HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch

ROME, 1 January 2016  (IPS) – The appalling crisis ravaging the Middle East and striking terror around the world is a clear challenge to the West, but responses are uncoordinated. This is due on the one hand to divergent analyses of the situation, and on the other to conflicting interests.

Emma Bonino

The roots of the conflict lie primarily in the Sunni branch of orthodox Islam, and within this the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect embraced by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies generally.

Both the Islamic State (Daesh) and, earlier, Al Qaeda, arose out of Wahhabism.

The West has historic alliances with the Gulf area, but apparently nothing has been learned from the 3,000 deaths caused by the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.