Middle East Non terrorism lecture

The 3 largest Muslim countrys are

o India
o Singapore
o Bangladesh
They are all democracys and have had relative
stability
3 largest Islamic driven states in the middle east
o Pakistan- one of the weakest democracys in the world with
strong military control
o Egypt- strong military creates a democracy only in name
o Saudi Arabia-Controlled completely by the king and have
the complete loyalty of their militarys
The middle east has a wide variety of rich states from oil
Israel and Palestine
o The west bank got its name by being the west bank of the
Jordan river
o The UN shaped the borders in the 1940s and created
lasting problems
o We only think with a 1 or 2 state solutions not a possible 3
state solution
o If you are a Israeli citizen no matter your race or religion
you have a equal vote and relative safety
o Could quickly grow into a huge issue and Obama wants to
add it to his legacy
o Israel and Palestine conflicts are now mainly over resources
Israel controls all the water going into Gaza and the
west bank
Israel is the only group collecting taxes and can
withhold tax payments when they are angered
o The Iran Deal
With the lifting of sanctions Iran will gain a massive
economic boost
Can give more weapons to Hamas and
Hezbollah
o The Iron Dome
Costs a quarter of a million dollars a interception
rocket
The rockets launched are mainly tin cans filled with
little explosive power
Egypt
o Israel and Egypt came together after the Camp David
accords

o After the Arab Spring the Sinai quickly became a crime hub
with drugs, people, weapons, and other crimes
Morsi redeployed the army out of the Sinai
Now that Morsi is out of power the power the military
is back in the region. But Iran armed the Sinai
peninsula to the teeth
o The Seuz Canal is being used less and less for commerce
and American warships
We really need the suez canal in the modern
economic environment
o Egypt has some very serious problems but do to a close
relationship with the united states so they have a
incredible military
We trained and equipped the Egyptian military
After the US began to cut aid over democracy Egypt
grown closer with Russia
The same thing is true with isreal and Saudi
Arabia
Syria
o In the past 8 weeks the conflict has intensified
o Possible talks between the US and Russia over how to end
the current conflict
o Syria has access to the Mediterranean and the only Russian
military base
o Putin is the only close ally of Syria
Jordan
o The king of Jordan has the final say in a constitutional
democracy
o When a Jordanian pilot was placed in a cage and lit on fire
they hung two ISIS fighters and made a aggressive
bombing campaign
o US has failed to reinforce the armament of Jordan
Saudi Arabia
o Saudi Arabia is angry over the nuclear deal and want now
to peruse there own nuclear weapons
o Iran is waging a proxy war destabilizing the surrounding
nations
o After the death of King Abdullah, King Salaman quickly rose
to power and is now trying to cement his control
o Saudi Arabia rate of executions has increased
Turkey
o Turkey is heavily Sunni Muslim
o Erdogan rose to power and started trying to consolidate his
power

Last election he lost and cant even provide a ruling

coalition
The Kurds finally got their own seats in the
government
The Kurds might be the greatest single fighting force
is history
We should arm the kurds