The idea that the Ottoman Empire wasn’t imperialist, is hilarious.
The Ottoman’s Empire objection to Western imperialism was the self-serving desire of not being a target of it themselves or losing influence in the region.
Going back to my point, most in the region aren’t against imperialism in general, they’re only against they themselves being the victims of it, which in recent History means being against Western Imperialism, though there has been plenty of Imperialism going on both from nations in that region against other nations there and further afar and from nations from elsewhere than Europe against nations there - after all, the Fertile Crescent (which covers an area were several of the modern nations in that region are) is one of the Cradles Of Civilization so it’s hard to find an area of the World more fought over than that.
Being “against the outsiders trying to take our stuff” isn’t the kind of unity of purpose that lasts beyond the point when the outsiders stop or are forced to stop trying to take your stuff.
But hey, if you need more indications of that, just look at the 19th and early 20th centuries in the region: it wasn’t exactly hard for the British to deploy their usual Divide And Conquer strategy in the region and take over most of the place, the very period you describe as “unified while simultaneously containing multitudes of ethnicities”.
More broadly, evidence that the region has no greater tendency for unity than anywhere else in the World can be found in its long History of empires rising and then breaking up and falling there - surely if the Middle East had such a great tendency for unity it wouldn’t have literally thousands of years of History of whenever unified or close to it. breaking up into competing groups.
Mind you, I’m not at all against the idea of the region becoming more unified and stopping Western imperialists (or their successors, which will likely be China) from continuing to pillage the region, I just thing that expecting to happen naturally if there was no White Jewish Supremacist nation is Hope rather than a hard nosed look at the Historical record of the region.
The idea that the Ottoman Empire wasn’t imperialist, is hilarious.
The Ottoman’s Empire objection to Western imperialism was the self-serving desire of not being a target of it themselves or losing influence in the region.
Going back to my point, most in the region aren’t against imperialism in general, they’re only against they themselves being the victims of it, which in recent History means being against Western Imperialism, though there has been plenty of Imperialism going on both from nations in that region against other nations there and further afar and from nations from elsewhere than Europe against nations there - after all, the Fertile Crescent (which covers an area were several of the modern nations in that region are) is one of the Cradles Of Civilization so it’s hard to find an area of the World more fought over than that.
Being “against the outsiders trying to take our stuff” isn’t the kind of unity of purpose that lasts beyond the point when the outsiders stop or are forced to stop trying to take your stuff.
But hey, if you need more indications of that, just look at the 19th and early 20th centuries in the region: it wasn’t exactly hard for the British to deploy their usual Divide And Conquer strategy in the region and take over most of the place, the very period you describe as “unified while simultaneously containing multitudes of ethnicities”.
More broadly, evidence that the region has no greater tendency for unity than anywhere else in the World can be found in its long History of empires rising and then breaking up and falling there - surely if the Middle East had such a great tendency for unity it wouldn’t have literally thousands of years of History of whenever unified or close to it. breaking up into competing groups.
Mind you, I’m not at all against the idea of the region becoming more unified and stopping Western imperialists (or their successors, which will likely be China) from continuing to pillage the region, I just thing that expecting to happen naturally if there was no White Jewish Supremacist nation is Hope rather than a hard nosed look at the Historical record of the region.