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Conflict in the Middle East
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Middle East conflict and whether Western blame oversimplifies its causes

155 replies

Ihatetomatoes · 18/08/2026 16:58

I read a number of theads that I don't contribute on and wasn't sure where to pop this. There are many misconceptions about how 'The West' are at fault for much/many/all of the problems in the middle east. I came across this and thought I'd share it. The first suicide bomber - not due to any conflict with a Western power but arose from the conflict of Iran/Iraq.

Something that I thought might be useful for those in the West who like to blame all the ills of the world on the west and spread the myth that the middle east would be utopia if The West hadn't have etc etc etc. Issues and problems are mostly multi factorial and nuanced and the problems have built up over many, many years and it seems ridiculous to read or hear the 'the west/British/colonisers etc etc' are the fault of the problems in the middle east. Not so. Many reasons for conflicts and problems, many, many reasons.

"The modern Middle-Eastern suicide bomber, the archetypal face of 21st-century terrorism, did not first emerge from the rubble of 9/11 nor the insurgencies in Iraq and Syria. Rather, the modern architecture of martyrdom was born earlier, in a different war and under a different banner: that of the Islamic Republic of Iran during its brutal conflict with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the 1980s."

from here: https://aoav.org.uk/2025/the-martyrs-logic-why-provoking-iran-risks-a-global-spiral-of-violence/

The martyr’s logic: why provoking Iran risks a global spiral of violence - AOAV

Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh, a 13-year-old Iranian boy who blew himself up beneath an Iraqi tank in 1980, became the Middle East’s first modern suicide bomber. He also became an icon of martyrdom whose legacy still shapes Iran’s strategic culture and rem...

https://aoav.org.uk/2025/the-martyrs-logic-why-provoking-iran-risks-a-global-spiral-of-violence/

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Original poster
Ihatetomatoes · 18/08/2026 17:05

TheCrowCrossRoad · 18/08/2026 17:03

I thought this was going to be a history of the Crusades, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Austrian-Hungarians and Russia, concluding with a bit of Sykes, Lawrence and Bell.

Attempting not to oversimplfy the cause of all the problems of the middle east (since this thread is about the middle east) by merely blaming the west for all ills. Seen and heard too many people do that.

OP posts:
TheCrowCrossRoad · 18/08/2026 17:03

I thought this was going to be a history of the Crusades, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Austrian-Hungarians and Russia, concluding with a bit of Sykes, Lawrence and Bell.

Original poster
Ihatetomatoes · 18/08/2026 17:03

The older leaders can sit back in their wealth and comfort whilst the young carry out acts of terror for them. Cowards that use the young.

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Shneeze · 18/08/2026 17:03

It's plainly ridiculous to lay everything at the feet of 'the West' and in fact is just a self-centred way of denying agency to middle eastern and other countries . Some Middle Eastern countries have their own big cultural and economic barriers to sorting themselves out. And of course there are middle Eastern countries that are doing well. The West has interfered quite significantly in that part of the world, but also so have Russia and China.

Original poster
Ihatetomatoes · 18/08/2026 17:02

This use of children by radicals. The radicalisation of the young. The ridiculous notion sold to them that their 'god' would love them to go out and kill themself and others in the process. The resultant declaration of being a 'hero' by killing oneself and others. Cynical use of children. Cruel, calculated and incredibly sad.

"The Middle-East’s first recorded suicide bomber was soon to become mythologised by Iran’s leaders. Ayatollah Khomeini declared him a national hero. Monuments were built. Streets were renamed. Stamps bore his face. His story was turned into film, television, and religious instruction. His body became an icon; not just to a nation under siege, but to a new kind of warfare."

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