Footnote to the post titled “Idealistic Rhetoric”

In essence, we can view the Middle East and Afghanistan through a basic prism or even paradigm, namely, a prism or paradigm which enables us to generalize big power and small country relations. In general, three basic characteristic or patterns emerge as a result of the basic relations between big powers and small countries: dominance, hegemony, and primacy. Dominance is when big powers completely trash small countries. Hegemony is when force is used in order to subjugate smaller countries. Primacy is when small countries pander and roll over to big powers without any hassle. But in certain cases, small countries step out of this basic prism or paradigm and resist big powers. And to borrow from Khalidi:

“It remains to be seen how long it will take for reality to catch up with these boundless and in some cases delusional ambitions in Iraq and elsewhere in this vast and complex region, many of whose countries, from Afghanistan to Iraq, are characterized by a long-standing and rich history of fierce resistance to external domination.”