Middle East Poli quiz 2

Libya discussion

-gasi; Italy took Libya from Ottoman Empire, Qadaffi over-threw Idris government/monarchy. NATO intervened in '11 because thought Qadaffi to air strike on his protestors

The United Arab Emirates consists of how many emirates?

7

Which of the UAE's seven emirates is the largest and richest?

Abu Dhabi

290 people were killed in 1988 when a warship fired an anti-aircraft missile that shot down an Iranian civilian airliner. What flag did the warship fly?

American

Leap Day and the Iranian Calendar

Calendar didn't account for leap days, went 120 years without doing so and then added 30 days at the end of the 120 years to fix it. Wish people to live to 120 to experience the 30 days of holiday/weekend

What member of the Gulf Cooperation Council initially suggested that its oil tankers be reflagged with the Stars and Stripes for protection against attack?

Kuwait

Name any of the seven emirates comprising the UAE except for Abu Dhabi or Dubai.

Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah, Umm al-Quwain

Most workers in UAE come from what region?

South Asia/ Indian Subcontinent

briefings 9

+ Morocco - journalist on trial for speaking out against judge ruling which is criminal, contradiction to code that decriminalizes opposition. + Oman- US congress asked to put more money in US base because its a strategic position near strait of hormuz and Chinese base in Djibouti. Funny because China built this port and now it is the US's + Tunisia - 2 weeks ago, coalition gov approved by parliament of 5 parties. face negotiations for IMF loan. current ends in April, money needed. market liberalization still struggling post-'11. + Israel - 3rd election in last year. Lakud party won and so did their allies. 3 seats short of majority ruling coalition. Netanyahu could lose PM status of another elections. may try to force minority coalition to keep 4th elections from happening. minority is risky because rest could win vote of no confidence + Libya - UN special envoy to Libya resigned, leading to less/no more negotiations between GNA and LNA. GNA announced they are shifting to offensive strategy. peaceful solution seems unlikely.

briefings 7

+ Saudi Arabia- development between Saudi coalition v. Yemen Huthis. human rights trial for civilian deaths from airstrikes. will there be any punishments? + Egypt- Mubarak died at 91 from mystery surgery. El Sisi only at procession, not funeral. Acquitted post-oust, mixed reaction with death. statement from government says he is a war hero but not president + Qatar- UEA, Bahrain, Egypt restored postla services w/Qatar. has been blockaded bc supporting terror and meddling in domestic affairs. Oman is ultralight as stop for all mail going to Qatar now. other elements of the blockade remain + Pal Territories- Trump's peace plan, Israeli PM continuing w/ building in Jerusalem. military flare ups w/ jihad PIJ groups from Gaza. Israel responded w/ air raids in Gaza and Syria + Iraq- anti gov protests continue. Security forces opened fire in Baghdad, 1 dead. Parliament vote to approve Allawi's cabinet, vote didnt occur because half of parliament didn't show, no vote means so Allawi and no PM designate

briefings 8

+ Yemen - March 1 Huthis took Al-Hazem, rebels to threaten the only safe area. Huthis in Iran support them, provide logistical support to the Saudis. + Lebanon - gov collapsed and the new gov struggles to gain legitimacy. PM announced pay off debt debate, yes or no? poor or reduce potential for future investments? US invests in trade, ag, and security + UAE - Dubai ruler lost claim to keep divorce private, two daughters had tried to escape and haven't been seen since. this event allows for human rights watch to gain insight into family + Kuwait - 56 new Coronavirus cases. thinking to have come from Iran. bans visas and travel to Iran. stock market and oil prices dropping. US citizens living there, eco crisis, needing US to help? + Syria - regime strikes city, strikes Turkish checkpoint and turk president threatens to strike back. inaccurate numbers? inflating, tensions high. US to back NATO Turkey? to send air defense? Turk brought it to NATO, they said no and Turk opens European boarder to put stress on EU

brefintings 6

+Syria - feb 20 2 Turks soldiers injured and 5 killed worker for peace and aid in region. Turks killed 50 Syrians as response. Escalation is bad bc 900,00 refugees fleeing, etc. +Libya - still seeing civil war with Turkey supporting gov with military support. 2 Turk soldiers killed i Libya. impact on foreign policy and everyone involved +Jordan - king met with Qatar, motivated by economic relations. Jordan getting Syria refugees leading to Saudi foreign aid dependance. relations mean less dependence. Qatar offering jobs to Jordanians. shift relations of GCC and Qatar +Iran - feb 21 elections, victory for conservatives and hard liners but low voter turn out, 46%. Ayatollah Kholemeni said it was bc coronavirus, but people say they boycotted because guardian council disqualified moderate and reformist candidates +Yemen - Huthi rebels control west, blocked UN aid because they didn't want control agencies thinking to cut aid because of demands, 70% of the population will go hungry +Algeria - 1 year since protests initially led for president to resign but mainly over corruption, better living standards, release of political prisoners began. President agrees to all demands and to amend constitution to lock them down

