Friday, June 13, 2008

"Linkage" is a Middle East myth


The Myth of Linkage -Martin Kramer [pictured below]

I have identified nine clusters of Middle Eastern conflicts. [T]hey are independent symptoms; one conflict does not cause another, and its "resolution" cannot resolve another.

Why are there still people who see one particular conflict as "the Middle East conflict," and who believe that in seeking to resolve it, they are pursuing "the Middle East peace process"?

The concept of linkage requires the belief that the Middle East is a system, like Europe, and that its conflicts are related to one another.

By any objective reading, the Middle East is not analogous to Europe, it has multiple sources of conflict, and even as one conflict moves to resolution, another may be inflamed. This is because the Middle East is not a single system of interlocking parts.
(Middle East Strategy at Harvard)

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