And not ridiculous things that are theoretically possible, like the Taliban does a 180 out of nowhere and converts to socialism and the imperialist states do a 180 out of nowhere and decide that a socialist middle east is cool.

I used to think that the best thing that could happen is a Marshall Plan for the Middle East, but now, I'm not so sure that would be good.

  • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
    ·
    3 years ago

    One possibility is that the memory of occupation starts to fade, and the engine for religious fundamentalism starts to slow down. This depends a lot on Salafis and oil revenue though.

    Another possibility is that there emerges a strongman who is anti-imperialist with a sort of social pluralism domestically, in the vein of Qaddafi or the Assads.

    Whichever way, they're going to have to figure a lot of stuff out by themselves, and it's going to take a long time. But we always knew this.