Another War Could Be Coming to the Middle East

[BeatMan]

Currently, everyone in D.C. is once again busy pretending that the only reason that there’s violence in the region is Israel.

Except that Iran and Pakistan are shelling each other’s territory, the Taliban and Iran are back to threatening each other, and here’s a potential military conflict you didn’t see coming.

Egypt will not allow any threat to Somalia, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday after Ethiopia said it would consider recognising an independence claim by Somaliland in a deal that would give it access to a sea port.
The remarks were the strongest yet made on the issue by Egypt, which already has frosty relations with Ethiopia, and were a sign that Cairo may get involved in a dispute that has raised fresh tensions in the volatile Horn of Africa.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not won recognition from any country. The port lease deal, which was agreed earlier this month but not yet finalised, would be a boon to landlocked Ethiopia and has enraged Somalia.
“Egypt will not allow anyone to threaten Somalia or affect its security,” Sisi said, speaking at a news conference with visiting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
“Do not try Egypt, or try to threaten its brothers especially if they ask it to intervene,” he added.
In a Jan. 1 memorandum of understanding, Ethiopia said it would consider recognising Somaliland’s independence in return for the port access. It would lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastland around the port of Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden, for 50 years for military and commercial purposes.

If you’re wondering what Somaliland is, it’s the better version of Somalia. (It’s also the one that Rep. Ilhan Omar hates.) The short version is that what we call Somalia is (like most African and Muslim countries) made up of different clans. Somaliland was temporarily part of the same country with Somalia, and then went its own way and has been independent for quite a while.

Despite that hardly anyone recognizes it except the UK, China and, sorta, Israel. Our own relations with Somaliland improved somewhat, but Somali political figures like Rep. Ilhan Omar have been swinging things back to the way they were before.

Somalia is quite anti-Somaliland and Egypt is already hostile to Ethiopia. Considering the current situation in Eritrea, well let’s just say there could be more conflict in the region.



https://www.frontpagemag.com/another-war-could-be-coming-to-the-middle-east/

 

[PaxNurgle]

Without being Captain Obvious, (I'm stating this for the benefit of those who will automatically assume that all of Africa's problems stem from stereotypical racial characteristics) the biggest problem with Africa is that western colonial powers- England, France, Italy and to a lesser extent, Belgium and Germany- just carved it up into a patchwork of countries based on artificial boundaries, without regard to pre-existing ethnic groups or indigenous cultures. And some of the indigenous cultures in those newly-created artificial "Countries" not only had completely different languages, religions and cultures, but in a lot of cases they simply never got along to begin with.

Hence, in most African countries that aren't, say, Egypt, you have a recipe for conflict and instability within the borders almost from day one.

And the U.S. tried to intervene in Ethiopia once, under the pretext of offering humanitarian aid. Even under that pretext, it didn't work out. U.S. forces simply got drawn into an inter-tribal conflict between competing warlords, and all the "Aid" simply went to feed the militants, not the common unarmed civilians.

 

[Chobham]

Without being Captain Obvious, (I'm stating this for the benefit of those who will automatically assume that all of Africa's problems stem from stereotypical racial characteristics) the biggest problem with Africa is that western colonial powers- England, France, Italy and to a lesser extent, Belgium and Germany- just carved it up into a patchwork of countries based on artificial boundaries, without regard to pre-existing ethnic groups or indigenous cultures. And some of the indigenous cultures in those newly-created artificial "Countries" not only had completely different languages, religions and cultures, but in a lot of cases they simply never got along to begin with.

Hence, in most African countries that aren't, say, Egypt, you have a recipe for conflict and instability within the borders almost from day one.

And the U.S. tried to intervene in Ethiopia once, under the pretext of offering humanitarian aid. Even under that pretext, it didn't work out. U.S. forces simply got drawn into an inter-tribal conflict between competing warlords, and all the "Aid" simply went to feed the militants, not the common unarmed civilians.

You are absolutely right about the colonial powers and artificial boundaries. On the other hand if the boundaries were to be established based on tribal affiliations Africa's map would look much like the map of the tribal affiliations in the America's before the arrival of the Europeans. Add to that fact that those tribal boundaries were, and still are, fluid based on tribal warfare. The colonial powers were doing nothing more than the tribes were doing differing only in scale.

Keep going back in history and the same thing occurred in Europe, Asia, and the America's. It's the story of the world as we know it. There is no one to bless or blame in this game.

Regarding the animosity between Egypt and Ethiopia, that goes back to Biblical times.