This is the third geopolitical crisis that throws a ball over the Middle East. The first crisis began with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The second crisis followed World War II when the European colonial order turned to dust. The third crisis will reach its apex with the weakening of the American order and the increased influence of Iran and Russia, as well as other Arab and Western powers, generating yet more political disarray. The key features of the emergent crisis of Middle East geopolitics are foreign incursions, failed states policies, humiliated people, extreme inequality and poverty, plundered natural resources, ethnic conflicts, violence, and religious radicalism.
