Black Wave

Black Wave PDF Author: Kim Ghattas
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250131219
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 “[A] sweeping and authoritative history" (The New York Times Book Review), Black Wave is an unprecedented and ambitious examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Kim Ghattas seamlessly weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to deliver a gripping read of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy. With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. Ghattas introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country’s dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Black Wave is both an intimate and sweeping history of the region and will significantly alter perceptions of the Middle East.

Black Wave

Black Wave PDF Author: Kim Ghattas
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250131219
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 “[A] sweeping and authoritative history" (The New York Times Book Review), Black Wave is an unprecedented and ambitious examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Kim Ghattas seamlessly weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to deliver a gripping read of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy. With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. Ghattas introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country’s dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Black Wave is both an intimate and sweeping history of the region and will significantly alter perceptions of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia and Iran

Saudi Arabia and Iran PDF Author: Simon Mabon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857729071
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
In the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution, relations between states in the Middle East were reconfigured and reassessed overnight. Amongst the most-affected was the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The existence of a new regime in Tehran led to increasingly vitriolic confrontations between these two states, often manifesting themselves in the conflicts across the region, such as those in Lebanon and Iraq, and more recently in Bahrain and Syria. In order to shed light upon this rivalry, Simon Mabon examines the different identity groups within Saudi Arabia and Iran (made up of various religions, ethnicities and tribal groupings), proposing that internal insecurity has an enormous impact on the wider ideological and geopolitical competition between the two. With analysis of this heated and often uneasy relationship and its impact on the wider Middle East, this book is vital for those researching international relations and diplomacy in the region.

Saudi Arabia and Iran

Saudi Arabia and Iran PDF Author: Banafsheh Keynoush
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137589396
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The mesmerizing story of two countries caught in history whose rivalry can destroy the world or restore its peace, this is the first book to untangle the complex relationship of Saudi Arabia and Iran by rejecting heated rhetoric and looking at the real roots of the issue to promise pathways to peace.

Iran and Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia PDF Author: Fraihat Ibrahim Fraihat
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474466214
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Hostile relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are a major contributing factor to political instability in the Middle East. This book argues that rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh is possible and delves into the complexities of managing their long-standing conflict. By interviewing scholars and former policy makers from the Gulf region and abroad, the author draws out the core themes, strategies, and dynamics of the conflict since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 to form a basis of an agenda for achieving peace. The result is a fresh perspective on a dangerous and unpredictable rift that affects not only its primary parties - Iran and Saudi Arabia - but also the geopolitics, economic stability and civil wars of the wider Middle Eastern region.

Cold War in the Islamic World

Cold War in the Islamic World PDF Author: Dilip Hiro
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190050330
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 569

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Book Description
For four decades Saudi Arabia and Iran have vied for influence in the Muslim world. At the heart of this ongoing Cold War between Riyadh and Tehran lie the Sunni-Shia divide, and the two countries' intertwined histories. Saudis see this as a conflict between Sunni and Shia; Iran's ruling clerics view it as one between their own Islamic Republic and an illegitimate monarchy. This foundational schism has played out in a geopolitical competition for dominance in the region: Iran has expanded its influence in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, while Saudi Arabia's hyperactive crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, has intervened in Yemen, isolated Qatar and destabilized Lebanon. Dilip Hiro examines the toxic rivalry between the two countries, tracing its roots and asking whether this Islamic Cold War is likely to end any time soon.

Foreign Policy in Iran and Saudi Arabia

Foreign Policy in Iran and Saudi Arabia PDF Author: Robert Mason
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857725203
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Saudi Arabia, with its US alliance and abundance of oil dollars, has a very different economic story to that of Iran, which despite enormous natural gas reserves, has been hit hard by economic, trade, scientiy c and military sanctions since its 1979 revolution. Robert Mason looks at the effect that economic considerations (such as oil, gas, sanctions, trade and investment) have on foreign policy decision-making processes and diplomatic activities. By examining the foreign policies of Saudi Arabia and Iran towards each other, and towards the wider Middle East and beyond, Mason seeks to highlight how oil policy, including oil production, pricing and security of supply and demand, is the paramount economic factor which drives the diplomacy and rivalry of these two pivotal regional powers. By comparing the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and Iran towards the international community and the US in particular, Mason presents the very different economic and political trajectories of these two countries. In the case of Saudi Arabia, it has long been oil which has given the country importance both within the region and on an international scale. This has made it a vital ally for the West, which culminated in the stationing of US troops on Saudi soil in the run up to the Gulf War of 1991. In contrast, Iran's 'resistance' strategy has, rather than concentrating on relationships with the West, instead looked to a number of other players, such as those in Central Asia and Latin America. Mason uses the Saudi and Iranian cases to illustrate the combination of ideological, geo-strategy and economic resources that have insulated these two regimes against internal and external pressures and resulted in their dominance in the regional system. By concentrating on the economic factors in alliance building and alliance deconstruction, Mason offers vital analysis for researchers of international relations in the Middle East and the processes involved in the formation of foreign policy.

Iran's Rivalry with Saudi Arabia Between the Gulf Wars

Iran's Rivalry with Saudi Arabia Between the Gulf Wars PDF Author: Henner Fürtig
Publisher: Garnet & Ithaca Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
With ongoing international dependence on the Gulf region for oil supplies, information about the roots of the bitter rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia has become increasingly important. This book examines the attitude of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the early days of Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979-80 until the Second Gulf War and its aftermath in the 1990s.

Iran-Saudi Arabia Relations and Regional Order

Iran-Saudi Arabia Relations and Regional Order PDF Author: Shahram Chubin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136043845
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Book Description
Both countries will have strong incentives to test the artificial balance established by the US and from which they are excluded. Each state, in the face of continued embargoes, may find the lure of weapons of mass destruction correspondingly increased.

The Oil Kings

The Oil Kings PDF Author: Andrew Scott Cooper
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439155186
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Relying on a rich cache of previously classified notes, transcripts, cables, policy briefs, and memoranda, Andrew Cooper explains how oil drove, even corrupted, American foreign policy during a time when Cold War imperatives still applied, and tells why in the 1970s the U.S. switched its Middle East allegiance from the Shah of Iran to the Saudi royal family. Amid the oil shocks of the early 1970s, there was one man the U.S. could rely on: the Shah of Iran. The Shah sold us oil; we sold him weapons. But the U.S. and other industrialized economies could not tolerate repeated annual double digit increases in oil prices. During the 1976 election campaign, President Gerald Ford decided that he had to find a country that would break the OPEC monopoly and sell the U.S. oil more cheaply. On the advice of Treasury Secretary William Simon -- and against the advice of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger -- Ford made a deal to sell advanced weaponry to the Saudis in exchange for a more moderate price hike in oil. The Shah's economy was destabilized, and disaffected elements mobilized to overthrow him. The U.S. had embarked on a long relationship with the autocratic Saudi kingdom that continues to this day.

Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf

Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf PDF Author: Faisal bin Salman al-Saud
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857718436
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Great Britain's decision to withdraw its forces from the Gulf was a turning point in the modern history of the Middle East. Now regional players had to find rules of common coexistence. With the US immersed in the Vietnam war and the Soviet Union pursuing a policy of caution, there was no world power waiting to succeed Britain. As a result, Gulf politics "went local". This book examines how Iran influenced efforts to reorder the Gulf's political landscape. Its central argument is that a better understanding of the new Gulf order can be achieved by emphasizing local concerns and the degree to which regional powers influenced the policy of external powers in those times.