departee [none/use name]

valid

Thanks, will check them out!

Tbh the thesis of the book sounds pretty idealist and reductive to me, even if the overview and history might be solid. I was mostly asking for a lib friend and don’t know if they will be able to put things into context properly. As @plinky@hexbear.net said, there’s so much more to each country. Like if before the Iranian revolution the roles were flipped and much of the Arab world was anti-imperialist while Iran had a puppet regime, how does that fit in? Are these sectarian differences or just fleeting political alliances? What are the materialist forces? Are those kinds of questions considered?

Thank you, I’ll take a look!

Does anyone know any good books about geopolitics, recent history, political currents etc. in the middle east?

Sorry if it’s not appropriate to ask here, please remove if necessary

Chinas official policy is not to export revolution and not to interfere in countries internal matters. I feel like their goal is simply to outlast everyone else.

This is of course frustating but it is the path they chose. It’s not just a matter of foreign policy but the direction of the country as a whole. The Soviet economy was decoupled from the west and existed as a parallel system for countries to break free from western hegemony, which is why they could support national liberation movements everywhere. It’s also why after the USSR fell countries across the world dropped Marxism-Leninism for social democracy or worse. China on the other hand is wholly integrated into the global economy and does not have that same capacity.

Revolutionary Iran is explicitly against American-Israeli influence in the Middle East and they have been punished for it with crippling sanctions.

Thank you for your comment. I agree Ansarallah is a beacon in Islam today.

You are entirely correct. However, the start of the Ummayad dynasty was the first Fitna, which is why Shia sources emphasize their brutality more, while Sunni may be ambivalent. Followers of the Ahl al Bayt is a clear reference to Shia Islam though

followers of … the family of Muhammad, rather than the Islam of the Ummayad butchers

I interpreted this as a reference to their Shiism. I dont mean to misinterpret your words

Comrade, why don’t we emphasize their solidarity rather than their sect, just like they emphasize Islamic unity?

Glory to the resistance!

What is the current situation in Lebanon? Where does Hezbollah stand militarily?

In the imperial core, social democracy is a way to bribe and placate citizens, to create a labor aristocracy that benefits from colonial extraction and will thus support it. This is made possible exactly by that extraction, the surplus from the periphery makes up for the lost surplus from the core. It is just a way to redraw the line between the oppressed and the beneficiaries of that oppression.

Historically, like in Greece or Rome, that uplifted citizenry also constituted a much more effective military force to power the imperial expansion that keeps the system going, but I’m not sure if that still applies.

Hamas

Hama*

Thanks, I missed that

Where else? RSF is still going strong right? Or do you mean wrt israel