Who REALLY Made the Modern Middle East - with Simon Sebag Montefiore (Part 2)

The Middle East’s geopolitical landscape is defined by the rise of non-Arab military powers—specifically Iran, Turkey, and Israel—rather than the traditional Arab-Israeli conflict. The 2003 Iraq War fundamentally altered regional dynamics by removing a key check on Iran, enabling it to cultivate a "proto-empire" through proxy militias. Turkey’s modern statehood, forged through a 1922 struggle against imperial interests, shares striking parallels with Israel’s foundation, including military-centric nationalism and ethnic displacement. While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a potent symbolic banner, it functions largely as a sideshow to the broader competition between states and competing visions of Islam. Lasting stability requires moving beyond the pursuit of total victory toward a pragmatic recognition of the other’s narrative, acknowledging that the region’s history is defined as much by trade, philosophy, and cultural openness as by its persistent cycles of violence.