(Credit: AP Photo/Lolita Baldor)
The “Great Game” being played in the Middle East, with Syria and Iraq as the center rings, bears a superficial similarity to the power political maneuverings of the dominant European states in their African and Asian periphery during the 19th century.
There is a somewhat closer resemblance to the Spanish civil war in the mix of multiple local parties, external powers and ideological militancy.
Yet, what we are witnessing today is quite different in some crucial respects — adding to our confusion in trying to make sense of the plot. Complexity and confusion reinforce each other. That is true …read more
Source: Salon
