This essay includes a lineup up of who are Sunni and who are Shia Muslim countries. Recent history is included. Helps to have this scorecard as you read about events in the Middle East.
[From article]
But the current turmoil is only a small aspect of a greater struggle that is as old as Islam itself. Probably the most important aspect of the schism between the Sunnis and Shiites (Shia) was the succession after the death of the prophet Mohammed. The Sunnis believed that Mohammed's confidant Abu Bakr should succeed him, while the Shiites have insisted that Ali ibn Abi Taib, Mohammed's son-in-law and cousin, should be the new leader of Islam.
In A.D. 661, Ali was killed by a Sunni faction while at prayer in the Great Mosque of Kufa. Ali's murder cemented the division between the Sunnis and Shiites.
The defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War would essentially create the endless chaos we see today. In that context, the single most consequential event with regards to Middle East politics is the Sykes-Picot Pact. The secret agreement between England and France partitioned much of the former Ottoman Empire into direct-rule regions and spheres of influence. The two Great Powers attempted to partition the land among tribal and religious lines. However, according to Tarek Osman of BBC News, "the thinking behind Sykes-Picot did not translate into practice. That meant the newly created borders did not correspond to the actual sectarian, tribal, or ethnic distinctions on the ground."
The Pew Research Center conducted a poll in 2012 that showed that among most of the Sunni Muslims of the Middle East and North Africa, at least forty percent do not accept Shiites as fellow Muslims.
[. . .]
Politically, the recent crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran will only add to the notion that President Obama is weak and feckless. The entire world seems in disorder and taking on water, and no one is at the helm. The United States, under Obama, is not in a position to defuse the situation. Iran, after getting what it wanted from the nuclear deal, has no reason to listen to our president about a decades old feud with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia doesn't believe that the United States will have its best interests at heart, given the détente between the U.S. and Iran.
The next president, Republican or Democrat, will have a full plate – make that a buffet – of problems to face, and to face quickly. The Democrats don't have any solutions, so the Republicans should be talking more about how they can bring order back to the world.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/01/saudi_arabia_and_iran_behind_the_rivalry.html
January 16, 2016
Saudi Arabia and Iran: Behind the Rivalry
By Derek DeLuca
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