[e.g. I've read multiple accounts of the "why can't the Paras install a washing machine in a hospital" incident - each from wildly different perspectives].

I guess this need to get different perspective might be obvious to trained historian - but my degree is in CS :-)

Do you think that between the British, the French, the Russians, and the Ottomans all controlling the region, the development of nation-states may have been delayed by understandable reasons.

This is also a major cultural problem to overcome for Muslims before they can be able to build enduring and prospering societies.

The thing is that every major power constantly meddles in the affairs of everyone else and it will never end, that's for sure. The Russians do it to the West, the West to the Russians, same as the Chinese, the Japanese and Indians do.

Yet these societies are not constantly on the verge of collapse and total chaos.

It is because these societies are more resilient to outside influence, because members of these societies feel more strongly connected to their government and to other members of their societies.

On the other hand in many Muslim societies I see tribal attitudes, one clan against all other clans. One Muslim group might even declare another Muslim group as an enemy on the basis of the smallest imaginable disagreement and start total war. No wonder their governments can be toppled and controlled from the outside if many don't feel a strong connection to their own nation and people.

Here this belief that all bad that has happened to you in your life is primarily caused by the US, the Soviets or more generally the infidels gives them an easy way to redirect their energy towards useless fighting (often among each other) instead of working together to improve their own societies.

This is a bad motivator for progress and nothing good or useful will ever come out of it.

If you face outside meddling then work hard on strengthening your own society so you can handle that stress, because it will never, ever stop.