There is only one solution to this problem, and it will come to pass, but it will be a long way off yet.
That solution, is the end of the need for oil, be it from running out, (God help us if we get to the point where the world is fighting over the last few drops), or from just not needing it anymore.
That’s right, people like Musk, and his ilk, are doing more to bring about a swifter end to the Middle East drama, than any Government, or splinter group, anywhere on the globe.
Once no one wants the black stuff, there’ll be no more interference, and then, give it a generation or so past that point, for the angst against the West for their shenanigans to wash through, and things might then settle down.
Or they can go mad with their infighting if they like, and wipe each other out, because no one else will give a shitt anymore.
Won’t support one against another, won’t fund coups, or supply arms to one group or another … etc
Until there’s no great never ending stream of cash as the prize for being in charge, nothing for terrorists to seize that then funds their endeavors to seize more, so they can make more money, or any cause for foreign powers to support an entity because it’s good for their coffers, this just cannot & won’t, end.
I think the bolded is where this breaks down. I dont think its anger at the “West” as such, or Oil, that drives Boko Haram, for instance. Humanity is ‘great’ at ferociously imposing ideological mantra on each other simply as an apparently inherent trait. The “West” has interfered and meddled for 1000 years, but they didnt create the idiotic schism in Islam or the illogical slaughters that have ensued since the moment Ali somehow was given a position of prominence. And will probably continue forever.
Which leads into the “because no one else will give a shitt anymore” bit. Here’s the quandary. Are we happy to ignore an Isis -or its future type - and leave the yazidi’s to sort out their own fate for instance? Or the blind eye turned to Rwanda for way too long? German annexure of Czech? Of course the rich nations are already atrociously hypocritical and selective on that side of things, and I’m not clear on how we should tackle such things. but there’s a whole Pandora’s Box of philosophical argument to be opened on that position.
Basically, i think the ultimate root cause is humanities built-in tribalism. Our collective will to change that is tenuous at best.