Bloody Borders: What a Better Middle East Would Look Like (2006)

This map was originally published in an article written by Ralph Peters for Armed Forces Journal in June 2006, in an article entitled Blood borders – How a better Middle East would look (Bloody borders – What a better Middle East would look like).

Ralph Peters was a retired senior officer in the United States Army at the time this article was published. In it, he argued that the borders of the Middle East, a consequence of Sykes-Picot Agreement, were arbitrary, as they did not take into account religions, ethnicities and communities, which almost guaranteed continued conflict.

As can be seen on the map, he proposed many changes, some of the most notable being:

• Kurdistan: proposed an independent state comprising all regions populated by Kurds, which would involve taking territory from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
• Baluchistan: He also proposed an independent state for the Baloch people, taking as a reference the region of Pakistan where they currently live, along with part of the territory bordering Iran.
• Islamic Holy StateHe suggested the need to create an independent state with the holy cities of Islam, such as Mecca and Medina, so that it would enjoy a status similar to that of the Vatican.
• The partition of IraqHe proposed dividing Iraq along ethnic and religious lines. In addition to the part ceded to the Kurdish state, he also divided the rest of the territory into a Shia state and a Sunni state.
• The partition of Saudi ArabiaIt also proposed that Saudi Arabia should reduce its size, ceding territory for the creation of the Holy Islamic State, but also for Yemen, Jordan and the new Shia state.

The map, which was nothing more than one individual's personal opinion, caused a major stir in international geopolitics. Turkey, an ally of the United States as part of NATO, denounced the proposal as a direct attack on its sovereignty, suggesting the fragmentation of its territory. More generally, many critics denounced the United States for seeking to fragment the region in order to control it more easily.

Sources

• Blood borders. What a better Middle East would look like.