered Palestine and all of Greater Syria. The
British administered Palestine directly until they received a mandate
from the League of Nations that ran from 1923 to 1948. At the same
time, the British favored the Zionist agenda of creating a
protectorate and a government based on "some kind of Council to be
established by the Jews."
This was formulated in 1917 by the Balfour Declaration, issued by
British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour that, "His Majesty’s
government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors
to facilitate the achievement of this object." This is considered by
the Arabs to be a double-cross, a betrayal of well-documented British
promises to seek an Arab government of the territories liberated from
the Ottomans.
In the decades that followed, Jewish colonies and Zionist aspirations
advanced steadily, culminated in the 1948 Naqba ("Catastrophe"), the
creation of the State of Israel, and the bloody crisis war that
evicted more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. For Arabs,
and especially Palestinians, this is the savage legacy of the
Sykes-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration, causing enormous
suffering and misery to the present day. Gulf News (Dubai) and Gulf News
****
**** Lebanon: Survived Sykes-Picot largely intact
****
Lebanon has existed for thousands of years, home of Christians,
Muslims, Druze, Maronites, and others. Lebanon came out pretty well
in the 1919 Paris Versailles Peace Conference. One reason was
sympathy for Lebanon because during the war, an Ottoman embargo lead
to a famine in which 200,000 died in Mount Lebanon alone. So Lebanon
survived intact, and elected a president in 1926. The French mandate
was terminated with independence in 1943. Gulf News (Dubai)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Sykes-Picot Agreement, Francois Georges-Picot, Mark Sykes,
Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Balfour Declaration, Palestine,
Russia, Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik Revolution, Transjordan,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh,
Egypt, Jamal Abdul Nasser, United Arab Republic, UAR,
League of Nations, Naqba, Israel,
Christians, Muslims, Druze, Maronites
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
moving to this forum, these are the Generational Dynamics World View
articles.
When Neil Howe announced that he was killing the Fourth Turning Forum,
he invited everyone to copy any content they like. There are in fact
hundreds of threads that contain valuable discussion, particularly
about history and other countries. As a public service, I've created
a Generational Dynamics Fourth Turning Forum Archive at
http://generationaldynamics.com/tftarchive/
If you're looking for an old thread, you'll find it in the archive
if you're lucky.
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
*** 10-May-16 World View -- Arab countries seek to overturn the century old Sykes-Picot agreement
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Arab countries seek to overturn the century old Sykes-Picot agreement
- Syria: A victim of colonial politics
- Palestine: Sykes-Picot and Balfour Declaration left a 'savage legacy'
- Lebanon: Survived Sykes-Picot largely intact
****
**** Arab countries seek to overturn the century old Sykes-Picot agreement
****
The 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement split the Mideast between Britain and France (Jewish Virtual Library)
Few American have heard of the Sykes-Picot agreement of May, 1916,
although today it's a matter of widespread interest in the Arab world,
and is considered to be a piece of Western treachery that has caused
untold misery in the Arab world for the last century.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement, named
after Frenchman Francois Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes. The
secret agreement was reached on May 9, 1916, and signed a week later
by Britain, France and Tsarist Russia on May 15, 1916. The purpose of
the agreement was to split up the remains of the Arab countries after
the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled them for centuries.
During the British fight against the Turkish Ottomans, the British had
obtained the help of Arab armies by promising that after the war there
would be a truly independent Syrian state that included Palestine,
Transjordan, and Lebanon. However, that promise was made in the
knowledge that it would be betrayed, because the secret Sykes-Picot
agreement described how the region would be split between France and
Britain as their respective colonies. The betrayal was exposed when
the secret agreement was revealed, and that occurred after the
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, when Leon Trotsky published the
details of the deal in November 1917.
The next betrayal was the Balfour Declaration by the British in 1917,
promising the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
The borders set by Sykes-Picot/Balfour have remained largely intact,
with few exceptions. There was the independence of Sudan from Egypt,
and then the secession of South Sudan. North and South Yemen were
unified, as were the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There were also
changes to the Palestinian territories and Palestine, related to the
establishment of Israel.
