Hi...

That isn't called for. Not only was it rude, Fixit has a right to his opinion, too, even if it was tongue-in-cheek. Would you liked to be talked to that way?

Regards...

Normally I'd agree with this, but not in this case. I also have a right to my opinion (part of which is that the "it was tongue-in-cheek" claim was a post-hoc rationalization to save face), and I stand by my assessment. This is not the first time he's said something horrible. The first time, he immediately followed up saying that he was suffering from chronic pain, and I took that as an excuse. I'm not excusing his behavior a second time.

The best thing to do, with such obviously provocative comments, when people say things "merely to 'get a rise out of you,'" is to silently ignore them. Don't give them what they want. Don't give them anything.

One very fundamental thing that you should always remember about the Middle East is that "the Middle East" was basically a British invention following World War One, when the territories known as the Ottoman Empire were carved-up into "nations" by means of lines drawn (by British hands) in the desert sands. The actual cultures in question were, and are, tribal. ("Fixed boundaries" don't make too much sense in vast deserts, anyway.)

Western (and Eastern) interests have exactly the same "interests" in these regions as they did 150 years ago: oil, opium, and various mineral resources such as Lithium. If you want to conquer, own, and control these things, at least from a non-tribal point of view, you must draw fixed boundaries around them and impose recognized rulers upon those boundaries ... rulers which you can control from afar. Unfortunately, that way of thinking runs against the ancient viewpoints and culture of these peoples. They didn't "erect standing stones," because the sands would soon bury them and because survival itself is hard.