Islam timeline (the Sunni, Saudi, Arabian version)

-570 AD Mecca (oasis and crossroads), Mohammed born. Dad already dead ,shortly after mom dies. Orphan and grandpa who worships Hubal takes him in (pagan idol in Ka'aba). Gpa thought about sacrificing Muh's dad to Hubol, but instead killed 100 camels. Bin Laden said Hubal of Modern age is the US, meaning US is against everything Muslims stand for. 8 yr old Muh sent to uncle Abu Talib, a merchant and involved in upkeep of Ka'aba, bc gpa dies. Both dudes in Ka'aba a lot. Cousin born there, Ali, first person he sees in Muh. close relationship, like son to Muh and he later marries Muh's daughter. Gets married at 25 to love of his life, wealthy 40 yr old widow Khadija. Had 13 wives at one point -610 AD Moh goes off to meditate in cave, thinks going cracks because has vision of word of God, maid/someone there with Khadija is christian and says he is describing Arch-Angel Gabriel (God's right hand angel). For the rest of his life, hears the word of God, can't write so recites it verbatim and others write it down. all revolations collected to form Quran. organized by longest to shortest chapters. Exact word of God, never to be translated, is a blueprint for society. Saudi Arabia says Quaran is constitution, already have rules in place for society and how to interact w/ God. -620 Moh goes on "night journey" on white horse to farthest mosque, offered alc or milk and picks milk bc muslims can't drink alc. Is at Al Axa Mosque in central Jerusalem. has large flat stone in the middle where he accented to Heaven, meets all kinds of figures. Described Jesus as red skinned with lots of moles, and God. debate between them about how often to pray a day, from 50 times down to 5 with help from Moses telling Moh to keep negotiating. returns to Mecca, describes where he went. Friend, Abu Bahkar knows where he went and confirms story bc he's been there before. Abu now a special friend and first convert to Islam with place in inner circle. -622 Moh flees Mecca to Medina, flight today called Hijrah. start of islamic calendar -623 Moh builds an army to conquer Mecca, arranged marriage with Bhakar's daughter Aisha, 6, when Moh is 53 to solidify relations -630 army of 10-12,000 warriors attack, conquer and unite Mecca under banner of islam. spread islam immediately. Aisha dies 2 years later in 632

UEA profile

-7 emirates had an Omani exclave w/in their northern region, donut shape. counter-enclave in the middle if Nahwa. -Abu Dhabi is its largest emirate. country is 32,000 sq. miles, could fit into Iowa 1.6-7 times. 10 million in population. only about 1 mil are Emirati citizens. Rest are foreign workers almost all from Indian subcontinent and also a large Philippino population. workers are heavily male. population is bulging at 30-50, working age bulge, hardly any above 75. -Dubai feels like South Asia because of the large population there. classmate says they are hidden from Emirati citizenry? -Abu Dhabi has 90% of the country's oil. UEA is 5th largest oil exporter. 8th in production. huge in international trade. Abu Dhabi also has most political power -Dubai has largest city with 2.5 million people. doesn't have much oil wealth, their wealth comes from port/free trade/banking/tourism/commerce. -Sharjah (meaning Shark), Ra's al-Khaimah means cape tent -before oil, it was pearling and pearl diving (most valued object in the world for a while) -Dubia is a huge training city, banking center, transshipment port, free trade zone w/out customs, tourism, and real estate. world class airline, Hihad and Emerates with most modern aircraft. hub for trans-Eurasian flights. has this world map, can own "states" thing lol. has world's largest building; the Bourge (meaning tower) Kalifa (the emir of Abu Dhabi bc he funded)

Iraq/Iran War and US involvement (Iraq reading)

-8 year war between it and Iran started over shared waterway/border dispute. Iraq didn't want to share so it invaded Iran because Saddam though Iran post-revolution was unstable and too concerned with revolutionary uproar. Invaded the Shia Arabic province with lots of oil. Didn't work out well, Arabs fought them back and war dragged on for 8 years. *Like WWI in that it had trench warfare, chemical weapons, use of young men as human waves to clear mines.* -US sided with Iraq because Iran 444 day hostage crisis just ended and over through shah so it was the lesser of 2 evils. *US sold them dual use military equipment that could be used for both civilian and military and intelligence*. Iraq was taken off of terrorism sponsor as a political effort to aid them -began as Mesopotamia- the land between two rivers; the Tigris and Euphrates. WWI it was part of the Ottoman empire, then invaded by British with Indian who fought the Arab/Ottomans soldiers. British won bt bloody mess. Monarchy post war, -'58 Ba'ath party (the Arab Renaissance Party) ruled between monarch and Saddam

