Prior to World War I, the lands known as the Middle East were controlled by Turkey through the Ottoman Empire and governed at Constantinople (now called Istanbul). The major powers of the day – England and France were interested for the same reason people have been interested the land for centuries the middle east is between the trade of  India/ South East Asia and Europe with  the connection in Egypt of the Suez Canal. Pilgrims of both major religions Christianity and Muslim would go to the holy sites once a year, but they generally went home. In many areas, the land is desert or desert like which makes access to water critical to surviving and thriving. The land was relatively peaceful and feudal in economic structure or few landowners and most people survive on farming.

After WW I, everything begin to change. A book to read about the history of the region is The Balour Declaration – the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Jonathan Schneer published by Random House, London, 2010. The British and French believed they had their same influence in the lands, but the local population did not want to be governed by Turkey. They wanted independence although with the Muslim world similar to Christian world of Protestant and Catholic, there is Sunni and Shia depending on who you believe came after the prophet Muhammad. During WW I, the local rulers believed they did not need or want British or French influence, they wanted an uprising or jihad. The British and French decided to counteract the possibility of jihad around the world, they countered with the Arab Revolt. The anti Ottoman Empire foes would fight and then the British and French would divide the Middle East into their lines of business influence. France was to influence what is now Syria and parts of Iraq and England was to influence what is now Saudi Arabia and the countries in the south and life would go on as it had in the past.

Unfortunately for such well laid plans, in various countries of Europe including Russia and Romania decided to make life very difficult for people of the Jewish faith. Where were these people to go and live in relative peace? Typically they would have gone to another country where they could live in peace and participate in the economy, but the thinking was the best choice was a new country. Over a period of time, the Zionists decided the best place to go is Palestine which is now known as Israel. It took many years before the British  made the institutional commitment in what is called the Balfour Declaration or to recognize the Jewish ideal for a homeland, by doing so the British did not make good friends of the existing people in the neighborhood. The colonial way of thinking was as long as all religions had access to their holy sites, the people could live in relative harmony. It was considered some people would go to Palestine because Palestine had not changed in hundreds of years, but many would go somewhere else or it would be manageable.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in the world of diplomacy countries use other countries as pawns in their chess game. If the country has greater influence, it can affect the other country’s economic life and generally it is interested in it for its resources first. The middle east was important because it was in the middle of a trade route, then oil was discovered. What economic benefit is the country to the influencer? In investing, the large companies have influence over their markets and some have natural or ingrained monopolies which allows them to be profitable over many years even though there is competition. Business can be seen as diplomacy between economic competing companies rather than countries and in many ways as interesting as diplomacy between countries except fewer people die.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.