The Royalty Factor

Let's have another look at why, to understand the world, we have to understand royalty, and the great influence of history in general. We tend to repeat history, often without realizing it.

Donald Trump, a Republican, was friendly to Saudi Arabia but hostile to Iran. Joseph Biden, a Democrat, is expected to somewhat reverse this.

Remember, once again, that it is not possible to understand U.S. politics without understanding the posting on this blog, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris" December 2015.

In that book-length posting we saw that America's Republicans are really the continuation of the Bourbon Dynasty as France gave the new country diplomatic recognition and helped America gain independence. But not long after that the Bourbon Dynasty was overthrown, and the king and queen guillotined in the French Revolution, which is what initiated the modern political era in the world.

We saw in the posting how the Republican side of America represents the Bourbon Dynasty before the revolution while the Democrat side represents the modern political era after the French Revolution. The king was there, until overthrown by the revolution. 

Remember the sentence that we saw in "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris" that sums up international relations in the Middle East:

"Is there a king or has the king been overthrown, if overthrown has the king been replaced by a military ruler"?

Countries tend to align according to where they fall with regard to this question. A U.S. Republican president is, as we saw in the posting, really a king. Saudi Arabia is ruled by a king, while Iran has overthrown it's king (the late Shah).

First this explains the poor relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which go deeper than the fact that the former is Sunni while the latter is Shiite. 

If Donald Trump is really a king then that explains why he aligns with Saudi Arabia, which is also ruled by a king, but not with Iran, which had overthrown it's king. It also explains why Joe Biden, representing after the French Revolution when the king was overthrown, is the reverse.

That posting was written in late 2015, before the Trump presidency, but now readers can certainly see what I mean. No president has ever acted like a king in such a way. 

It also explains why, given that France has long been a haven for Iranians in exile, the late Shah never sought exile there after being overthrown in 1979. Of course not, why would the king who had been overthrown want to seek exile in the land that had set the precedent for overthrowing the king?

The part of the question about the king being replaced by a military leader explains the Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s. It also explains the lack of alliance between Iran and Libya at the time, even though the two nations had most of their enemies in common. All three nations had overthrown kings but while Libya and Iraq had replaced the kings with military leaders, Iran had replaced it's king with religious clerics.

The part about replacing the king with a military leader does not apply as much to Egypt, even though it was the Army's Nasser who set the precedent in the Middle East of military leaders overthrowing kings. The reason is that the Pasha Dynasty of kings that ruled Egypt was of foreign, Ottoman, origin. Egypt is on good terms with Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by kings, although the two were on opposite sides of the Yemen Civil War in the 1960s.

There is also the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Saudi Arabia is the country with the king while Turkey is the country where Ataturk abolished the Ottoman sultanate. There is rivalry between the two countries now although the rivalry is nowhere near as intense as that between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Turkish president Erdogan is, at the time of this writing, moving the country back toward rule by an Ottoman-style sultan but the Saudi relationship is complicated by the history of Ottoman control hindering and delaying the development of the early Saudi state.

THE DIFFICULTY OF UNITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Aside from the great importance of royalty there is another factor at work. This factor prevents unity among the Arab countries, which had been a primary goal of Egypt's Nasser. It is the history of successive caliphates, although this is not part of the scenario in "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris", December 2015.

There was once a political union between Egypt and Syria, the two joined into one country called the United Arab Republic. But the union didn't last long. Many have wondered why Iraq and Syria don't unite, they were ruled by different branches of the same Baath Party.

But remember the three major successive caliphates of Islam. The Umayyad Caliphate was based in Damascus, in Syria. The Abbasid Caliphate was based in specially-built Baghdad, in Iraq. The Fatimid Caliphate was based in specially-built Cairo, in Egypt.

That is the primary reason why unity between these three nations was never achieved, the historical rivalry between successive caliphates.

THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION

We saw in the posting on this blog, "The Great Revolution Of Our Time", January 2017, how the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is one of those revolutions that come along periodically that affects the entire world. Although the Iranian Revolution, in itself, was, like the October Revolution, a reflection of the French Revolution.

We also saw recently in "The Storming Of America's Capitol", January 2021, how that event was very much a reflection of how America's Republicans are really the continuation of the French Bourbon Dynasty, which helped America gain independence but was overthrown not long after in the French Revolution of 1789. This was described in the posting, "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris, December 2015.

That event was also a reflection of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 in how protesters scaling the wall up to the Capitol Building, even though there was a stairs nearby, was a perfect reenactment of the revolutionaries scaling the wall around the U.S. Embassy compound in November 1979.

So the storming of America's Capitol is an ideal example both of what we saw in "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris" and also what we saw in "The Great Revolution Of Our Time".

Donald Trump, and the religious nationalism that has become associated with him, is very much a reflection of how the Iranian Revolution has arrived in America. Trump was America's version of Ayatollah Khomeini.

PUTIN'S PALACE

Many people were taken by surprise that Vladimir Putin seems to have had a palace built in the south of Russia. But let's have a look at a little bit of history, and also remember the importance of royalty.

The Russian flag of today is the restoration of the Romanov flag. This was the royal dynasty that ruled until the October Revolution of 1917. Putin is from St. Petersburg, which was specially-built by the Romanovs as their capital city.

The Romanovs built a number of magnificent palaces around St. Petersburg, which we saw in the visit on this blog, "St. Petersburg And The Romanovs", April 2017. So wouldn't it make sense that Vladimir Putin, who could be said to represent a restoration of the Romanovs, have a palace of his own, although not in St. Petersburg which already has enough palaces?

Remember that royalty and history are both powerful forces.

THE NORTH AND EAST AND THE SOUTH AND WEST

Two issues that have been in the global news a lot are the Rohingya people in Myanmar ( Burma ) and the Uighurs in western China. Both the Rohingya and Uighurs are predominantly Moslem.

But what do you notice here? Remember how important the global division is that we saw in the posting on this blog, "Understanding The World In Terms Of The South And West And The North And East", April 2016.

The North And East is where the eastern religions predominate, primarily Hinduism and Buddhism, and where the same nations have tended to exist from ancient times until now. 

The South And West is where the monotheistic religions predominate, Christianity, Islam and, Judaism. It is where nations tend to come into existence with new ideas. There is a boundary between the two and it is vital to understand this boundary in order to understand the world of today.

What is so significant about both the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Uighurs in China is that it crosses the boundary. The Rohingya are Moslems and both China and Myanmar are part of the North And East, so that it is an intrusion of the South And West into the North And East.

Here is a link to "Understanding The World In Terms Of The South And West And The North And East":

https://markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2016/04/understanding-world-in-terms-of-south.html?m=0

Here is a link to "The Great Revolution Of Our Time", about the lasting influence of the Iranian Revolution:

https://markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-great-revolution-of-our-time.html?m=0