Ajami's Method
by Russell A. Berman via The Caravan
Aspects of Fouad Ajami’s method are inimitable, or nearly so, inseparable from the distinctive personality of this one remarkable thinker. His reflections on the politics of the Middle East always depended on his empathetic understanding of the cultures, the complex histories, the literary achievements, and the ever-present currents of faith. Add to this his specifically Lebanese perspective, indisputably rooted in the region but also always with an eye to the sea, to the West, and to a very different political-cultural world.
by Russell A. Berman via The Caravan
Aspects of Fouad Ajami’s method are inimitable, or nearly so, inseparable from the distinctive personality of this one remarkable thinker. His reflections on the politics of the Middle East always depended on his empathetic understanding of the cultures, the complex histories, the literary achievements, and the ever-present currents of faith. Add to this his specifically Lebanese perspective, indisputably rooted in the region but also always with an eye to the sea, to the West, and to a very different political-cultural world.
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Introduction To Crosswinds: The Way Of Saudi Arabia
by Cole Bunzel via The Caravan
The publication of Crosswinds: The Way of Saudi Arabia has been a long time coming. Fouad Ajami’s intimate portrait of Saudi society and politics, drawing on his visits to the kingdom in the 1990s and early 2000s, was finished in 2010. The manuscript was submitted to Hoover Institution Press that year, and in the coming months it would be edited and typeset.
by Cole Bunzel via The Caravan
The publication of Crosswinds: The Way of Saudi Arabia has been a long time coming. Fouad Ajami’s intimate portrait of Saudi society and politics, drawing on his visits to the kingdom in the 1990s and early 2000s, was finished in 2010. The manuscript was submitted to Hoover Institution Press that year, and in the coming months it would be edited and typeset.
Walter Russell Mead writes: Many Arab leaders fear that Turkey will use the brotherhood’s networks to build support for Ankara’s regional ambitions. Iran can only call on the minority Shiites for religious support, but Turkey can attract supporters from the Sunni majority. Ironically, the current Arab nightmare is that the next U.S. administration won’t support Israel enough. Regional leaders fear that Team Biden would ignore Israeli as well as Arab objections, embracing Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, despite Mr. Erdogan’s ambitions, and dropping sanctions against Iran as part of a return to the 2015 nuclear deal. – Wall Street Journal
Ken Pollack reviews David H. Rundell’s “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads” and Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck’s “Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power.” He concludes that while the Saudis may be problematic allies, the US is often the most difficult ally of all. Read the review here.
In a Dispatch op-ed, Danielle Pletka argues that while a rekindling of the Democratic love affair with Tehran promises rough seas ahead in the Middle East, the larger problem may be that both a Trump second term or a Biden administration will likely wash their hands of the region, feeling that the mission as they defined it has been accomplished. Learn more here.
In a National Interest op-ed, Michael Rubin notes that the threat of the embassy closure does not only fulfill the aims of Iran and the militias but also weakens Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi at a critical time. Pompeo’s threat, bluff or not, has reverberated across Baghdad. Continue here.
Martin Kramer on the Middle East
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