Regional Muscle/ UAE military

-Arab spring concerned UEA with Muslim Brotherhood and it attempted to establish deep roots across the region. Leaders are strict Muslims, not as much as Saudi (1 mil Christians in UEA). Brothers are dangerous as well as radical, Salafi movements. Needed military capability. -have good allies; France, UK, US -post spring, want to forward national security posture. '14-15 with ISIS, US led with airstrikes and UEA was second in number of them because they have a good air force. hated ISIS -modern air craft and facilities, let the uS use them. US AWACS planes there for electronic warfare. US air force has a swimming pool with giant logo on the ground. 5,000 service members there at any one time. Dubai port sees more US ships than any other in the world. naval facilities as well as air -has 64,000 in UAE military -every male in conscripted at about 18, hs grads serve 16 mo, non grad serves 24 months. forge common UAE identity and experience. women can volunteer. national building exercise.

UEA history

-British were training in the Persian Gulf in 1800s, riddled with pirates. Lots of slave trading. Big issues for UK, began to negotiate truces with powerful Sheiks in region. Truces meant UK would protect them and the trucial states, the states with truces, would promise to fight slavery in the region under their control -1968 British withdraw, left w/o protection, state negotiate to unite. They invite Qatar and Bahrain, and at the end 6 agreed to come together. Ra's al-Khaymah was also there and refused to agree. Independent for a year and then Iran seized their lands, which led to Ra's joining UEA for protection.

The Gulf War

-Colin Powel, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his *Powel doctrine* defined the war. He and several other senior military officials were in 'Nam and learned lessons. Doctrine said that if the US was asked to engage, it would come in with overwhelming power, smash the enemy, and leave. After Powel was chair, he was Secretary of State and came in 3rd in the '16 election when he won 3 electoral votes from Washington state. -28 country coalition to fight Iraq; Egypt and Saudi Arabia sent troops, France and Britain as well. PLO, Jordan, and Yemen side with Iraq. -plan was to giant left hook and trap Iraqi army in Kuwait. The marines charged Kuwait City, they did it too fast or hook was too slow? Left space for Iraqi army to flee back to Iraq. US worried about Saddam's Scub missiles chemical capable and now worried about is Saddam would survive the war? Israel hit w/ misses and not attack? US talked Israel down, and protected it with US missile patriot batteries (only kind of worked, missiles broke up when re-entering the atmosphere). Kept Israel out of the coalition and it stayed together. Saddam fired missiles at Saudi Arabia, needle in a haystack hit on barracks with national guard from Pennsylvania. In total war, US lost 300 people, many from this Scud attack. -lasted 100 hours. but Saddam was left as Sunni hero and president, still a threat, and US still engaged. -couldn't take Saddam out because Bush went to UN, liberating Kuwait was goal, not regime change. Bush's main focus in 1990 was end of Cold War, German reunification and getting them apart of NATO. Bush mad at Saddam because ruined post-cold war new world order of peace

UEA government

-Dubai and Abu Dhabi dominate politically. federation let by Federal Supreme Council made up of the 7 Emirs. The president of the FSC is always from Abu Dhabi, PM that runs gov from Dubai. Abu and Dubai w/ veto power -federal national council has 40 members, 20 are from appointments, rest are indirectly elected. is mostly advisory and can be ignored -Emir/Sheikh Kalifa calls the shots (Emir of Abu Dhabi) president worth 15 bil

Iraq politics today

-Prime Minister designate Allawi. the previous one quit over protests against the governmental system that puts elites in charge to act only in wats that benefit them. Government has first assess to money in this renter state. Parliament couldn't pick so the president picked, Allawi has until end of feb to put together a cabinet and get it approved by Parliament (it is not successful, he resigned). The Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish sectarian blocs are fighting for more influence in this cabinet. Compromise seems unlikely. -Parliament has so many parties because of the proporaional representation party list system that can't/won't agree. -parties split by regional, ideological, personal ties, ethnic ties which all influence voting behavior. Odd coalitions are formed in parliament, blocs want positions in cabinet to get money and jobs for their people. Views on US and Iran also influence votes. Parties are *patronage machines* meaning they are run by and for elites. Students and common citizens are left up in arms -*legitimacy comes from being right and good that they rule. comes about through 1. popularity 2. paternity (father before him, monarchies) 3. performance (grow economy, authoritarian regimes, keep people happy)*

