I'm just barely getting into privacy and the first thing I'm looking into is a VPN, just so my ISP doesn't have the option to make judgements based on my browsing. Wondering if having a Switzerland- or other privacy haven- based VPN is actually significant, but I really have zero knowledge. Does it matter?
I'm trying to brush up on the exact history and how it informs the current spot we're in, since I feel insecure about my knowledge whenever I participate in the conversation. Specifically I'm looking for something objective and concise, with no strong political affiliations, that assumes the reader has absolutely no cursory knowledge of where things started.
I basically want to know how the Middle East became The Middle East™ as we know it today as an inherently controversial and/or threatening political entity (I say "entity" rather than plural because that's how most Western media views these countries). Also, side quest is figuring out how old Persia became Iran, and what we know about Palestine before the state of Israel was established, so if you have any recs on that, I'd appreciate it!