Let's say that for whatever reason the Mongols never unite or that if they do, they simply decide to leave the region alone.
- Would the region be more fertile today, or would desertification inevitably make it what it is in the present?
- Would this allow for Baghdad to return to its former glory as one of the most important cities in the world?
- Would Mesopotamia be the center of the Arab world, or would that title go to Egypt, as in OTL?