Libya 2012

-US Embassy in Benghazi attacked. Ambassador Chris Stevens killed. Rice said re-action to anti-Islamic video in US. Republicans see as terrorism. Stevens always was going out of the office to help Libya on the ground. a good guy

UAE foreign policy

-active in Libya bc didnt want ISIS making hold of Tripoli gov. '14-15 air strikes on little ISIS talking hold in Tripoli. Allied with warlord Haftar fighting the government and ISIS. provides drones, ammo, and money -Yemen, northern part taken over by Shia Huthis backed by Iran. Supports southern group wanting south Yemen secession and independence. -Sacotra, their strategic island off of Yemen and also has Assab base in Africa. they w/drew from sacotra bc UN mandate, with focus shifting elsewhere -going into Yemen, the military wasn't ready. Contracted Eric Prince, Betsy DeVoss' brother, with blackwater security to help them because the columbian war left Prince's 1800 fighters free to go help and protect UAE gov and military facilities. When the military got into shape, the columbian fighters left -has the presidential guard made up of the best 5,000 headed by Australian general, Mike Hindmarsh, coup proofed the government by not appointing greedy family member of president. many counter terror operations in Yemen. -UEA joint aviation command headed by US's General Stephen Toumajan

Iraq political history

-before WWI, part of Ottoman Empire that British Lawrence of Arabia with Hashemites of Hejaz to help overthrow it. British promised Arabs a kingdom (Hejaz as calif that was invaded by Abd Aziz Ibn Saud). Hashemites' sons given kingdoms in Jordan, and Faisal given Syria, France protested, and then taken out and made king of Iraq. -through '58 the Hashemite kingdoms remained. Faisal II becomes king after I's dies. -military was inspired by Nassir's coup, they rose up and killed II and his family in the '58 Arab Nationalist Army Officers (they were sunni and sunni was the minority and now they were in power) -privileged minority under Ottoman control, with ousting came Sunni Army Officers and intellectuals that formed the Ba'athist party.

Libya 2014

-beginning of the 2nd civil war, things got really bad. Dueling headquarters. Parliament and Sarraj gov moved east towards Hafter and his gov of national unity that formed national, strong army. 2 sides are fighting for power -GNA, Sarraj leads this government of national accord. weak international militants fight for them. Backed by Turkey, UN, Qatar, and Italy. controls almost no one w/ little territory -LNA Libyan national army under Haftar, supported by Egypt, France, UAE, and Russia. -Haftar is an American citizen. general during Qadaffi era when Libya tried to take Chad, he was abandoned by Qadaffi. Chad released him and he settled in Virginia, worked w/ CIA to overthrow Qadaffi. Has two America in Virginia. Once was visited by American Embassy Norland of Kensett IA in Benghazi in feb 2020. is reinforced by mercenaries from Russia who are great at shooting down drones and snipers

Libyan Profile

-big 10 states+Dakota are still smaller than Libya. small area with majority of population living near sea. 2/3 of N.Dakota's oil is the same as Libya's oil economy. "Somalia with oil". 6-7 mil population. almost all desert. old volcano in middle is a strange oasis in middle of country. Green Mountains on the coast. Ottomans didn't invest much in Libya, pirates were a problem. US not having it, navy sent in 1804 by Jefferson-Steven Decator was the naval hero of the incident, Iowa county named after him. Italy picked on sick man of Europe Ottomans and went to war in 1911-12 for Libya and conquered it. libyans resisted then, led by Oman Mukhtar, a religious man, Sufi sect, wore plain wool garment, seen as mystical and magical bc spin around and dance: "whirling dervishes". led the Senusi order of Sufis (seen as mystical and heretical). fought for years against the Halians. Mukhtar was the hero of Libyan resistance -libya also has Salafis (Salif meaning forefather, pure bias Islam, v conservative) -Qadaffi spent millions, about 34 mil to make a movie about Oman, called Lion of the Desert and released it on the anniversary of his hanging, hanging interrupts soil going to heaven and is bad in the Muslim religion. movie only made 2 million -italians deat Saludi in Green Mountains, Divided country into three sections; *Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan*. 120,000 settlers to come and settle near coasts. "stole best parts of Libya." 1912-34 -Cyrenaica based on Cyrene, Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross -WWII Halians tried to take Suez, pushed back. Senusi helped fight back with British. Rewarded w/ independence -49-51 Emirate of Cyrenaica, recognized by the British but not UN. other 2 wanted him to rule them as well, now all kingdoms united forming the United Kingdom of Libya -US had base there w/ 15,000 there, closed when Qadaffi came to power

