Seven paragraphs, if one counts the cheery close.
Letter to the editor of the Financial Times of London, explaining who is who and who is whose enemy, in the Middle East. August 22, 2013, captured by Randy Prine
A woman named Randy Prine (@RandyPrine) Tweeted this photo, and said:
THIS is why we Voted for an analytical and not ‘shoot from the hip’ McCain or ‘How can I make money’ Romney.
Most of the ObamaH8ers I run into can be stopped on almost all Middle East issues simply by asking them whether the group they rant at, at that moment, is Sunni or Shiite. For some odd reason, they never know.
Text of the letter [which may be behind a paywall, though you might be able to get free with registration] (links added here, for your convenience):
From Mr. K N Al-Sabah.
Sir,
Iran is backing Assad. Gulf states are against Assad!
Assad is against Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood and Obama are against General Sisi.
But Gulf states are pro-Sisi! Which means they are against Muslim Brotherhood!
Iran is pro-Hamas, but Hamas is backing Muslim Brotherhood!
Obama is backing Muslim Brotherhood, yet Hamas is against the US!
Gulf states are pro-US. But Turkey is with Gulf states against Assad; yet Turkey is pro-Muslim Brotherhood against General Sisi. And General Sisi is being backed by the Gulf states!
Welcome to the Middle East and have a nice day.
K N Al-Sabah
London EC4, UK
That clears up a lot, doesn’t it?
More:
- Arab springs, Arab falls (theguardian.com)
- Why Saudi Arabia is taking a risk by backing the Egyptian coup | David Hearst (theguardian.com)
- “SMART DIPLOMACY:” America’s Problems In The Middle East Are Just Beginning. “America’s credibil… (pjmedia.com)
- Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood at the Crossroads (voanews.com)
- Israel an obstacle to Arab democracy, Egyptian strongman wrote (timesofisrael.com)
- “A Short Guide To The Middle East” (wchildblog.com)
- “A Short Guide To The Middle East” (zerohedge.com)
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] this is mostly an encore post. Fighting ignorance requires […]
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It gets so much better.
A corps of correspondents noted this to me:
So I went searching for Aubrey Baily, and found instead, Richard Alan Jones, who says that he wrote the piece published as Aubrey Bailey’s letter, and provides some visual evidence:
And of course, Obama’s critics still can’t get it straight.
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[…] The situation is indeed perplexing: […]
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Reblogged this on The Pursuit of a More Peaceful Middle East…and so a more peaceful and better World.
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Trackback link: http://opiniondominion.blogspot.com/2013/08/sometimes-its-quite-ok-to-not-understand.html
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[…] Middle East politics explained, for the novice or anyone else, in six short paragraphs (timpanogos.wordpress.com) […]
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