Globalization

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Rory Miller

Once just sleepy desert sheikdoms, the Arab Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait now exert unprecedented influence on international affairs--the result of their almost unimaginable riches in oil and gas. In this book, Rory Miller, an expert in Gulf politics and international affairs, provides an accessible account of the achievements of these countries since the 1973 global oil crisis. He also investigates how the shrewd Arab Gulf rulers who have overcome crisis after crisis meet the external and internal challenges of the onrushing future.The Arab Gulf region has become an East-West hub for travel, tourism, sport, culture, trade, and finance. But can the autocratic regimes maintain stability at home and influence abroad as they deal with the demands of social and democratic reform? Miller considers an array of factors--Islamism, terrorism, the Arab Spring, volatile oil prices, global power dynamics, and others--to assess the future possibilities,

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Miriam Joyce

Based on a variety of international sources, this book explores the modern history of Bahrain and its international relations. Focusing particularly on the country's relations with Great Britain and the United States, Joyce's history investigates also Bahrain's relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the USSR. Placing the events of today in context, this book covers the history of tension between Sunni and Shia Bahrainis and concludes with the still-unfolding events of the Arab spring.

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Olivier Roy

In this book, Olivier Roy, Europe's leading scholar of political Islam, argues that the consequences of the "war on terror" have artificially conflated conflicts in the Middle East in such a way that they appear to be the expression of a widespread "Muslim anger" against the West. But in reality, there are no us and them. Instead, the West faces an array of "reverse alliances" that operate according to their own logic and dynamics. The West supports General Musharraf in Pakistan, yet his military intelligence services are in league with the Taliban; in Iraq, the United States shores up a government that is closely linked to its archenemy, Iran; Iraqi Kurds, allies of the Americans, give sanctuary to the PKK, an adversary of a fellow NATO member, Turkey; while the Saudis support the Iraqi Sunnis who are, in turn, fighting Coalition forces. As if these issues were not complicated enough, the ever-worsening Shia-Sunni divide now threatens to disrupt any future strategic planning the West might attempt in the Middle East. Roy unravels the complexity of these conflicts in order to better understand the political discontent that sustains them. He also emphasizes that the war on terror should not be regarded merely as a geopolitical blunder committed by a fringe group of neoconservatives. It is instead a problematic outgrowth of our deeply rooted Western perceptions of the Middle East, including the belief that Islam, rather than politics, is the overarching factor in these conflicts, thus explaining the West's support for either would-be secular democrats or (more or less) benign dictators. Roy's conclusion argues that the West has no alternative but to engage in a dialogue with the political forces that truly matter—namely the Islamo-nationalists of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Desmond Ball & Hamish McDonald

For over two decades the deaths of five newsmen in Balibo, East Timor has nagged at consciences in Australia, Britain and New Zealand. This is a story of lies that reveal the workings of a clandestine system of deceit and names those involved in a 24-year trail of cover-ups and denials.BLOOD ON WHOSE HANDS?Australian diplomats in Jakarta and Canberra or Australian defence intelligence operatives? Senior ministers in the Whitlam government or senior public servants?At first light on 16 October 1975, Indonesian special forces stormed the East Timor village of Balibo, killing five newsmen. A quarter of a century later, the fate of these unarmed civilians continues to nag at consciences in Britain, New Zealand and Australia.Did highly-placed Australians secretly 'sign off' on Indonesia's plan to invade its neighbour? Did they know that the newsmen were targets? Did they choose to leave these young men to the mercy of the Indonesian Army?In this book, a long-term analyst of Indonesian defence and foreign policy and a world-renowned expert on military intelligence uncover what Canberra has been hiding.Here is a story that follows a trail of cover-ups and denials which reaches from Australia's capital to Jakarta... to five corpses in a small village in East Timor.'A thoroughly researched indictment against successive Australian governments and the senior bureaucrats and intelligence elite of Australia, for connivance in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and for a quarter century of cover up.'-The Hon. Justice John Dowd AO, President, Australian Section, International Commission of Jurists'This is an account of how the Australian secret intelligence community and pliant politicians conspired to suppress the truth about the murder of five TV journalists in Timor on 1975. Long overdue, convincing, restrained and truly shocking, it is a 'must read' for anyone concerned about the future of open government.'- Phillip Knightley, author of The First Casualty, a history of war correspondents.