Attempt to Uproot Sunni-Arab Influence: A Geo-Strategic Analysis of the Western, Israeli and Iranian Quest for Domination - Softcover

Kéchichian, Joseph A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845198549 ISBN 13: 9781845198541

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2017

Synopsis

In the aftermath of popular uprisings that unleashed the quest for freedom, Arab governments scrambled to limit sectarian divisions, though much of these efforts came to naught. Regrettably, weak governments fell into carefully laid traps, aimed to divide and rule. Protracted wars further destroyed Arab wealth and cohesiveness, and Sunni communities saw their power bases marginalized. On cue, and predicted by some commentators, extremist movements like the so-called Islamic State emerged, targeting Sunnis with extreme violence.

In 2014 Nabil Khalifé, an established Lebanese thinker, published a widely praised thesis that identified the root causes of renewed sectarian tensions at a time when confrontations polarized awakened Arab societies. Based on an extensive discussion of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah, Khalifé advanced the notion that the revolution was not “Islamic” but an “Iranian-Shi'ah" rebellion that ended the Pahlavi military monarchy, and that the post-2011 Sunni–Shi'ah struggle was planned by leading Western powers, including Russia, to preserve Israel and impose the latter's acceptance in the Middle East as a natural element.

In this translation of Istihdaf Ahl al-Sunna [Targeting Sunnis], Joseph A. Kéchichian analyses the fundamental questions raised by the author to better place the current sectarian collision in a geo-strategic global perspective. Based on the book's avowals of how the world's three monotheistic religions perceive each other and “Political Sunnism,” Kéchichian assesses Henry Kissinger's famous appellation of the “Middle World” that houses significant and indispensable oil resources, and why that allegedly makes it – “Political Sunnism” – dangerous. In a comprehensive introduction to the translation, he describes various initiatives that led global powers to check the undeniable force of “Political Sunnism.”

About this title

About the Author:

Joseph A. Kéchichian is the author of eleven published books, including Faysal: Saudi Arabia's King for All Seasons (2008), Succession in Saudi Arabia (2001), Power and Succession in Arab Monarchies, (2008), and Legal and Political Reforms in Saudi Arabia (2013). His most recent publications are 'Iffat al Thunayan: An Arabian Queen (2015), From Alliance to Union: Challenges Facing Gulf Cooperation States (2016) and the forthcoming The Nationalist Al Sa'ud Advisor: Shaykh Yusuf Yassin of Sa'udi Arabia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1845198549
• ISBN 13: 9781845198541
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224