The Middle East Journal articles from June 2008

The Middle East Journal archives from June 2008

Editor's note.
June 22, 2008... As this issue was going to press, crude oil prices were at historic highs, and the price at the pump was much on the minds of anyone dependent on hydrocarbons for transportation. Saudi Arabia had announced an intended boost in production,...

The Iraq war, Turkey, and renewed Caspian energy prospects.
June 22, 2008... Many have linked the US-led invasion of Iraq to its oil resources, leading some observers to question Caspian energy prospects. This article analyzes how the Iraqi occupation and Caspian oil prospects have been inter-linked, via the evolution...

Resistance, jihad, and martyrdom in contemporary Lebanese Shi'a discourse.
June 22, 2008... This article examines the contemporary Shi'a understanding of jihad, martyrdom, and resistance through an analysis of the writings of two leading Lebanese Shi'a scholars: Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah and Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din. This article...

Updating Yemeni national unity: could lingering regional divisions bring down the regime?
June 22, 2008... Since the summer of 2007, Yemen's southern provinces have witnessed widespread peaceful protest against the government in Sana'a. In order to understand the significance of this opposition movement, it is necessary to look back to unresolved...

The political and social identities of the Palestinian Christian community in Jordan.
June 22, 2008... This article focuses on the Palestinian Christian community in contemporary Jordan, tracing the evolution of the community's social, religious, and political identities since 1948 to the present day. Incorporating material from interviews...

Iran's 1953 coup revisited: internal dynamics versus external intrigue.
June 22, 2008... Fifty-five years ago a coup d'etat ended Prime Minister Muhammad Mosaddeq's government in Iran on August 19, 1953. Numerous books and articles have analyzed the event but often have overlooked Iran's domestic dynamics. What is presented is...

Chronology: Jan. 16, 2008--April 15, 2008.(Arab-Israeli Conflict)(Chronology)
June 22, 2008... Arab-Israeli Conflict See also Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestinian Affairs Jan. 16: Eighteen Palestinians were killed and scores injured as Israeli troops advanced inside Gaza during the deadliest outbreak of violence between the...

Interfaith Dialogue in the Region and Beyond.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque, by Sidney H. Griffith. Princeton, NJ and Oxford, UK: Princeton University Press, 2008. xiii + 179 pages. Bibl. to p. 212. Index to p. 220. $35. Muslims, Christians, and the Challenge of Interfaith...

How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan, by Roy Gutman. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2008. xvii + 353 pages. Epilogue to p. 262. Dramatis personae to p. 270. Notes to p. 298....

Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution, by Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Mahjoob Zweiri. London, UK and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007. xix + 215 pages. $45. This monograph sets out its aim in a...

Young and Defiant in Tehran.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Young and Defiant in Tehran, by Shahram Khosravi. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. xii + 176 pages. Notes to p. 189. Gloss. to p. 191. Bibl. to p. 204. Index to p. 221. $45. Academic interest in youth politics,...

Yigal Allon, Native Son: A Biography.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Yigal Allon, Native Son: A Biography, by Anita Shapira. Trans. by Evelyn Abel. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. x + 322 pages. Notes to p. 361. Bibl. to p. 367. Index to p. 384. $49.95. Yigal Allon, an important...

The Kurds Ascending: The Evolving Solution to the Kurdish Problem in Iraq and Turkey.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Kurds Ascending: The Evolving Solution to the Kurdish Problem in Iraq and Turkey, by Michael M. Gunter. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xiv + 138 pages. $69.95. Professor Michael M. Gunter is well-placed to publish this upbeat and...

Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood Is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood Is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East, by Quil Lawrence. New York: Walker & Co. 2008. xvi + 322 pages. Maps. Photos. Key events to p. 331. Notes to p. 350. Sel. bibl. to p. 354. Acknowl. to p....

The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatial Policies, Modernity and War.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatial Policies, Modernity and War, by Joost Jongerden. Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 2007. xxx + 319 pages. Annex (maps) to p. 333. Bibl. to p. 354. $176. During the struggle...

The Libyan Paradox.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Libyan Paradox, by Luis Martinez. New York and Paris: Columbia University Press, in association with the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris, 2007. xiii + 158 pages. Notes to p. 178. Chron. to p. 180. Index to p. 182....

Contemporary Islamic Conversations: M. Fethullah Gulen on Turkey, Islam, and the West.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Contemporary Islamic Conversations: M. Fethullah Gulen on Turkey, Islam, and the West, ed. by Nevval Sevindi and with an intro, by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'. Trans. by Abdullah T. Antepli. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2008. xiv + 148 pages. Notes to p....

The Moral Resonance of Arab Media: Audiocassette Poetry and Culture in Yemen.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Moral Resonance of Arab Media: Audiocassette Poetry and Culture in Yemen, by Flagg Miller. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. xxiv + 461 pages. Figures. Maps. Photos. Appends. to p. 472. Bibl. to p. 493. Index to p. 525. $29.95...

The Rules of Barat: Tribal Documents from Yemen.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Rules of Barat: Tribal Documents from Yemen, by Paul Dresch. Sanaa, Yemen: Centre Francais d'Archrologie et de Sciences Sociales and Deutches Archaologisches Institut, 2006. iii + 99 pages. Supplementary documents to p. 114. Maps to p. 66....

Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West, by Hugh Miles. New York: Grove Press, 2005. 448 pages. $24. If one were to quibble with Hugh Miles's masterly, elegant treatment of the Al-Jazeera network,...

Arab Folklore: A Handbook.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Arab Folklore: A Handbook, by Dwight E Reynolds. Westport, CT and London, UK: Greenwood Press, 2007. xiv + 226 pages. Gloss. to p. 232. Bibl. to p. 241. Web resources to p. 245. Index to p. 258. $55. Arab Folklore follows the same format as...

Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Artillery of Fire: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East, by Ussama Makdisi. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008. 262 pages. Illust. $35. Lucid and elegantly written, Ussama Makdisi's Artillery of Heaven...

Ruling But Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Ruling But Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey, by Steven A. Cook. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. xiii + 148 pages. Notes to p. 182. Index to p. 189. $55 cloth; $24.95 paper....

The Absence of Grand Strategy: The United States in the Persian Gulf, 1972-2005.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Absence of Grand Strategy: The United States in the Persian Gulf, 1972-2005, by Steve A. Yetiv. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. xi + 197 pages. Notes to p. 229. Bibl. to p. 244. Index to p. 250. $55 cloth; $25...

The Other Shiites: From the Mediterranean to Central Asia.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Other Shiites: From the Mediterranean to Central Asia, ed. by Alessandro Monsutti, Silvia Naef, and Farian Sabahi. New York: Peter Lang, 2007. 262 pages. Contribs. to p. 266. $78.95. Western media and some academic writings assume that...

Desiring Arabs.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Desiring Arabs, by Joseph A. Massad. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007. xiv + 418 pages. Bibl to p. 441. Index to p. 453. $35. Joseph Massad's text offers a critique of the universalizing liberal argument on sexual freedoms in...

Recent publications.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... AFGHANISTAN The History of Afghanistan, by Meredith L. Runion. Westport, CT and London, UK: Greenwood Press, 2008. xix + 134 pages. Timeline. Notable figures to p. 140. Gloss. to p. 145. Refs. to p. 150. Index to p. 155. $45. Part of the...

Communications.(Letter to the editor)
June 22, 2008... The JOURNAL welcomes comments from its readers. All communications should be addressed to the Editor and bear the full name and address of the writer. A selection of those received will be published periodically in these columns. When a comment...