Iraq military

-brute force comes about when there is no political solution. -military fought twice, was disbanded, rebuilt all by US. -in 2014, all seemed well until ISIS took Mosul, Iraq military didn't give much of a fight and fell apart/collapsed. What saved Iraq wasn't the army but the two armed groups that arose; *Peshmerga (Kurdish militia in north that protected cities and territories)* and a *Shia militia called the PMF (numbered about 15,000 untrained patriots that Iran helped to train, arm, and fund)* US reshaped military to train and work with Iraqi (numbered 64,000). Kurdish militia still unofficial (like the national guard w/ regular day jobs), few on active duty at one time. However, the PMF is legitimized, takin un and now under Iraqi military, now largest and more powerful group. Many are Shia, some Turkmen (trained by Turkey). - PMF Deputy leader is al-Muhandis and he is the head of Iraq's PMF committee. Also commander of Katai'b Itezbollah, a US noted terrorist group. Muhandis is a former member of parliament, Iraqi citizen, orchestrated attacks on US embassies in Kuwait City in '83and Bagdad in '19 and rocket attack on American bases. US bombed the Katai'b's HQ, killing 25. Muhandis attacked Baghdad on Jan 3rd, and was in Baghdad with Solomani when the US strikes took place, killing both men -the PMF is an issue for the US being it a terroist org under the Iraqi military/government

Libya's Qadaffi

-came into power in '69 when he overthrew monarchy. nationalist. ruled for 42 years, wrote green book (free in the color of Islam and Africa, green soothing to the eyes in desert) in contrast to Moa's red book. Stream of consciousness with nationalism, utopianism, Beduan supremacy (nomads who "had it right"). interest in living in tents. direct people's democracy, organized people's committees to decide things, anti-beauracracy -adopted lots of kids, one being Hana. -wore picture of Omar surrendering to Italians before they hung him when he met with Italians. -all female body guards -got cosswise with US and others in 80s because claimed gulf of sidra, but it was international waters. Qadaffi made line of death in the water. '81 US sails in, Libyans send 2 USSR fighter bombers, one was shot down. Tensions rise during Reagan. Libyans as bad guys, which is how they were the bad guys in back to the future. -'86 another freedom of navigation by US. Libya fires missiles and send 2 naval ships. US bombs radar sights and missile sights and sink ships in return -bomb in German disco w/ Americans by Libyans. US F-1-11 bombers strike at Libyan airfare base and Qadaffi's tent. Claimed Hana, 18 month old was killed, but not true and just propaganda in this Operation El Dorado Campaign -US thought he learned his lesson, all was quiet for 2 years until Libyan agents got explosives on plane over Scotland. killing 260, 190 were American -France was also tanti-qadaffi, their flight was blow up top. Qadaffi used terrorism to strike at enemies. Says he blew it up, gave over people who did it, also surrendered WMDs and chemical weapons and helped US fight terror in '03 because Islamists were after him too.

Desert Storm reading

-free; 80 Iraqi planes defected to Iran to escape and save themselves. Saddam shot Scud missiles to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel kept out of coalition to keep rest of Arabs happy. Saddam wanted to pull Israel in to make war about Palestine. U.S. failures were they let Iraqi troops go free from Kuwait, didnt get a formal declaration of surrender, and let Iraq fly helicopters thinking it was to fly out wounded but really they were putting down a rebellion (p252). 3 consequences of desert storm; Saddam framed as the hero of the Sunnis, US could not disengage, Saddam left as a threat to peace and security. -gasi; '03 Saudi didn't play much of a role in invading Iraq because of post 9/11 climate that strained relations with US and Saudi Arabia

Kuwait readings

-free; Iraq took Kuwait because small, oil rich. Kuwait was driving up oil prices, driving oil prices down and hurting Saddam, who was indebted to the Kuwaits who won't forgive the debt. also see Kuwait stealing oil from shared field. Invasion didn't go well, plan was to take out royal family but the fled. Kuwait resistance failed within hours and Iraq begins to loot Kuwait of everything. Saddam considered Kuwait a province and annexed it. US wasn't too concerned, thought it was a bluff. doubted invasion and hoped negotiations would resolve. US forces were in Saudi bc US convinced Saudi that Iraq would continue on and take their oil production and be the biggest producer. Saddam was an ally, now an enemy bc Bush saw chemical weapons use in Kalabja on the rebelling Kurds. -gasi; Palestinians living in Kuwait forced to exile because Arafat and PLO sided with Iraq, 400,000 expelled. They had been there to work in Kuwait alongside the Indians and south asians. *Bidune limbo* meaning the stateless residents in Kuwait. Bidune means "without state", there are many Bidunes in the police force, collabs with Iraq because almost no resistance in '90. '05 women got the right to vote, '06 succession crisis when the national assembly declined successor Shaykh Sa'd, replaced with successor from Jabar side of the family rather than Sabah, showing a trend for more Jabar side rulers?

