I have spent a lot of time in the Middle East, and think about the place even more when far from its pungent smells and 1,001 Nights mysteries. I was sent there very young because my father owned textile factories in Africa, in Khartoum, and every weekend was spent in Cairo or Alexandria. Both cities back then were still cosmopolitan, with wonderful hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants. Nasser had not yet come to power, although King Farouk had been recently deposed. Outside my house in Alexandria, giant cypresses, Judas trees, and chestnuts kept the great lawns in shadow, and there were cocktail parties galore. Groppi, the world-famous restaurant and nightclub in which the German commander Erwin Rommel vowed to drink tea (but never managed to), was no longer. Still, the European contingent was everywhere, and Larry Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet” was alive and well. Oh yes, I almost forgot—to be American back then in the Middle East was to be someone special, and I mean really special.
Many years later I returned to Cairo for a sporting event, and it was another world. The Egyptian capital had turned into a hellhole, with uncounted millions living in the streets, the flotsam of humanity searching for a living wage in the once proud and beautiful city. Hence my non-stop thoughts of what might have been. What if the Eisenhower administration had funded the Aswan Dam? What if the Americans had not sided with Israel and the Saudi fundamentalists against Nasser? One can then assume the Six Day War would not have happened. It is even possible that Egypt, with western aid, might have turned out to be a prosperous Arab cornerstone of democracy.
The same thoughts come to me about Iran, a country I’ve never visited. Had Kim Roosevelt and other bright young chaps in the CIA not conspired to topple the democratically elected and very popular premier Mohammed Mossadegh for his crime of nationalizing Iranian oil, and then saddling Iran’s 18 million people with the pompous, weak, but basically decent Shah Pahlavi, what then? Pahlavi was obsessed with trying to pass as royal—his father was a simple officer who took power in a coup and called himself a descendant of the Persian royalty of 2,000 years ago. This was Hollywood stuff, but the game of nations is a bit more serious. I met the shah in St. Moritz and dated his ex-wife Soraya. He gave the impression of being more concerned with whom she went out with than with the Iranian clergy boiling in anger underneath his rule.
After we got rid of Mossadegh, we hit a losing streak in Cuba, Vietnam and Nicaragua, but we did succeed in Chile. Uncle Sam’s capacity not to learn from his mistakes should never be underestimated. The good uncle should read more history and act accordingly. The greatest ruler of them all as far as the known world was concerned was Alexander the Great, considered a Greek god by Egyptians and other faraway tribes, the conqueror of Persia and India and all of the Middle East, who died from the plague aged 30. I can think of many others—Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan. It ended badly for most all of them. And don’t forget the Brits. The sun never sets on the empire, they once bragged; now they’re bragging how much rich Arabs and Indians pay for English grand houses and lands. (One of the pleasures of my life is watching titled Englishmen bowing and scraping in front of fat emirs at Ascot races.)
The theory that the Peloponnesian War started because the rise of Athens alarmed Sparta brings to mind modern China and the U.S. of A. Athens and Sparta fought each other to the ground after close to 30 years of warfare. The U.S. and China are now seen as almost equal rivals for the numero uno spot, so here is my warning. Athens and Sparta had multiple disputes involving minor cities allied with them. A bit like America and China today—and here is where the good uncle has to be very careful. Israel is as unreliable an ally as any nation called an ally can be, as are all Middle East nations and most African countries. No one in South America will raise a rifle to defend North American interests. In Europe, Poland, Greece, and Ukraine will, and perhaps Germany. As will Taiwan and Japan.
No need to list which countries will take China’s side in case the shooting starts. The fact that the Biden administration provided 2,000-pound bombs that have been used to flatten entire civilian Gaza neighborhoods, causing enormous casualties, is not a secret around the world. The ratio of casualties is high among women and children. Mind you, it’s not all Uncle Sam’s doing: Western interference created a toxic legacy after the break up of the Ottoman Empire early in the 20th century. The creation of Israel and its behavior towards local Palestinians compounded the problem.
Good Uncle Sam, you’re 250 years old; if you want to be top banana at age 500, stay out of other people’s countries and policies. Look inwards, keep the bad guys out, and you’ll be sitting at the top table at age 500. I guarantee it.
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