What are the three main conflicts in the Middle East today?

Answer 1

There are an extensive myriad of problems in the Middle East, including but not limited to:

1) Corrupt Rulers and No Infrastructure: Many rulers in the Middle East are content to deprive their people of modern infrastructure and development. They prefer to hoard the money their people give them to build palaces and repressive armies to protect those palaces. As a result, many of the necessary infrastructural and developmental changes which should have happened never occurred. One of the main results of the corrupt governments has been the instability of many Middle Eastern countries.

2) Regional Disunity: Middle Easterners have gone to war with each other at numerous times and in numerous places. Nearly every border in the Arab World has played host to a military engagement of some type. The Arab World has never had anything even close to the European Union or the Schengen Border Agreement. The Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference are much more like the United Nations and have no superstate components. Although Middle Easterners, as individuals, may feel connected across borders, like those between Syria and Lebanon or those between Iraq and Kuwait, their governments do not.

3) Anti-Educational: There is a strong and pervasive attitude in many Middle Eastern countries that a Western-style education, seeking a high degree of literacy and scientific knowledge is undesirable. Instead, there is a strong pull towards a religious education. This leads to minimal technological innovation in the Middle East (outside of Israel). Very few Middle Easterners (other than Israelis) have won Nobel Prizes in Scientific Fields.

4) Lack of Human Rights: Most Middle Eastern countries deny their citizens fundamental human rights such as equality before the law, freedom to express their opinions (even if they are unpopular), freedom of assembly, equality for women in education and marriage rights, freedom of movement, an end to the slave trade (in a minority of Middle Eastern countries), and other infringements. Statistics have shown a high-level of correlation between the presence of human rights and economic and political affluence.

5) Water Problems: The Middle East has a rapidly expanding population and very minimal stores of freshwater, leading to numerous conflicts to control the limited amount of water that each country has. However, desalination is beginning to turn the tide on this water issue slowly and steadily.

6) Failure to Compromise: Unlike Western Societies which see public debates and elections as a fair mechanism for deciding which opinions should get the Right of Way, many in the Middle East prefer to staunchly advocate their position by whatever means are necessary because they are assured of their correctness (either by God or personal conviction). This means that both domestic and international policy issues that produce gridlock have the potential to erupt in conflict and extreme measures as opposed to a general consensus that people can agree to even if they are not in love with it.

7) Failure to Permit Ethnic Autonomy: Many minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, such as the Kurds, the Balochis, the Alevis, etc. find themselves in states run by other ethnicities that deny them the ability to have a strong say in their affairs. Instead of granting them autonomy, like European countries in similar positions have done, they choose to repress them. This has gone on to the point where the only recourse is full-scale revolt.

8) Tribal Conflicts: Especially in Arab States, there are numerous tribes that have long-standing feuds with one another and threaten to disturb the peace. Creating a national identity that can supersede this tribal identity is critical for making the state safe enough for domestic commerce as well as finding a method to arbitrate tribal disputes within a state mechanism to prevent revenge killings and further violence.

9) Lack of Foreign Investment: Due to the frequent instability and the strong Anti-Western sentiment in many Middle Eastern countries, foreign companies are not willing to invest in production and infrastructure in these countries and will choose more stable and friendly nearby countries. Sri Lanka and Vietnam have seen much more investment than Pakistan or Egypt for exactly these reasons.

10) Women's Rights: This depends far more on a particular country's laws and predominant views of the clergy in that country than any basic "Middle Eastern" issue. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive. In Lebanon, proof of elementary education is required for women to vote but not for men and voting is compulsory for men but optional for women. Middle Eastern countries have typically been behind Western States in the proliferation of women's rights, but this is more typical third world countries in Africa and Asia than just the Middle East.

Answer 2

the water supplies