Kuwait defense

-miserable when it counted most in '90. since then, US and UK and France sell them weapons. implemented conscription of men, they all must serve on year in the military. -post Iraqi invasion, depend of goodness of international system. Sabah family said they needed help. Sent little girl to Congress to testify about baby incubator-gate, looting, torturing Iraq . it was all a lie but ti worked and got public opinion to support stabilizing and liberating Kuwait. Iraq was stripping Kuwait of everything, but not killing babies like that. girl was daughter on some important dude, wasn't even in country when it happened. was successful in getting America into war mode. -Kuwait depends on strong powers to protect it. Has 16,000 American troops there now, which is x3 as many as we have in Iraq. -is a non-NATO major US ally

Briefings 5

-morocco; protests over Trumps' ME plan and gov's response who didn't take firmer stance and side w/ Palestine -oman; attended Music security conference, discuss military ships in strait of hormuz where oman's territory goes halfway into the strait. Concern over Iran closing it, but they can't without military response from west as 30% of oil passes through it -tunisia; fired UN ambassador for opposing peace plan at UN discussions as the government promotes peace plan. Tunisia as friend to US and Trump. divides Tunisia from Arab neighbors. branded as traitor and untrustworthy -iraq; anti government protests put up 5 candidates they prefer over Alawi. mostly students protesting. there was a clash with a shia cleric where a few were killed

Kuwait politics

-national assembly can legislate, Emir can veto but leg. can override veto. assembly must confirm Emir, hasn't always like in '06. also can interpellate ministers meaning to grill him in public, right to remove minsters -gov can also shut down and call for elections. elections occurring later this year. 26 in gov are pro-gov (the tribal leaders and 6 Shia members) and 24 opposed gov (16 Islamists and 8 liberal secular, Arab nationalists). -currently 1 female in government, used to have 4 -freedom house ranks Kuwait as in the top 5 of most free countries in ME. country has 7 Christian churches

Saudi political economy and defense

-oil with sticks and carrots. gov very generous to those who agree, but also has ability to repress when need be. -military headed by crown prince Moh as the minister of defense., very expensive weapons that haven't been used very effectively. -'15 got involved in Yemen on the side of the gov, not gone well. Is yeman saudis 'nam?Moh is unable to shake the conflict. -ministry of national guard; defend status quo, same size as army. used to be called office of jihad and mujahideen (meaning struggle and holy war until '54). role is to defend the family. anti-coup, protect stratigic facilities, Mecca and Medina. Previous king Abdulla led it for 3 years, tribal fighters employed here. -ministry of interior; police, border control, intelligence. committee for promotion of virtue and prevention of vice enforces religious laws and practices. 4000 religious police. few responsibilities. irritant to society. supports fam, oil funds. -army is the first part of security apparatus

Islam info

-required to give to the poor, fast, pray 5 times a day, repeat and believe in creed, and take pilgrimage. -worlds second largest religion with 1.8 bil today -Umra is off season Hajj, suspended by Saudi gov because of corona. Saudis conquering Hejaz back when made the custodians of two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina. partnership with Wahab and Saud family cements power and gives family legitimacy in their rule

Arab Spring in Libya

-starts in 2010 with protests and armed uprisings. Qadaffi and military attacked rebels, recaptured armed rebellion cities. Only Benghazi was left, focused on it. West becomes concerned. Swiss reports there is a massacre planned. US haunted by '94 Rwanda. Susan Rice sat on her hands in 94, feels bad, she and other convinced we needed to do something radical. UN responsibility to protect, R2P, of '05 led US and others to seek collective action. UN resolution to take necessary all measures sets Libya up for regime change. -UN members led by NATO to take Qadaffi. france bombs the most, US sends 2 billion, a win on the cheap. Obama admin very proud. but now sees it as biggest mistake bc didn't prepare for the day after when gov was out. -"Obama's debacle" many deaths were combatants. Qadaffi wasn't being bad up to Benghazi, Libyan excites spread propaganda to bring international attention and were successful. hindsight is 20/20, mistake was intervention -this was the 1st Libyan civil war -have a lot of oil, they can catch up with that money and repair state

