The Middle East has been a central topic of discussion over the past decade, majority of which have been under a negative light. In particular, Saudi Arabia has come into the spotlight due to the recent increase of gas and oil prices. Typically the country has been observed through the lense of Islam and its economics of oil. Aside from these basic components that directly relate to the political affairs of the country internally and internationally, other aspects that also contribute are usually overlooked. Toby Craig Jones in his Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia presents to us a different stance on its history of environmental power as well as the formation of the modern Saudi Arabia state as we know it today. It allows the readers to expand their knowledge of Saudi Arabia politically, through other means that is not just the economics of oil, which is a big driving force in the nations success financially and politically. The literature establishes the importance of the exploration of nature and the influence of science and other contributing international bodies who have helped in the formation of its political authority.
Desert Kingdom begins with the explanation and the history of Saudi Arabia’s difficulties in its pursuit to manipulate and control nature. The scarcity of water in the 1970s was a very serious issue for the nation, which lead its government officials to discuss and propose an idea of towing a 100 million ton iceberg from Antarctica to the the Red Sea coast. Throughout the Kingdoms history the ruling family has more than often depended on their success from oil exports to the west and other parts of the world, however its hard to deny that they evenly depended on water and their ...
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...ge of Saudi Arabia politically, through other means such as science and not just the economics of oil, which is a big driving force in the nations success financially and politically. The literature establishes the importance of the exploration of nature and the influence of science. Toby Craig's study is a great piece that should be referenced and analyzed for those who are looking for an alternative prospect related with science and technology in the present day.
Works Cited
Ismael, Tareq Y., and Jacqueline S. Ismael. Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East. Canada: Routledge, 2011.
Jones, Toby Craig. Desert kingdom how oil and water forged modern Saudi Arabia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010.
Kamrava, Mehran . The Modern Middle East. Third ed. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2013.
Ansary, Mir Tamim. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009. Print.
In his current job, Friedman writes a 740-word column twice a week. It appears in many of the world’s newspapers and on the Web. This latest book, Longitudes and Attitudes, is a compendium of his more recent columns and a diary of supporting incidents. The text relates to the theme that has consumed him in his career: the failure of the Arab nation to develop, democratize, and compete properly with the West. This theme is given point by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the attack of 9/11.
In the novel War and Peace In the Middle East, author Avi Shlaim argues that Arab nations have been unable to escape the post-Ottoman syndrome. In particular he describes how the various powers inside and outside the region have failed to produce peace. While some of Shlaim's arguments hinder the message, I agree with his overall thesis that the Middle East problems were caused and prolonged by the failure of both powers and superpowers to take into account the regional interests of the local states.
Zuhur, Sherifa. Saudi Arabia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 8 Nov. 2013.
Gelvin’s The Modern Middle East: A History and Cleveland and Bunton’s A History of the Modern Middle East are two excellent books that appear to offer two different, and opposing, approaches to studying Middle Eastern history. The Cleveland text focuses initially on the formation of Islam and early Islamic history, placing the emergence of powerful early empires like the Umayadd and Abbasid empires as a continuation of the conquests of Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphate. Throughout most of Parts One and Two, Cleveland and Bunton are particulary concerned with the role religion has played in the region.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
Cultures are unique in many ways; it is irregular to see cultures that are exactly the same as another. While some may borrow parts from neighboring countries or villages, all in all, their unique differences are what make each culture significant. One of the things about the Saudi Arabia and the culture is how derived it is around history, faith, marketing, control, and how westernization affects the country. Other things that will be discussed about the country Saudi Arabia relates to what is important not only to me, but also the way we as Americans culturally identify ourselves with the women of the country.
Although the United Sates and Saudi Arabia present the United States and Saudi Arabia’s relationship as excellent, there are actually two nations who have bitter disagreements but who allies through oil. The only thing that has held this alliance together is the US dependence on Saudi oil. The United States has felt and still fells that it is a necessity to have bases present in the Middle East to protect oil, and silently to protect Israel. The relationship began in 1933 when Standard Oil of California signed an agreement with the Saudi government. In 1943 FDR affirmed that the defense of Saudi Arabia was a vital interest to the United States and moved troops into the region. Future presidents would emulate this declaration and mobilization of troops to Saudi Arabia. Again in 1945 Abd al Aziz, the Saudi king, and FDR would cement this alliance, on a US warship in the Suez Canal. Soon after, airfields were constructed at Dhahran and other spots over Saudi Arabia; beginning a long tradition of US military facilities in Saudi Arabia. Abd al Aziz was the first of his line of successors to meet with US presidents. The relationship was only strengthened with the onset on the Cold war, as the US used the bases in Saudi Arabia as potential air force launch sites to the USSR and constructed more military facilities. In 1941 Harry S. Truman made another assertion of Americas protection and alliance with Saudi Arabia to Abd Al Aziz. Truman stated that “support for Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity and political independence was a primary objective of the United States.” (Countrystudies.com) Another stipulation of this pact was that the US established a permanent military training mission in the Saudi Arabia. That mission lasted until 1992. Soon after the pact between Truman and Aziz was agreed upon the US-Saudi relationship would endure its first major disagreement. On May 14th, 1948 Israel was declared an independent state in the former Arab dominated Palestine. Israel’s independence was backed the United States. Saudi Arabia refused to acknowledge the country of Israel and to engage in any relations with them. The Saudis concerns of the Israel-US relationship were reinforced in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the US sold arms to Israel, but refused to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. In some cases congressional leaders refused to sell arms to Saudi Arabia on the grounds that Saudi Arabia might use them against Israel.
Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. New York: Scribner,
Maynes, Charles. "The Middle East in the Twenty-First Century." Middle East Journal 52.1 (1998): 9-16. JSTOR. Web. 6 June 2011.
The author’s 19th century Gulf region is a rich, cruel and bewildering place. From the luxurious and extravagant palaces of the Sultan of Oman to the infertile and blood spilt plains, where Ibrahim Pasha indicts...
Gerner, Deborah J., and Philip A. Schrodt. "Middle Eastern Politics." Understanding the contemporary Middle East. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 85 -136. Print.
...Arabia is a petrostate. Oil dominates the national economy, international exports, and the nation’s politics. It has greatly shaped what the kingdom is today. Having started out as somewhat of a tourist economy, the kingdom has become a world, monetary power. From their massive amounts of oil and extremely cheap production, the country has been able to gain large amounts of affluence and political power. With its large abundance of oil, the country has been able to profit immensely on sales and spur diplomatic outcomes to their benefit due to the great need of the resource. Without the discovery oil, Saudi Arabia would be of little importance in the modern world, having the Grand Mosque be the extent of its importance. But because of its discovery of oil, Saudi Arabia became of international importance, coming to be one of the greatest assets to world superpowers.
...nd Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 890-895. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
Like Abdelrahman Munif, Kim Barnes’s In the Kingdom of Men incarnates the disastrous consequences of oil wealth. Barnes reflects on the social, cultural and political changes that occurred in Saudi Arabia after oil discovery through the story of a young American woman, Gin, who leaves the dusty farmland of 1960s Oklahoma to follow her husband to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia where she faces a life that she has never imagined to live. “She finds a world of wealth, glamour, American privilege, and corruption” (Barnes, Home Page). In an email to the researcher Kim Barnes comments: