Yup. 100% agreement. The horse left the barn.
Perhaps “The horse has been out of the barn” for 100 years.
The break up of the Ottoman Empire set much in motion that is still moving today.
Western policy has yet to get the Middle East right.
The somewhat tedious but inciteful read “A Peace to End All Peace” does much too lay out the errors of the boundaries drawn after WW1.
Am sure many FR readers are already familiar with the book but a decent yet short summary of that book is done here. .
http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/example/fromkin.htm
.. Includes insights into trying to isolate Russia, how dealings w Mid Eastern factions changed as time went on, Afghanistan ... amongst other issues of the time.