In addition to poverty, backwardness, repression, rapid population growth, religious and ethnic hatred, and stateless peoples (such as the Kurds and the Palestinians), the region has unstable borders. Many were drawn by the colonial powers, Great Britain and France, after World War I, and most, with the exception of Iran’s and Egypt’s, have little legitimacy.
除了贫困、退步、镇压、快速人口增长、宗教和种族仇恨以及无家可归的民族（比如库尔德人和巴勒斯坦人），该地区还存在边境不稳定。大量边境又殖民国家（英国和法国）在一战后划定，除了伊朗和埃及之外，大部分边境毫无合理性可言。