Post by jgaffney on Apr 22, 2011 13:00:04 GMT -5
There was a very interesting piece in the weekend WSJ about The New Cold War:
For three months, the Arab world has been awash in protests and demonstrations. It's being called an Arab Spring, harking back to the Prague Spring of 1968.
But comparison to the short-lived flowering of protests 40 years ago in Czechoslovakia is turning out to be apt in another way. For all the attention the Mideast protests have received, their most notable impact on the region thus far hasn't been an upswell of democracy. It has been a dramatic spike in tensions between two geopolitical titans, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The article goes on to explain the current tension in the Middle East as the newest chapter in the long-running struggles between Shia and Sunni Islam. Iran and its followers are squarely in the Shia camp, while Saudi Arabia and its friends are defenders of the Sunni faith.
Another item I read recently was "The Crisis of Islam," by Bernard Lewis (available at the County library). Mr. Lewis is a renowned scholar of the Middle East and has many books on the subject. Mr. Lewis explains that the major difference between Islam and the other Abrahimic religions (Judaism and Christianity) is the interconnection between faith and government. Christianity, you'll recall, was originally prosecuted by the state, until it finally won over Constantinople and has coexisted with the state in peace. Islam, on the other hand, was born in the war between Mohammed and his followers, and the tribes that were running the Arabian peninsula. Ever since Mohammed's victory at Mecca, Islam has defined religion as superior to the state. Hence, any attack on a Muslim state is seen as an attack on Islam and is met with religious furor.
In the current violence in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia sees the issue as a Shia uprising that must be contained. That's why Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain, to checkmate what they saw as an encroachment by Iran onto the Saudi peninsula. The Saudis were also dismayed at Obama's encouragement of the uprising in Yemen, not because it might bring democracy, but because Iran is the one feeding the rebels.
All of this becomes much more important when you realize that one fifth of the world's oil is shipped through the waterway between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Calling it the Persian Gulf rankles the Saudis, who still consider it the Gulf of Arabia.
Read the WSJ article and learn some history.
For three months, the Arab world has been awash in protests and demonstrations. It's being called an Arab Spring, harking back to the Prague Spring of 1968.
But comparison to the short-lived flowering of protests 40 years ago in Czechoslovakia is turning out to be apt in another way. For all the attention the Mideast protests have received, their most notable impact on the region thus far hasn't been an upswell of democracy. It has been a dramatic spike in tensions between two geopolitical titans, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The article goes on to explain the current tension in the Middle East as the newest chapter in the long-running struggles between Shia and Sunni Islam. Iran and its followers are squarely in the Shia camp, while Saudi Arabia and its friends are defenders of the Sunni faith.
Another item I read recently was "The Crisis of Islam," by Bernard Lewis (available at the County library). Mr. Lewis is a renowned scholar of the Middle East and has many books on the subject. Mr. Lewis explains that the major difference between Islam and the other Abrahimic religions (Judaism and Christianity) is the interconnection between faith and government. Christianity, you'll recall, was originally prosecuted by the state, until it finally won over Constantinople and has coexisted with the state in peace. Islam, on the other hand, was born in the war between Mohammed and his followers, and the tribes that were running the Arabian peninsula. Ever since Mohammed's victory at Mecca, Islam has defined religion as superior to the state. Hence, any attack on a Muslim state is seen as an attack on Islam and is met with religious furor.
In the current violence in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia sees the issue as a Shia uprising that must be contained. That's why Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain, to checkmate what they saw as an encroachment by Iran onto the Saudi peninsula. The Saudis were also dismayed at Obama's encouragement of the uprising in Yemen, not because it might bring democracy, but because Iran is the one feeding the rebels.
All of this becomes much more important when you realize that one fifth of the world's oil is shipped through the waterway between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Calling it the Persian Gulf rankles the Saudis, who still consider it the Gulf of Arabia.
Read the WSJ article and learn some history.