There is no 'Middle East'

Twenty years ago, in the midst of an Israel-Lebanon war triggered by a cross-border raid by Hezbollah, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice famously declared, “What we’re seeing here, in a sense, is the growing — the birth pangs of a new Middle East.” She never explained what the old Middle East was nor did she articulate what she thought the new Middle East might be.

Clearly, Rice was premature. Presumably, the same can be said today in the midst of the U.S.-Iran war. So, it might be appropriate to deconstruct our understanding of the Middle East and consider the likely future of the region.