Middle East

The Middle East is a historical and cultural sub-region of Africa-Eurasia traditionally held to be the countries or regions in Southwest Asia together with Egypt. In other contexts, the region can include other parts of North Africa and/or Central Asia. In the Western world, the Middle East is generally thought of as a predominantly Islamic and Arabic region defined by almost constant ethnic conflict.

In 2052, the Resource Wars began. Many smaller nations went bankrupt as their economies collapsed from the high prices for fossil-fuels, and the nations of Europe, dependent on oil imports from the petroleum-rich states of the Middle East, responded to their decision to rapidly raise oil prices with military action. The long drawn-out war between the European Commonwealth and the Middle East that initiated the Resource Wars then began. In January 2054, a limited nuclear exchange in the Middle East raised fears throughout the world.

Eventually, the European-Middle Eastern War ended in 2060, as the oil fields in the region finally ran dry and there was no longer a goal in the conflict, as both sides had been reduced almost to ruin.

For real world counterpart see also Wikipedia:Middle East.

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