The writer is former chief of MI6 and UK ambassador to the UN
We often think of the Middle East as built around the Arab world. Baghdad and Damascus were the historical centres of authority. In the 20th century, Cairo and Beirut became the region’s cultural capitals until they declined and their influence was overtaken by the oil and gas wealth of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
Today, it is striking that the three most assertive and powerful countries in the region — Israel, Turkey and Iran — are the non-Arab nations. Each is led by an ageing warhorse. Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israel’s prime minister for 17 of the last 28 years. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been in power in Turkey for almost 22 years, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been Iran’s supreme leader for 35 years. Like the Bourbons of France 200 years ago, they learn nothing and forget nothing.