History of the Middle East brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern countries, followed by prolonged civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. In 2014, a terrorist group and self-proclaimed caliphate calling itself the Islamic State made rapid territorial gains in western Iraq and eastern Syria, prompting international military intervention. At its peak, the group controlled an area containing an estimated 2.8 to 8 million people, 98% of which was lost by December 2017. By country: General: Works cited History of the Middle East Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle East (usually interchangeable with the Near East) has seen
Country-of-origin effect associated with a particular country, such as (in the Western world) silk with China, spices with India, wine with France, chocolate with Belgium, cars with Germany, fashion with Italy and electronics with Japan. Such products labeled as originating in that country will benefit from a halo effect, with consumers assuming they are high quality. Countries that are less economically developed tend to have a negative country image and a negative country-of-origin effect. Associations vary by country and region. Japan is universally understood to manufacture high-quality products, and yet historical animosity between it and some other Eastern Asian countries may reduce