Category: Required Response Questions

Please take some time and watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech found at this link: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/event.php?id=182875  In his speech he makes several statements which express his viewpoint of Israel’s claim to the land – listen for specific examples and think about why he uses certain language and why he chooses particular examples.  If you have time I also highly recommend watching the 2 Senators (Graham & Schumer) – and think about where the US military may be heading next.

Today’s discussion reminded me of my favorite academic of all time Dr. Barnett Rubin.  Rubin is a world-renowned expert on Afghanistan and has written numerous books and articles on the subject.  The following excerpts are from Chapter One of “Blood on the Doorstep: The Politics of Preventive Action”:

“In those regions where peace prevails, its pillars are strong states engaged in accountable governance that regulates transnational actors as well as purely domestic ones.  The absence of an accountable state in Afghanistan enabled al-Qaida to root itself there.” (Rubin 2002:6)

“In my experience, what is most difficult to convey about foreign conflicts is not the foreign cultures, beliefs, or hatreds that make others different from us; rather it is the radically different circumstances that make people just like us behave differently.  It is those situations – desperate impoverishment, fear for one’s life, collapse of institutions that once made sense of existence and gave a sense of security, the threat that not using violence will leave one prey to the violence of others – that propel people into bloody conflict.  And these situations are not as far from us as we sometimes think.  Often enough, when tracing back the links that lead to violence, one finds global institutions – arms dealers, banks, markets, corporations, intelligence agencies, governments, international organizations – whose immense power and resources form the context for the decisions of local actors.”  (Rubin 2002:8, emphasis added)

By now, I suspect you have some ideas about why I chose the Burke & Yaghoubian text in the first place: because CONTEXT matters.

Many of you attended the Arabian Nights festival held on campus this week and enjoyed good food, good music and Arabic Poetry.  I’m so pleased with the enthusiasm I’m seeing in all of you.  Our attendance at lectures, films and other activities can only enhance the opportunities to learn in this course.  Please feel free to comment on your experience with ‘immersion’ in readings, films, maps, current events and any of the other paths to learning that have been employed in this course.  What has been MOST useful to you?  Most fun?  Most interesting?  Enhanced your learning?

Several of the readings and films we’ve read and seen present women in ways that shatter the stereotype of the powerless, Middle Eastern female.  What examples have been most important  and instructive for you? 

Several students attended Tuesday’s lecture at the Jefferson, but came away with different impresssions.  Please take some time to summarize and reflect on what you learned at this lecture (being sure to respect the opinions of others in the process).  Thanks again to Chandana and the Office of International Education for this great opportunity.

In his recent text, “The Modern Middle East”, Mehran Kamrava states:

“It is often suggested in the Western press that Middle Easterners either must side with the forces of growth and progress (rashly equated with westernization) or remain in the clutches of the dead hand of tradition.  This view is based on a notion of non-Western cultures as static and unreflective, stifled by authoritarian doctrines and unchanging consensus on social, moral, and intellectual issues.  The hand of tradition, however, turns out to be more animated (and more manipulated) than one might suppose.  Even in the most stable societies, cultural consensus is partially offset by ambiguities within the traditions and by diverse strategies of interpretation.”

What examples can you think of (from readings, film, or class discussions) that break down notions of tradition?

Page 208 of the Ebook states:  "The possibility that countries which are riven internally by religion, sect and tribe will descend into anarchy and civil war, as in Lebanon, generates the kinds of circumstances in which dictatorship can also flourish, as in Syria and Iraq." This statement makes several assumptions about the causes of political conflict in the Middle East.  What are some of the assumptions made?  What is another viewpoint?  What do you think?

The dominance of petroleum and natural gas in the Middle East has many impacts beyond the obvious economic ones.  What are some other regional issues (policital, social, environmental) that might be related to the oil industry (see pp 198-202 of the Ebook)?

Burke/Yaghoubian Chapter 5

Ahmad’s story helps us to understand the challenges RAPID economic and social transformations create for the people living there.  Can you think of a time or place in history that underwent a similar transformation?  What do you believe will happen to the relative importance of kinship and familial relationships in the Kuwait of the future?  What strategic or other reasons can you think of to explain why Kuwait (a former province of Ottoman Iraq) has been given autonomy (and why do some believe it ought to be reunited with Iraq)?

What aspects of Huntington’s and Said’s essays did you find compelling?  Which aspects did you find particularly troubling?  Do you find yourself listening to the news with a more critical ear?  Are you questioning the ‘facts’ when they are presented to you?