During the Cold War, America took sides not only in disputes between Arab countries, but also in debates within them.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The United States has dealt with the Middle East and surrounding regions for many decades in the context of the Cold War.
As British and French imperialism ebbed following the end of the Second World War, America became the main outside player in Arab affairs.
I think the Cold War works as a great analogy or simile for different kinds of conflict. It's funny, when you look back at it, it's one of the last times that the boundaries were clear. Now, as we see on 'Homeland,' there are no clear boundaries and enemies.
You know, Arabs are critical of United States foreign policy, but they also associate the U.S. with democratic principles and opportunity.
There is a conflict in the Middle East between two entities, and they're both right, each in their own way.
People nowadays don't know about the Cold War and the U.S.'s old rivalry with the U.S.S.R.
It is wrong to say the U.S. should 'not take sides' in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Even during the years of the Cold War, the intense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, we always avoided any direct clash between our civilians and, most certainly, between our military.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is also in many ways a conflict about status: it's a war between two peoples who feel deeply humiliated by the other, who want the other to respect them. Battles over status can be even more intractable than those over land or water or oil.
Iraq... has also had contacts with al-Qaida. Their ties may be limited by divergent ideologies, but the two sides' mutual antipathy toward the United States and the Saudi royal family suggests that tactical cooperation between them is possible.
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