NEWS MIDDLE EAST (NEWSNIGHT)
Mark Urban Diplomatic and defence editor, BBC Newsnight
31 July 2014 Last updated at 16:31 GMT
The great hope of the Arab Spring that began more than three years ago was that democracy and stability would break out across the Middle East.
It didn’t happen. Instead there has been turmoil and bloodshed, with an elected leader turfed out in Egypt, Libya apparently disintegrating and a new jihadist group, Isis, capturing swathes of Iraq and Syria.
In this mess, old friendships and old enmities are being replaced by new alliances that reflect the shifting fortunes of Sunni and Shia Muslim and the assorted sects.
Mark Urban reports for BBC Newsnight on where the state boundaries of the new Middle East might be drawn, if the chaos ever ends.
Article written by Mark Urban Mark Urban Diplomatic and defence editor