The Cold War in the Middle East

The Cold War in the Middle East PDF Author: Nigel J. Ashton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134093705
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
This edited volume re-assesses the relationship between the United States, the Soviet Union and key regional players in waging and halting conflict in the Middle East between 1967 and 1973. These were pivotal years in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with the effects still very much in evidence today. In addition to addressing established debates, the book opens up new areas of controversy, in particular concerning the inter-war years and the so-called ‘War of Attrition’, and underlines the risks both Moscow and Washington were prepared to run in supporting their regional clients. The engagement of Soviet forces in the air defence of Egypt heightened the danger of escalation and made this one of the hottest regional conflicts of the Cold War era. Against this Cold War backdrop, the motives of both Israel and the Arab states in waging full-scale and lower-intensity conflict are illuminated. The overall goal of this work is to re-assess the relationship between the Cold War and regional conflict in shaping the events of this pivotal period in the Middle East. The Cold War in the Middle East will be of much interest to students of Cold War studies, Middle Eastern history, strategic studies and international history.

The Cold War in the Middle East

The Cold War in the Middle East PDF Author: Nigel J. Ashton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134093705
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Get Book Here

Book Description
This edited volume re-assesses the relationship between the United States, the Soviet Union and key regional players in waging and halting conflict in the Middle East between 1967 and 1973. These were pivotal years in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with the effects still very much in evidence today. In addition to addressing established debates, the book opens up new areas of controversy, in particular concerning the inter-war years and the so-called ‘War of Attrition’, and underlines the risks both Moscow and Washington were prepared to run in supporting their regional clients. The engagement of Soviet forces in the air defence of Egypt heightened the danger of escalation and made this one of the hottest regional conflicts of the Cold War era. Against this Cold War backdrop, the motives of both Israel and the Arab states in waging full-scale and lower-intensity conflict are illuminated. The overall goal of this work is to re-assess the relationship between the Cold War and regional conflict in shaping the events of this pivotal period in the Middle East. The Cold War in the Middle East will be of much interest to students of Cold War studies, Middle Eastern history, strategic studies and international history.

The Superpowers and the Syrian-Israeli Conflict

The Superpowers and the Syrian-Israeli Conflict PDF Author: Helena Cobban
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The Middle Eastern problem is suffused with emotion and ignorance. It is both good and important to have Cobban's perceptive and cool dissection of a truly complex issue. Zbigniew Brezezinski Counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies Former National Security Adviser Middle East analyst Cobban's 'historical case study of how things were in the Israel-Syria theater during the years 1978-1989' was largely completed before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, but the events of the past year make this book more, rather than less, relevant. . . . Cobban's focus, then, on these two heavily armed nations and their superpower relationships could hardly be more timely. Booklist In the coalition war against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait, the participation of Syria in the U.S.-led coalition and the restraint of Israel were important elements in the quick and successful conclusion of the war. The United States' diplomatic and military resolve, as well as the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from the international arena, helped put Syria and Israel on the same side in this effort. This was a surprising development in light of the strained state of Syrian-Israeli relations in the years leading up to 1990. Helena Cobban investigates the evolution of the military balance between Israel and Syria from 1978 through 1990, focusing on the effects of the close strategic ties that developed between these states and their respective superpower partners. The fighting in Lebanon in 1982 is closely examined, since it proved to be a key turning point for Israel and Syria--and for the superpowers parrying for influence in the Middle East region. After an up-to-the-minute preface analyzing the effects of the Persian Gulf War on the Syrian-Israeli relationship, Cobban explores the immunity this area showed in the late 1980s to diplomatic efforts that were resolving regional conflicts elsewhere in the world, as well as the surprising overall stability of this theatre even in the absence of effective diplomacy. The arsenals of Israel and Syria, now the preeminent military powers in the Middle East after the defanging of Iraq, are still formidable. Cobban presents a formula for careful diplomacy in the 1990s that could lead to a lasting peace. This book is essential reading for political scientists, students of military engagements, and others who have an interest in the worldwide consequences of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Pragmatic Superpower: Winning the Cold War in the Middle East

