I have always been very critical of American foreign policy in the Middle East and as far back as the time that Mubarak was removed from power, right here on this wall, I predicted that all that is happening in Egypt today would happen. Yet I never thought that it would be this bad with the massive slaughter of members of the Muslim Brotherhood by a new military junta and the burning of churches and terrible attacks on the christian community by Morsi supporters.
When one considers the ugly events in the Middle East with an islamist government in Tunisia, the volatile and unpredictable nature of the new Libya, the increasing rate of sectarian violence in Lebanon, the rising tide of killings and bombings in Iraq and the sheer carnage and full scale conflict in Syria one can safely say that the Middle East has now become a simmering cauldron of fire which is set to explode. I blame no-one for this unfolding tragedy but the Americans and their European and Arab allies because they supported a so-called Arab Spring which was unsustainable and which was bound to be short-lived.
The new Middle East is Obama’s Middle East and it is a place where the sunni and the shia muslims, throughout the whole of the region, are more at loggerheads with one another and closer to full scale war than ever before. The two most powerful Arab countries, Egypt and Syria, are in total disarray and the sunni islamists, inspired and led by Al Qaeda and funded by Saudi Arabia, are poised to do battle with the shia muslims who are inspired and led by Hezzbolah and who are funded by Iran in numerous Middle Eastern arenas.
Meanwhile secularist governments are being toppled and islamist forces are attempting to take over virtually everywhere in the name of democracy. This is what the British would describe as a ”right royal mess” and the implications of all this for the State of Israel are obvious and dire. An Israel that is encircled by hostile islamist governments is a recipe for war. Quite apart from that ugly prospect, never in the history of the Middle East, other than at the time of full scale war between the Arab states and the State of Israel, has there been so much bloodshed and conflict in so many countries at the same time in the Arab world.
One may well ask where all this is heading? The truth is that only God knows. Yet whatever lies in the future for the entire region one thing is very clear- this is the time to pray for our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters, whether they be Arab or Isaraeli, christian, muslim or jew. I am deeply saddened by the turmoil and butchery that we are witnessing on our television screens on a daily basis and I can only hope that one day the relative peace and stability that existed in the Middle East for the last 30 years before this terrible era will return.
An unstable Egypt and a Syria that is not at peace with itself will eventually spell doom for the whole region. Let us hope that sanity will soon return to those two great nations and that that peace which passeth all understanding will once again be their portion.