Oman

-tribes involved in government. -Dhufar is the southern most province with most autonomy because Maxist rebels fought there and gained that. -when book was written, ruler was Qabus Sa'id Al Sa'id and he had succession issues because he had no heirs (probs gay and died from AIDS). -GCC is Gulf Cooperation Council where members get along except for Qatar. -Ibadhi Muslim, nor Sunni or Shia makes them neutral in that conflict and gives Oman role as negotiator/middle man role -In Arab Spring, gave a few reforms but crackdown -is a jr. renter state, can't buy people off -political parties banned, meaningful local government, appointed higher gov by Sultan -ruler/successor suspected cousins to be named, and a cousin was - Haithan Bin Tar was sworn in after Qaboos died. was an Oxford and Cambridge boy, head of vision 2040 campaign for reform

Saudi Arabia - house of Saud

-was a powerful tribe for a long time. 1902, Abudalaziz captured Riyadh in central Saudi, conquered Hijaz in '25. '32 declared kingdom. had 45 legitimate sons w/ 22 different wives (never counted daughters, 1000 grandsons and 2,000 great grand). full brothers are the closest than they are with half brothers. sons of favored wife are better placed in gov. All 6 kings have been brothers. McMull met Prince Bendar, ambassador to the US. Great grand daughter Reema (Bendar's daughter) is current Saudi embass to US. family rules the country. keeping family together is crucial. Salman passing kingship to son - Mohammed. Moh fought corruption in a move to show large fam he had the power to rule. Moh is current minister of defense. got family members together and demanded missing money be returned in hotel.

Kuwait demography

-widespread disagreement about the population, CIA says 3 mil while Kuwait gov said 4.5 mil. both agree the pop is 30% Kuwaiti and 70% guest worker, meaning the CIA says there is less than 1 mil Kuwaitis, which doesn't sound good so it is in the gov's interest to inflate the number to look stronger and bigger -of actual Kuwaiti pop, 30% Shia, rest split between Saudi and Iran. Pro-gov and pro-monarchy. -Al Sabah family rules. Kuwait means "little fort" because family migrated there and built a little fort. pearl diving used to be huge with Al Sabah followers until Japanese cultured pearl broke pearling industry in the gulf by 1920s and Kuwait turned to trade. Sabah maintained power. 1899 Mubarak the Great sought protection from Britain, rather than Ottomans and was a British client for a bit. Protectorate ended in '61 and Kuwait had independence -'14 Emir Sabah al-Sabah won UN Humanitarian Leadership Award for Syrian refugees. generous guy with oil money and gave 300 mil to refugees

In failed states, 4 bad things happen

1. separatism (but oil keeps them together because money in ME) 2. Intervention (GNA v LNA and their allies) 3. flight of refugees 4. extremism (ISIS had a huge presence in Libya)

Qatar

100 miles long, 50 wide. 2/3 pop in Doha, low lying sandy desert. 20% pop is Qataris, rest are Asian or Arab workers. 80% sunni, 9% christian. extensive educational system. 70% college grads are women. oil and natural gas exporter, as well as fertilizer. welfare state with revenue. ruled by Al Thani family which is largely unconsolidated with different opinions in power with lots of internal instability. coups of dads and cousins. current ruler, Shaykha Tamim's dad abdicated. liberalization slow. free elections, no political parties. Al Jazeera doesn't criticize Qatar or ruling family. little political opposition and Arab Spring only affected foreign policy. social divides between Qataris and foreign workers, human rights abuses to workers. Al Thani and business no longer divided work hand in hand. tribal divions among 18 of them.

If you wanted to see the tallest structure in the world, to what city would you travel?

Dubai

Iran contra discussion

Iran contra (contras were revolutionaries v commies '85-6 in Nicaragua) was selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages in Beruit, money raised and sent to Contras. Iran was fighting Iraq, where US was wanting dual use equipment and intel to Iraq. Reagan with cold war lens, national secretary took the fall and Reagan avoided impeachment. Beruit hostages were US professors, Cha station chief. Reagan wanted hostages out, a hostage crisis brought him into office and could take him out. Stories of hostages being raped made Reagan desperate. Some dies but rest were released by Hezbollah. Reagan called Qadaffi a barbarian and flakey

In 1987 the USS Stark was struck by French-made missiles, killing 37 Americans sailors -- what country carried out this attack?

Iraq

Italy's role in Libya

Libyans by boat trying to seek asylum in Italy and EU. causing major refugee problem. Italy trains and funds the Libyan coastguard to keep people from going to Italy. 40,000 refugees n camp in Tripoli after they are sent back. was recently bored by UEA.

Oman History

Muscat in 1500s, Sultans got into a competition w/ Portugal for maritime trade in Arabian Sea. -Omani foothold is island of *Zanzibar* (in modern day Tanzania, Sultan lived there for a while as there was a short-lived sultanate there) for slave trade for slaves from Africa. slavery was outlawed in 1970 -also owned *Port of Guadar* (a piece of the Chinese belt and road initiative) that was sold to Pakistan in 1950s -has an exclave, the *Musendam Peninsula* at the Strait of Hormuz, which is a very strategic location. Geologically like a Nordic Fjord with the mountains with canyons going right into the sea. huge ecological and geological interest -*island of Masriah* with an old British airfare base. Today American munitions store house. The base on the island was used for operation eagle claw into Iran for hostage crisis.

Ships sailing from the Indian Ocean into the Persian Gulf must pass through what strait?

Strait of Hormuz

Freedman's chapter is called The Tanker War. In what body of water were tankers being attacked?

The Persian Gulf (or Gulf or Arab Gulf)

Iraq ethnic groups (that don't get along)

last count was in '87, all estimated sizes -Shia in south -Sunni in middle -*Kurds* are sunni in NE and want to ceed from Iraq to make own state but not yet implemented. dependent on oil revenue from south which means loss of money. split into 2 different parties based in two families, KDP and PUK -*Turkmen* are 1-2%, small minority. important in the city of *Kirkuk* that sits over a sea of oil. 40% fo Kirkuk is Turkmen, rest are Kurds and Arabs. Kurds see they should annex it to finance their independent state separate from federal region in the north, which upsets Arab nationalists and turks. lost Kirkuk in '17 and their chance at a independent state with it -*Assyrians* are christian, Aramaic speaking groups (speak the same language as Jesus), mostly in the north -*Yazitiz* have their own religion, speak Kurdish. ISIS hit them hard. their women sold as sex slaves, men murdered, fled. rescued by Peshmerga. Attacked because ISIS saw them as devil worshipers because they see devil as fallen angel who was forgiven and given control by God. Use peacock to represent stewards of the earth by God. Devil+peacock worshipers with little else known about them. ---*identity in Iraq, everyone has many at different times that matter more than others. Being Arab or Muslim are both very strong identities*

3 ways legitimacy comes about for a gov

legitimacy comes from being right and good that they rule. comes about through 1. popularity 2. paternity (father before him, monarchies) 3. performance (grow economy, authoritarian regimes, keep people happy)

Kuwait economics

no more pearls, all petroleum: 92% exports, 90% of income. 2.8 mil barrels per day. 9th in world behind UAE in production. 6th in oil resources. oil is expected to last. exports earn them 55 mil a year to the government, which they use to subsidize everything: free edu and stipend to go to school, free healthcare, old age pension, no income tax, everyone guaranteed a job, housing subsidies. -600 bil in investment portfolio. could stop pumping oil and get a 5% return on investments and make 30 mil a year. will survive if oil runs out

Iraq economy

oil. 4th largest producer (behind the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia), oil is 99% of their exports. being in government means access to oil money, very sweet gig with lots of corruption to stay in it

Reported abuse of young boys working as camel jockeys in the UAE led the boys to be replaced. Who or what replaced them?

robots

Oil

used to be cheap in US, today it is cheaper than other developed countries. -oil used to come from whales in 1800s. thousands of years ago in ME it was olive oil for light, religious ceremonies, and oil lamps. Rock oil in 1859 Pennsylvania . rock meaning "petra" and oil is "lium". Petroleum is rock oil after whales died off and their oil got expensive. oil used for kerosine lamps. cars in early 1900s -foundation of international economy. US is the biggest producer. US was dependent on ME oil for decades. -oil increased in price during Yom Kippur War of '73 because Arab countries embargoed countries supporting Israel, including US, UK, Canada, and Netherlands. Rose 400% overnight. oil supply reduced by 4%, but increase in price for oil on world market was pushed up bc of panic. -US gets our energy from petroleum (36%), natural gas (31%), and coal (13%) from fracking and horizontal drilling which has driven the price down. -renewable still small, 11%, biofuels at 20% like ethanol, biomass waste is 4% (leftovers from ethanol production, "distillers dregs" bottom of barrel leftovers. -miscanthus the new coal? grass to burn for fuel, planted in hilly regions and along waterways were other crops aren't suited. Iowa City power plant used miscanthus, wood pellets, and natural gas for energy. grass is hard to handle, but it is the new coal? hasn't caught on yet, still burning carbon and has carbon emissions. -oil used in gasoline, jet fuel, etc. US net energy exporter. in the future, will it be a net importer again when our oil runs out?