Category: World Civ-Middle East

Dirk Vandewalle on Gadhafi's World

Dirk Vandewalle, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, gives an inside look at Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his 42-year rule. Vandewalle has studied and written about Libya since the 1980s. In 1986 he lived in Libya for 14 months, the only Western scholar there at the time.

Note: sorry about the 10 minute discussion of Gadaffi’s wardrobe. But it is kind of interesting insofar as his attire is symbolic of his self perception and eccentricity.

Guided questions are here.

Video–Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East

Kingmakers is the story of how the modern Middle East came to be, told through the lives of the Britons and Americans who shaped it. Some are famous (Lawrence of Arabia and Gertrude Bell); others infamous (Harry St. John Philby, father of Kim); some forgotten (Sir Mark Sykes, Israel’s godfather, and A. T. Wilson, the territorial creator of Iraq); some controversial (the CIA’s Miles Copeland and the Pentagon’s Paul Wolfowitz).

All helped enthrone rulers in a region whose very name is an Anglo-American invention. Co-authors Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac elaborate on these ideas and take questions on their book.

Watch it here (70 minutes)

Learning to Live With Radical Islam

The militants are bad people and this is bad news. But the more difficult question is, what should we-the outside world-do about it? That we are utterly opposed to such people, and their ideas and practices, is obvious. But how exactly should we oppose them? In Pakistan and Afghanistan, we have done so in large measure by attacking them-directly with Western troops and Predator strikes, and indirectly in alliance with Pakistani and Afghan forces. Is the answer to pour in more of our troops, train more Afghan soldiers, ask that the Pakistani military deploy more battalions, and expand the Predator program to hit more of the bad guys? Perhaps-in some cases, emphatically yes-but I think it’s also worth stepping back and trying to understand the phenomenon of Islamic radicalism.

Read on from Fareed Zakaria and respond to these Qs

Why Do They Hate Us?

To dismiss the terrorists as insane is to delude ourselves. Bin Laden and his fellow fanatics are products of failed societies that breed their anger. America needs a plan that will not only defeat terror but reform the Arab world

To the question “Why do the terrorists hate us?” Americans could be pardoned for answering, “Why should we care?” The immediate reaction to the murder of 5,000 innocents is anger, not analysis. Yet anger will not be enough to get us through what is sure to be a long struggle. For that we will need answers. The ones we have heard so far have been comforting but familiar. We stand for freedom and they hate it. We are rich and they envy us. We are strong and they resent this. All of which is true. But there are billions of poor and weak and oppressed people around the world. They don’t turn planes into bombs. They don’t blow themselves up to kill thousands of civilians. If envy were the cause of terrorism, Beverly Hills, Fifth Avenue and Mayfair would have become morgues long ago. There is something stronger at work here than deprivation and jealousy. Something that can move men to kill but also to die.

Read the rest of the Zakaria piece here and respond to these questions

Israel-Palestine Assignment One

Your task is to use:

  1. The Timeline
  2. The Maps at the BBC website
  3. The Camp David Accords
  4. The Clinton Proposal
  5. The Mitchell Report
  6. The Performance Based Road Map for Peace

In order to:

  • Analyze the timeline and the maps. You need to understand the evolution of this crisis.
  • Use specific examples to fill in the grid . You may download the grid here
  • Respond to the “Questions for Discussion” sheet. You may download the sheet here

After which point you will:

Use specific evidence to construct a 1-2 page single spaced essay which describes how and why the Israeli-Palestinian border has been one of turmoil and conflict.