Russia's Middle East Policy: from Lenin to Putin
In: Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1 Sources of Messianism and pragmatism -- 2 The rise and fall of Nikita S. Khrushchev -- 3 Up the down staircase: the era of Leonid Brezhnev -- The defeat that turned into success -- The Middle East in Soviet military strategy -- A semi-victory turned into defeat -- Sliding downhill -- Lost opportunities -- The human dimension -- 4 "Ardent revolutionaries, loyal friends" -- the USSR and the Communist movement -- 5 An exotic flower of Arabia -- 6 Through the looking glass, or the decision-making process -- Quadrangle: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – International Department of the Central Committee – State Security Committee – Ministry of Defence -- Personalities in big politics -- Diplomats: Their pluses, minuses, capabilities -- 7 Afghanistan: Russia's unhealed wound -- "Cannot lose Afghanistan" -- "History gives no answer" -- The logic of the fateful decision -- Seeking a solution -- 8 Messianism in decline: the time of Mikhail Gorbachev -- 9 Foreign policy and domestic policy: the USSR, Israel and the Palestinians -- 10 Storms in alien deserts -- 11 Cursed Nineties -- Ignore not interfere . . . -- The Madrid process and the fate of the "mother of all conflicts" -- Russia–Israel: "Friendship" with reservations -- The minefields of Iraq -- Turkey: a privileged trade partner -- Difficult movement towards each other -- A desirable partner -- 12 To return, but how? -- The attempts to keep Iraq as a partner -- The years and the fruit of real pragmatism: Russian-Turkish relations -- "A good neighbour, but neighbours are not chosen": the Russian Federation and Iran -- Afghanistan: far, but in some ways close -- Russia and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula: certain progress -- A partnership but not an alliance (Russia and Egypt in the 2000s)