Another good article in the US version of the Week - Why is the Middle East in turmoil?
In a half-dozen nations, tyrants who once ruled by fear and repression have been toppled, unleashing centuries-old sectarian rivalries and bloody struggles for power. Syria's horrific civil war is spilling into Lebanon and threatening Jordan and Turkey, while Iraq has effectively devolved into three nations — one Shiite, one Sunni, one Kurdish. In the chaos, a particularly malignant form of radical Sunni Islam, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has seized large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.
Now Yemen has erupted into yet another civil war that has drawn in forces from the whole region. Each conflict has many local causes — including complex tribal rivalries and a struggle over oil — but underlying them all is the new Great Game for dominance between the Sunnis and Shiites. The largest Shiite state, Iran, is spreading its influence by funding and arming militias throughout the region, while the largest Sunni state, Saudi Arabia, is now countering by organising a joint Arab defence force of 40,000 elite troops from Sunni nations. "Since Israel's creation in 1948, the Arab-Israeli problem has almost been synonymous with the Middle East problem," says political scientist Michael Gunter. Now, though, "the Sunni-Shia split is the main catalyst driving events."
Read the rest of the article here
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