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Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Videos of the History and Geography of Syria

Two great videos can help give background to the current situation in Syria

First is a short history of the Sykes-Picot agreement which divided modern-day Syria and Iraq.  The agreement ignored "natural" borders of various different ethno-sectarian groups.  Mentioning the World War I agreement shows that the Seventy-Five Years War (World War I and the related European wars ending with the fall of the Eastern Bloc) continues to be waged in the Middle East despite it ending in Europe in 1989.



The second one breaks down the current ethno-sectarian division upon the physical landscape.



Some people may wonder if dividing Syria is an option.  It has be done before as modern Syria is a rump state.  Today Syria's geopolitic can be understood as people from the Alawite State ruiling from the State of Damascus, exploiting the resources of the State of Aleppo.

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