The Pragmatic Superpower: Winning the Cold War in the Middle East PDF Author: Ray Takeyh
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393285561
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 475

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Book Description
A bold reexamination of U.S. influence in the Middle East during the Cold War. The Arab Spring, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the Iraq war, and the Syrian civil war—these contemporary conflicts have deep roots in the Middle East’s postwar emergence from colonialism. In The Pragmatic Superpower, foreign policy experts Ray Takeyh and Steven Simon reframe the legacy of U.S. involvement in the Arab world from 1945 to 1991 and shed new light on the makings of the contemporary Middle East. Cutting against conventional wisdom, the authors argue that, when an inexperienced Washington entered the turbulent world of Middle Eastern politics, it succeeded through hardheaded pragmatism—and secured its place as a global superpower. Eyes ever on its global conflict with the Soviet Union, America shrewdly navigated the rise of Arab nationalism, the founding of Israel, and seminal conflicts including the Suez War and the Iranian revolution. Takeyh and Simon reveal that America’s objectives in the region were often uncomplicated but hardly modest. Washington deployed adroit diplomacy to prevent Soviet infiltration of the region, preserve access to its considerable petroleum resources, and resolve the conflict between a Jewish homeland and the Arab states that opposed it. The Pragmatic Superpower provides fascinating insight into Washington’s maneuvers in a contest for global power and offers a unique reassessment of America’s cold war policies in a critical region of the world. Amid the chaotic conditions of the twenty-first century, Takeyh and Simon argue that there is an urgent need to look back to a period when the United States got it right. Only then will we better understand the challenges we face today.

Israel, the Middle East, and the Great Powers

Israel, the Middle East, and the Great Powers PDF Author: Israel Stockman-Shomron
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9781412826723
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
Israel, The Middle East and the Great Powers presents the Israel-Arab conflict to the general public in a uniquely comprehensive and interdisciplinary format. Its form and content reflect the most serious efforts of Israel's intellectual community to analyze the conflict situation in which they live, objectively and honestly. The book argues that recent events have reduced the U.S. role, and changed the policy parameters in the region. A broad cross-section of Israel's foremost orientalists, historians, juridicists and political scientists have contributed a selection of articles and lexicons which embody the essential aspects of the conflict in its broadest sense. Each key element is analyzed within a number of categories: the ideological-theological plane (Judaism, Zionism, the Holocaust, Jerusalem and the three monotheistic religions); the Palestinian sphere (PLO ideology, Jordon and the Judea & Samaria Region, the PLO and the war in lebanon); the superpowers and the wider region (Iran-Iraq, the Islamic resurgence, oil, the Soviet Union and the Middle East, the United States and Israel), etc. Detailed lexicons offer concise factual breakdowns of both the Middle East (inter-Arab aspects, key Arab countries, conventional and nuclear Arab armaments) and the Arab-Israel context (chronology of the conflict, key events and personalities in Zionism, UN involvement, international legal aspects).

Superpower Intervention in the Middle East (Routledge Revivals)

Superpower Intervention in the Middle East (Routledge Revivals) PDF Author: Peter Mangold
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135046832
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Strategically placed on the global chess board, as well as controlling vast oil resources, the Middle East was one of the main theatres of Cold War. In the 1950s the Soviet Union had taken advantage of Arab Nationalists’ disillusion with British and French Imperialism, along with the emerging Arab-Israeli conflict, to establish relations with Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The United States responded by moving in to shore up the Western position. Confrontation was inevitable. Superpower Intervention in the Middle East was written in 1978, when this confrontation was at its height. The book’s main theme focuses on how the superpowers became competitively involved in local Middle East conflicts over which they could exercise only limited control, and the risks of nuclear confrontation of the kind which occurred at the end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The threat to Western oil supplies is also examined. This is a fascinating work, of great relevance to scholars and students of Middle Eastern history and political diplomacy, as well as those with an interest in the relationship between the Western superpowers and this volatile region.

The Elusive Balance

The Elusive Balance PDF Author: William Curti Wohlforth
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501738089
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Concentrating on the period between 1945 and 1989, The Elusive Balance reevaluates Soviet and U.S. perceptions of the balance of power. William Curti Wohlforth uses a comparative and long-term approach to chart the diplomatic history of relations between the two countries. He offers new interpretations of the onset, course, and end of the Cold War, and the motivations behind Soviet behavior.

