Although Iran did have some backhanded cooperation with both sides

Many of the secular MENA governments were socialist systems propped up by Soviets

Libya, Iraq, Syria, etc

Yeah

In the fall of the cold war, those sort of governments are necessary to protect religious minorities

Iraq went somewhat fundamentalist after the first gulf war

And yea mostly

Unfortunately, Conservative Inc hasn't learned that.

There is a huge problem of Christians getting killed in the Middle East tho

Yeah, of course.

Reason u don't see more Arab Christians or Coptic Christian Egyptians is bc of such atrocities

Yeah, islamic theocracies have a large tendency to force against christians in the ME

That's the reason we need to keep Assad and why we should have kept Hussein and Gaddafi

Even though Tribal religious tendencies are strong in even "monotheistic" African peoples .... a lot of the tension in Africa is Islam vs Christian

Democracy does not work in the ME

Tito helped reign in Yugoslavia, but unlike other socialist dictatorships in fractured regions Tito's regime didn't have a clearly established line of succession

Succession is almost more important in these types of Govts than in Monarchies of old

I hear most people in Saudi Arabia are on the govt dole and only a scarce few natives actually work

Something like a 75% labor non participation rate if u include women iirc

Or 50% if u look at men

I don't think Socialist Monarchies are a long term solution ....

But USA has had reason to be "allied" with several of these "Oil socialist" nations.

Especially after Soviet Union fell

Democracy in ME almost always goes to Islamic Theocracy it's just a fact.

That fear stopped Bush Sr from finishing the job in the first gulf war ...

But that was a huge mistake

He should have kept going in first gulf war and oversaw some sort of power transfer

His withdrawal hurt the Kurdish people, in the tens of thousands iirc

Long story short ... Middle East needs fair and free market economies .... imho. One step towards this would be to clear all global debts of IMF and World Bank

This would help out both MENA nations and Mexico

And market economies would potentially help take power out of drug dealers and terrorists

The 2nd Gulf War was unwarranted. But the Sanctions against Iraq were the real crime to the Iraqi people ... the sanctions + the food Blockade.

Iraq's section of ISIS was largely made up of people from Saddams govt and members of the Iraqi Sunni political party

Syria if anything is the nation most amenable to reformation and Market Economies (under Assad)

Also, a lot of the reasons Yugoslavia failed after Tito was because of ethnic and religious tensions ... primarily Islam vs Christianity

Islam and Christianity are diametrically opposed ideologies and cannot exist with any real presence in the same Nation

The Turks forced the Bosnians and Albanians to be Muslim

Yep

And The Albanians were some of the most brutal people in the Ottoman Empire

?

The Albanians were at the fringe of the Empire, perhaps the newest members ...