I think we should expect societies based off of divergent cultural (The Crusades is not an unloaded term) events and mythical traditions to respond differently to the feeding of democracy to their its residents. Accordingly, if this area wasn't a colonial Rubik's cube perhaps its contemporary landscape would be different. Or maybe still this is the results of humans inhabiting an area for tens of thousands of years. Maybe the tribal genocides of African countries and the constant strive in the Middle East are the true visage of post-modernity. Humans have been there the longest ... out of Africa into the Fertile Crescent we went I have been told. Perhaps we have it all turned around. They are not backwards but rather they are on the cutting edge as to what will come to be everywhere.