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| News, Views, &
Analysis Governments,
Lobbies, & the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know The most honest, most comprehensive, and most mobilizing news and analysis on the Middle East always comes from MER. It is indispensable!" Robert Silverman - Salamanca, Spain Comment on this and other MER articles in the MER FORUM |
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| The Mahdi Army defeated the British Empire in Sudan
in 1885. Now a Mahdi Army battles the American Empire in Iraq in 2004. Today the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani returns to Najaf to "Save the Burning Holy City" |
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National Public Radio (NPR)
MER - Mid-East Realities -
www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 25 Aug 2004:
Every once and awhile one of the major media groups does come through
with something of special important and something other than
simple-minded regurgitation of the slogans and twisted perspectives the
politicians and lobbyists are so busy manipulating, financing, and pushing.
That's
not to say that this National Public Radio series doesn't pull some
punches, cater to Western and especially U.S. sensibilities, and
minimize the critique of their own that many others in the world would
instead emphasize.
With
that in mind, listen to the radio report, take a look at the enlarged
map and associated materials, and remember that it was at the end of
this period of direct Western imperialism and colonialism that the
international Peace Conference of that era -- now known as "The Peace
To End All Peace" -- created so many of the tensions and divisions that
are today exploding throughout the Middle East region.
NPR's
Middle East History Series is actually a six-part historical review of
well-produced and well-presented programs even if sometimes the
emphasis is not what it should be and even if some important things,
especially relating to more modern times and the U.S. and Israel, are
not dealt with adequately. Indeed, NPR's coverage of contemporary
affairs is much too often much too muted and dishonestly
'balanced' to conform to the extensive political and financial
pressures that are so prevalent in the United States today. But
that of course is in the nature of Washington at this time in history
and always has to be factored in to really appreciate what is truly
going on both in the critical Middle East region as well as in the
world's only current superpower. Prior in Middle East
history there was Rome, then Instanbul, then Paris and London, and now
in the modern-era, Washington is the central focus of political debate
and dominating military as well as economic power.
Carving Up The Region
All Things
Considered audio
(use
link from NPR page which above is linked to)
Photo
Gallery: Europe's Middle East Adventures
 |
| Commanding Gen. Charles Gordon, who
died fighting an Islamic revolt of British control in Sudan in 1885. Credit: © Michael Nicholson/Corbis » TIMELINE, BIOS, MORE ON THE SERIES  |
 |
| Inset of map showing
the European expansion in the Middle East and Africa as of 1914. Credit: Geoffrey Gaudreault, NPR » View Enlargement |
Eventually, the British would take Egypt, Sudan and the small states of the Persian Gulf. France would seize Algeria and Morocco. And Arab resistance to European encroachment would prompt much bloody violence.
The story of European moves into the region is the latest in a six-part series by NPR's Mike Shuster examining the troubled 900-year history of Western involvement in the Middle East.
Napoleon's effort to conquer Egypt "had little to do with Egypt and the Egyptians, who were then nominally part of the Ottoman Empire," Shuster says. "It had everything to do with Europe and his rivalry with Europe's other great powers."
Egyptian defenders were little match for Napoleon's disciplined French troops, and the defeat was a major blow for the Arab world.
"It had lasting effects," says Rashid Khalidi, professor of Middle East history at Columbia University. "Among other things it shocked people in Egypt, in the Arab world, who suddenly realized how weak their states were when facing the power of Western armies and fleets."
But the British navy soon joined the battle, opposing the French forces, and proved a far more challenging adversary. Napoleon was defeated and quickly left Egypt, although some of his troops remained.
Resistance to the French in Algeria and the British in Sudan provided the first hints of Arab nationalism, a movement that would sweep the Arab world in contemporary times.
Still, by the early 20th century much of the Middle East and Africa -- which had previously been under control of the Ottoman Empire -- was ruled by the Europeans.
