Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry That Unravelled the Middle East

Läsvärd för alla som vill få bättre förståelse för regionen.

Excellently written! A must read for anyone interested in the region.

Very well detailed and frightening window into history and how it sadly repeats itself. When we see what happened again in Nov 2021 it's chilling how such an amazing people were given hope for 10 years and it was all gone in a flash and the black wave swept in.

In all honesty, the book is not quite what I was expecting, but it turned out to be better! I was anticipating an IR analysis of proxy conflicts, somewhat similar to Christopher Phillips 'The Battle for Syria', but with details about Iran backing Hizbollah in Lebanon and Syria and the Houthis in Yemen, with the Saudi's backing alternative militants and regimes across the regime to counter Iranian influence. While these conflicts are mentioned, this is not what the focus of the book. It is not a traditional IR analysis in that sense. However, do not let that put you off this book.If anything this book has made me realise that a traditional IR analysis alone is insufficient to account for the progression of this rivalry and the current dynamics in the Middle East. This book delves into the ideologies within the various strands of political Islam and how from 1979, the Iranian Revolution and Saudi insecurity over their custodianship of Mecca led to increasingly conservative policies and a proliferation of Salifist ideology and sectarianism. At times some of the links between events in Pakistan or Egypt seemed a bit tenuous for the type of analysis I have been accustomed to in literature on this region, but they serve as examples of how Tehran and Riyad's respective drives towards religious piety transformed the narrative of political debate in the Middle East, culminating in the present conflict zones in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.If you are looking for a detailed deconstruction of foreign meddling in Yemen or Syria, this is not your book (though they are both referenced). However, I would still recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn about the region and about political Islam. The book in written in an eloquent and captivating style, with local stories and local perspectives. I could not put it down!

Some countries really have a lot to answer for the dilemma the innocent in the Middle East constantlly face. It is very easy to judge from a country afar, but peoples lives are constantly torn apart from no fault of there own. This book seeks to explain the Black Wave and other Middle East events that emminate from the year 1979. A great read, it really did open my eyes and people who think they know the region and its problems should take the time to absorb this book by a truly great author.