From Paul1405's post above you can see why the extreme left (aka the Greenies) and the Islamists make such good bed fellows --they both like the same fairy-tales.

In summary, that favourite bedtime story goes like this: the ME was once a great garden of Eden with rivers of wine and plenty of food, and thousands of beautiful doe eyed Houris running around catering to every fetish --until, one fateful day, immoral outsiders invaded and destroyed it.

The only real point of difference is that according to the Islamists the outsiders are called "infidels", but in the Green story they are called colonialists and neo-cons.

"the ME was once a great garden of Eden" SPQR where am I saying that?That's your words (fairy tale) not mine. In fact I said "(ME) has been populated by poor and dysfunctional human beings for centuries". Of course you would see The Greens as extreme left considering your views sit somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan, it's a long way from where you are perched to the center where I am.
If you don't agree with my post, say why?

If the current "surge" of outright warfare, including Iraq at present,
continues and spreads to involve more directly, Saudi Arabia, it will
lead to a collapse of several ME countries and Egypt.

They are demonstrating a behaviour problem that results in an inability
to accept compromise.
For 1400 years the Shiites and Sunnis have not been able to compromise
on who should have succeeded Mohammad in the 6th century, his nephew
or his deputy.
That is ultimately what they are fighting over now.

So, I cannot see how any compromise with the "West" could ever have meaning.
It is in our interest for the Islamic countries to exhaust themselves
but somehow we do need to keep oil flowing out of the gulf as it is
25% of world consumption.
Australia's economy is one of the most fragile to supply interruption.

Paul you ay have hit on a truth well no you have.
Often, not just in the middle east but Africa too.
Problems are made even worse by the level of ignorance and lack of education, other than religion.
That is and always has been a control mechanism.
Nothing can change a truth the western world is free to not be a follower of any creed.
Try doing that in the middle east openly?
We can not here in the west avoid a war bought about by China or/and Russia chasing power in this part of the world.
I offer North Korea China,s client state as evidence of the horrors country,s do for power.

Middle Eastern Tribal / Family conflicts have been happening for thousands of years over property and territory. Violence is inbred in their psyche.

Indeed Josephus, they have, but at the root of their problem is the
custom of marrying their cousins.
Do that for generations and you build in erratic mental processes with
behaviour problems such as the difficulty with compromise.

Strange that an agricultural people would permit cousin marriage.