Superpowers and Client States in the Middle East

Superpowers and Client States in the Middle East PDF Author: Moshe Efrat
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781138653047
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This book, first published in 1991, examines in detail superpower-client relations in the Middle East. The Middle East, with its protracted and seemingly insoluble conflict and complex patterns of loyalty and hostility, is the ideal setting for the study of such relationships. Using the USSR and Syria, and the USA and Israel as case studies, this book illuminates the extent of superpower influence on client states but also the real constraints on their exercise of that influence. In analysing specific contexts over this period, the authors advance that tension between goals and constraints often favours the client state and that superpower relations are not those of dominance and subordination but bargaining relations in which clients have great leverage.

The Weapon Wizards

The Weapon Wizards PDF Author: Yaakov Katz
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250088348
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
"A lively account of Israel's evolving military prowess...if The Weapon Wizards were a novel, it would be one written by Horatio Alger; if it were a biblical allegory, it would be the story of David and Goliath." —The New York Times Book Review From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel is leading the world when it comes to new technology being deployed on the modern battlefield. The Weapon Wizards shows how this tiny nation of 8 million learned to adapt to the changes in warfare and in the defense industry and become the new prototype of a 21st century superpower, not in size, but rather in innovation and efficiency—and as a result of its long war experience. Sitting on the front lines of how wars are fought in the 21st century, Israel has developed in its arms trade new weapons and retrofitted old ones so they remain effective, relevant, and deadly on a constantly-changing battlefield. While other countries begin to prepare for these challenges, they are looking to Israel—and specifically its weapons—for guidance. Israel is, in effect, a laboratory for the rest of the world. How did Israel do it? And what are the military and geopolitical implications of these developments? These are some of the key questions Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot address. Drawing on a vast amount of research, and unparalleled access to the Israeli defense establishment, this book is a report directly from the front lines.

The Six Day War

The Six Day War PDF Author: Guy Laron
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300226322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
The author of Origins of the Suez Crisis “mak[es] us look afresh at the events that led to conflict between Israel and its neighbors” (Financial Times). One fateful week in June 1967 redrew the map of the Middle East. Many scholars have documented how the Six-Day War unfolded, but little has been done to explain why the conflict happened at all. Now, historian Guy Laron refutes the widely accepted belief that the war was merely the result of regional friction, revealing the crucial roles played by American and Soviet policies in the face of an encroaching global economic crisis, and restoring Syria’s often overlooked centrality to events leading up to the hostilities. The Six-Day War effectively sowed the seeds for the downfall of Arab nationalism, the growth of Islamic extremism, and the animosity between Jews and Palestinians. In this important new work, Laron’s fresh interdisciplinary perspective and extensive archival research offer a significant reassessment of a conflict—and the trigger-happy generals behind it—that continues to shape the modern world. “Challenging . . . well worth reading.”—Moment “A penetrating study of a conflict that, although brief, helped establish a Middle Eastern template that is operational today . . . The author looks beyond Cold War maneuvering to examine the conflict in other lights . . . Readers with an interest in Middle Eastern geopolitics will find much of value.”—Kirkus Reviews

The Cold War and the Middle East

The Cold War and the Middle East PDF Author: Yezid Sayigh
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191571512
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The Cold War has been researched in minute detail and written about at great length but it remains one of the most elusive and enigmatic conflicts of modern times. With the ending of the Cold War, it is now possible to review the entire post-war period, to examine the Cold War as history. The Middle East occupies a special place in the history of the Cold War. It was critical to its birth, its life and its demise. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it became one of the major theatres of the Cold War on account of its strategic importance and its oil resources. The key to the international politics of the Middle East during the Cold War era is the relationship between external powers and local powers. Most of the existing literature on the subject focuses on the policies of the Great Powers towards the local region. The Cold War and the Middle East redresses the balance by concentrating on the policies of the local actors. It looks at the politics of the region not just from the outside in but from the inside out. The contributors to this volume are leading scholars in the field whose interests combine International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies.