I gave a nod of approval to Edward Luttwak’s “Prospect” piece in my May Diary (second heading). Luttwak argues the the ME isn’t that important, and we should just leave the place alone.

Niall Ferguson takes on Luttwak’s piece in today’s Telegraph: “Far from benign neglect, what is desperately needed in the Middle East today is a more effective policy of diplomatic intervention – to establish some kind of rule amid the division.”

Yeah, lots of luck with that, Niall. Ferguson heaps scorn on Luttwak’s likening the ME to Sardinia and Sicily, as chronically pathological societies best left to stew in their own juices. His own preferred analogy is with eastern Europe, source of the two world wars. I don’t get this. If the ME is eastern Europe in 1914, or 1939, who is Germany? Who is Russia? Who is Austria-Hungary?