Digg.com: There the Anglo-French machinations planted the seeds of instability and conflict among the present day Arab states and between Arabs and Israelis. The British encouraged and assisted Arabs of the Ottoman Empire to rise against their Turkish masters who were allies of Germany and Austria, promising them in return their independence in a unified state. Simultaneously and in secret, the British were dividing the same territories between themselves and their wartime allies (The Sykes-Picot Agreement) and promising Palestine to European Zionists. After the end of the War, the British and the French established their control over these so-called Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. British and French diplomats drew boundaries of new centralized states of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. For each, quasi-state institutions were established so these future states would act as clients of their former colonial masters after independence. Less known is how the War changed the direction of Iran’s history. Iran suffered the ravages of the war as Ottoman and Russian forces fought each other on its territory. An estimated quarter of the population in the northwestern parts of the country perished as result of war related famines. In the years immediately following the end of the War, British intervention was to also change the direction of Iran’s history. For nearly one hundred years before 1914 Iran had been a pawn in the great game of imperial rivalry between Russia and Britain. By the turn of the 20th Century, Iran had no effective central government and either the British or Russians controlled its most important economic activities. Then in 1907, the two imperial powers secretly divided Iran into their own zones of Influence.

I think part of the problem with US foreign policy is that most Americans are almost totally ignorant of the early 20th and 19th century history of the region.  

And so they listen fairly uncritically to the blithering idiots and amoral hucksters like Bill Kristol, Tom Friedman, David Brooks, John McCain, various Pollacks, Michael O'Hanlons, etc. that the corporate media sees fit to punish us with. 

This is just a snippet of the history, but it's important background for understanding the current dynamic. 

Just imagine for a moment that the US and UK did not depose Mossadegh and install the Shah to do the bidding of our oil companies.  What would the region look like today?  And that's just one element. 

How WW I, British Greed, and Oil Distorted Modern Iran

"There the Anglo-French machinations planted the seeds of instability and conflict among the present day Arab states and between Arabs and Israelis. The British encouraged and assisted Arabs of the Ottoman Empire to rise against their Turkish masters who were allies of Germany and Austria, promising them in return their independence in a unified state. Simultaneously and in secret, the British were dividing the same territories between themselves and their wartime allies (The Sykes-Picot Agreement) and promising Palestine to European Zionists. After the end of the War, the British and the French established their control over these so-called Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. British and French diplomats drew boundaries of new centralized states of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. For each, quasi-state institutions were established so these future states would act as clients of their former colonial masters after independence. Less known is how the War changed the direction of Iran's history. Iran suffered the ravages of the war as Ottoman and Russian forces fought each other on its territory. An estimated quarter of the population in the northwestern parts of the country perished as result of war related famines. In the years immediately following the end of the War, British intervention was to also change the direction of Iran's history. For nearly one hundred years before 1914 Iran had been a pawn in the great game of imperial rivalry between Russia and Britain. By the turn of the 20th Century, Iran had no effective central government and either the British or Russians controlled its most important economic activities. Then in 1907, the two imperial powers secretly divided Iran into their own zones of Influence."

http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/british-distorted-modern.html

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