When the Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the great powers of the day, Britain and France, carved out successor states in order to ensure their control over the Middle East’s oil, geopolitics, and transit routes to Asia. Their cynicism – reflected, for example, in the Sykes-Picot Agreement –&nbsp;established a lasting pattern of destructive outside meddling.
一战结束，奥斯曼帝国崩溃，当时的列强英国和法国根据它们控制中东石油、地缘政治和至亚洲运输线路的需要划分新的国家。它们的猜忌&mdash;&mdash;体现于赛克斯-皮科协定（Sykes-Picot Agreement）中&mdash;&mdash;造成了持续不断的破坏性外部干预。随后美国崛起成为超级大国，它对待中东的方式并未改变，鲁莽地扶持、颠覆、贿赂或操纵地区各国政府，每一次都打折民主的口号。