But there are many Arabs, especially Palestinians, who blame
Sykes-Picot/Balfour as the source of all their misery. The so-called
Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) has specifically said that
Sykes-Picot is dead, but other nationalist Arab groups are calling for
its abolition, mostly for local political reasons. The Kurds have
been leading the calls for an end to Sykes-Picot, and the creation of
a Kurdistan state.
In the past two decades, and especially since the "Arab Spring" of
2011, the Arab world has been disintegrating, with wars in Syria,
Libya, Iraq and Yemen. Many Arabs blame todays troubles on the
Sykes-Picot agreement that was signed a century ago.
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, to suggest that the
Arab world has disintegrated in the war because of an agreement signed
in 1917 is nonsense. The Mideast has been in an almost constant state
of war for centuries, and no Western agreement could have either
caused or prevented further wars. As I've been writing for years, the
entire Mideast is headed for massive sectarian and ethnic wars, and
those wars are coming about because of powerful generational forces
that no politicians can control.
The Gulf News has done a series of articles on the effects of the
Sykes-Picot agreement on different Mideast countries, and those
articles are summarized in the sections below. Globe and Mail (Canada) and Sputnik News (Moscow) and Deutsche Welle
****
**** Syria: A victim of colonial politics
****
As the Ottomans were leaving Syria in 1920, the French forces landed
on Syria's coast and started marching toward Damascus, with the
specific objective of taking control of France's share of the
Sykes-Picot agreement. The French crushed the Syrian army, imposed
martial rule, and divided Syria into border-free mini-states. Syria's
borders with the British Mandate Palestine, the newly-created State of
Greater Lebanon, and the newly created emirate of Transjordan were all
set by the French.
Syria declared a republic in 1932, and became independent in 1946,
when it was a co-founder of both the Arab League and the United
Nations.
Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser merged Syria and Egypt in 1958
to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). It lasted only 43 months, and
crashed in September 1961. The UAR was an attempt to reshape the
borders defined by Sykes-Picot, however it failed and the original
borders are still standing. Gulf News (Dubai) and Gulf News
****
**** Palestine: Sykes-Picot and Balfour Declaration left a 'savage legacy'
****
As the Ottoman armies retried, the British, with the help of their
Arab allies, conquered Palestine and all of Greater Syria. The
British administered Palestine directly until they received a mandate
from the League of Nations that ran from 1923 to 1948. At the same
time, the British favored the Zionist agenda of creating a
protectorate and a government based on "some kind of Council to be
established by the Jews."
This was formulated in 1917 by the Balfour Declaration, issued by
British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour that, "His Majesty’s
government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors
to facilitate the achievement of this object." This is considered by
the Arabs to be a double-cross, a betrayal of well-documented British
promises to seek an Arab government of the territories liberated from
the Ottomans.
In the decades that followed, Jewish colonies and Zionist aspirations
advanced steadily, culminated in the 1948 Naqba ("Catastrophe"), the
creation of the State of Israel, and the bloody crisis war that
evicted more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. For Arabs,
and especially Palestinians, this is the savage legacy of the
Sykes-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration, causing enormous
suffering and misery to the present day. Gulf News (Dubai) and Gulf News
****
**** Lebanon: Survived Sykes-Picot largely intact
****
Lebanon has existed for thousands of years, home of Christians,
Muslims, Druze, Maronites, and others. Lebanon came out pretty well
in the 1919 Paris Versailles Peace Conference. One reason was
sympathy for Lebanon because during the war, an Ottoman embargo lead
to a famine in which 200,000 died in Mount Lebanon alone. So Lebanon
survived intact, and elected a president in 1926. The French mandate
was terminated with independence in 1943. Gulf News (Dubai)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Sykes-Picot Agreement, Francois Georges-Picot, Mark Sykes,
Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Balfour Declaration, Palestine,
Russia, Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik Revolution, Transjordan,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh,
Egypt, Jamal Abdul Nasser, United Arab Republic, UAR,
League of Nations, Naqba, Israel,
Christians, Muslims, Druze, Maronites
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
