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This sound like Left-wing Utopianism

Reader comment on item: The "Shocking Document" that Shaped the Middle East Turns 100

Submitted by Michael S (United States), May 12, 2016 at 18:46

Daniel, I'm puzzled by your statement:

"Sykes-Picot has a lesson for the present day, a simple and important one: foreign powers must not attempt unilaterally to decide the fate of distant regions..."

What on earth are you talking about? This looks like ultra-Left-Wing Utopianism, something I hadn't realized that you stood for. Are you suggesting that the US stop helping Israel? that China should be allowed to monopolize the South China Sea? that Ukraine and Georgia be handed over to the Russians? that North Korea be allowed to attack the South... and proceed to nuke Japan? How far do you propose that this "foreign power" should retreat? Should we give up our rights to the Grand Bank fishing ground? It's farther from Washington, DC to Alaska, than it is from London to Baghdad. Should we cede Alaska to, say, Japan? Must Russia be divided into three countries because its regions are too "distant" from one another? What is this nonesense, coming out of that smart head of yours? I frankly don't get it.

Need I also say, that what Sykes and Picot did, with Russian and Greek connivance, was not "unilateral"? Neither, for that matter, were the interventions in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, the Congo, or just about any war nowadays. We live in a "multilateral" world; and the world of Sykes and Picot was just as "multilateral". Weren't Britain, France, Italy and many others at war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria and friends? How can anything that happened during that time (or our time, for that matter) be considered "unilateral"?

The Sykes-Picot agreement did not cause the Turks, Kurds and Iranians to attack the Armenians and Assyrians; they did not cause the Saudis to overthrow the Hashemites; and they did not cause the war between the Turks and Greeks. If the British and French had abandoned the region to the Arabs, would there be peace today? Would the Sunnis not be fighting against the Shi'ites? Would there be no civil war in Yemen? Would Afghanistan be a haven of bliss under the Taliban? Would Darfur be an oasis of peace? Most importantly, would Jews somehow be able to live peacably in their ancestral homeland, if it weren't for Sykes and Picot?

I fail to get the point of what you said.

Submitting....

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I am not counseling isolationism. I am saying that unilaterally fixing borders and trying to fix countries does not and will not work.

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Reader comments (39) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
In the words of David Ben Gurion when he appeared before the British Peel Commission in Palestine in 1937: [229 words]YJ DraimanAug 15, 2017 01:45240475
It does not get much worse than this! [96 words]
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Stuart SchoenbergerDec 16, 2016 13:05234705
Hilarious [168 words]EvaJun 9, 2016 01:02229895
Nationalism vs. Imperialism [436 words]There is NO Santa ClausMay 17, 2016 08:39229499
1ENOUGH [4 words]1776partIIMay 13, 2016 19:15229454
3This sound like Left-wing Utopianism [384 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Michael SMay 12, 2016 18:46229423
3There is no acknowledged standard for how and by whom borders should be set. [583 words]Michael S.May 13, 2016 14:35229423
Borders are Drawn by Armies [85 words]SAKOVKTMay 16, 2016 13:33229423
I don't advocate any "better" way [292 words]Michael SMay 20, 2016 03:41229423
Creating space for ME Christians [176 words]DaveSMay 12, 2016 10:58229422
advice to the EU [25 words]mythMay 12, 2016 09:35229421
1The Moral of Sykes Pikot [163 words]SuchindranathAiyerSMay 12, 2016 00:48229415
A sane and mature choice [46 words]Michael JacobsMay 11, 2016 04:01229404
1Political and economic sickness is endemic to Islam [111 words]
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Michael SMay 10, 2016 17:43229398
Indeed, you will be dealing with a people who worship God, Fire and the Devil. [323 words]Michael SMay 13, 2016 03:15229398
Thank you for a Breath of Fresh Air and some uncommon colmmon sense on this subject [243 words]
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Phebe AdamsMay 10, 2016 16:09229397
hurrah no one else remmebered sykes picot ... [145 words]oded yinonMay 10, 2016 10:19229392
Adults? You mean Israel? [85 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
François GravelMay 10, 2016 06:31229390
racist? .. no .. [184 words]Anne JulienneMay 13, 2016 00:25229390
'Perfidity"? [381 words]SAKOVKTMay 10, 2016 06:25229389
Berlin Conference 1884 [264 words]SAKOVKTMay 13, 2016 11:48229389
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McMahon letters [191 words]
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Avinoam Ben DorMay 10, 2016 02:13229387
and your point? [80 words]Anne JulienneMay 13, 2016 00:09229387
6You mean the Muslims weren't paranoid before it? [614 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
UNCLE VLADDIMay 9, 2016 23:57229386
1Correction [93 words]DajjalMay 13, 2016 19:11229386
why not work together? [250 words]Anne JulienneMay 9, 2016 22:31229384
Israel [49 words]ConradMay 9, 2016 14:23229378
Blame Local Hatred, Not Sykes-Picot [253 words]DaveMay 9, 2016 14:02229377
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Gideon RemezMay 9, 2016 11:21229372
Sykes-Picot [241 words]Martin SchaffelMay 9, 2016 11:17229371
What about the treaties of Sevres 1920 and Lausanne 1923 and the League of Nations mandates? [609 words]Daniel BamfordMay 9, 2016 10:52229369
The Faisal Weizmann Agreement of January 3, 1919 [64 words]YJ DraimanMay 13, 2016 16:32229369
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w/response from Daniel Pipes
ECAWMay 9, 2016 08:54229366
1SO, SUBJECTIVE OPINIONS TRUMP OBJECTIVE FACTS?! [21 words]UNCLE VLADDIMay 13, 2016 18:05229366

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