Originally Posted by
Wander00
Sykes-Picot, 1916. QED!
I have a letter, written to my grandfather in 1921, by a trader in Mosul.
He deplored the withdrawal of troops, mainly Indian Army, that had improved conditions since the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire and now the loss of stability and trade.
Air Policing may have been cheaper but they missed the stability of boots on the ground.
A strong colonial or dictatorial control brings stability but our modern self-satisfied democratic world supports the weak. The result is thousands or hundreds of thousands of deaths in the name of freedom. Under the status as quo the masses may live in poverty, but they live.