So now we will start going down the rabbit hole of modern conflicts in the Middle East. We will find ourselves in an interconnected mesh of political and financial interests. We will see how religions and faiths are like spider webs that cover the walls of the tunnels, sometimes blocking our line of site or even our way for a while, but never really that important. The real thing we should care about is the people, lost in this maze for so long. Many of them don't know anything else.
But before we go on our way, I’d like to tell you why you should read this. And I don't mean to brag, it's just that if your only source of information about what is going on, is the commercial media, you get a very misleading picture.
You open the news and you hear about yet another terror attack somewhere. Now the first thing you should notice is, that there is a difference in the event’s coverage, depends on weather it happened in the Middle East (or Africa, for that matter), or God forbid, somewhere in Europe or in the US. And I am not talking just about the amount of coverage time it gets, which is maybe understandable. I’m talking mostly about how if the terror attack happened in Iraq, Israel or Lebanon, you will almost immediately get all the details about who did it, followed by an explanation about the relevant conflict, etc. But if the terror attack was in France, England or the US, you can expect a completely different ritual. It will start with someone from the local police saying that they still investigate, and at this point they are not even sure that it was a terror attack, and end up with the FBI finding out that the terrorists were affiliated with… wait because then comes the second thing I want you to notice: Now it’s ISIS, right? But until few years ago it was always Al Qaida, And I am old enough to remember when it was always Hezbollah, and before that Black September. Isn't it's funny that it is always just this one terror organization? It's like how in the Israeli media (and I am curious to know if it is so in other countries too), dogs who attack people are always from the same brand. It used to be German Shepherd, and then it was Doberman, Schnauzer, Rottweiler and then Pitbull. I don't know why I remember this at all, but it makes me wonder: Is there a conspiracy among dogs, that they attack people, one brand at a time? Or maybe the way the media works make it so that “dog bites human” is only news if the dog is from some fashionable brand? I think the latter is true.
In reality, there are hundreds or maybe thousands of different terror cells. Some of them have been around for decades. Some of them are half terror cells, half crime syndicates, involved in drugs and weapon trafficking and other organized crimes. They will align with whoever it is most in their interest to align with. Terror works by killing few and frightening the masses. If to leave a message in Facebook, pledging allegiance to ISIS is best for fueling the panic, then so be it. The Western culture with its well organized hierarchies can't figure out how this kind of loose organizations work, more than the Canaanite vassals of the 12th century BC, could figure out the new culture that was forming in their backyard.
So to begin to understand what really going on, you have to remember: This is the Middle East. You need a local guide or you're lost. Well then, follow me!
(To be continued in part 2)