Suchergebnisse

Discusses foreign relations between Iran, the US, and the European Union; focuses on European-Iranian relations during the Khomeini regime and after 1997, US-European divergences on policies, including economic sanctions, and the "Mykonos affair" and British author Salman Rushdie. Sept. 1992 assassination of Iranian opposition activists, including leaders of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, in Berlin's Mykonos restaurant, and death sentence (fatwa) against Rushdie.

Examines relation of Islam, fundamentalism, and the West in context of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks; argues that the economic, political, and social crisis of the Muslim world is also a perversion of those who, like Osama bin Laden, use Jihad, religious terrorism, and violence in defense against western hegemony. Summaries in English and French p. 316-8.

Discusses results of UN involvement in military missions, problems of peace-keeping, command and control, use of force, peace-building, and the reluctance of states to contribute troops and money. Summary in English p. 255.

Traces history of the crisis involving political violence from radical Islamist groups bent on overthrowing the secular, military-backed government, 1980s-1990s; Algeria. Summary in English p. 232.

When the Arab Spring broke out, the United States was in a quandary over how to handle the crisis in its attempt to balance its moral obligations and ideals without undercutting its strategic interests and those of its close allies. Flaws in US diplomatic approach have contributed to one of the most serious foreign policy crisis for a US administration to date with consequential upheaval and erosion of the US-built balance of power. The reactions and policy responses of the Obama administration highlight the difficulties in grasping with the new reality in the Middle East and in enunciating a policy platform that could combine American interests and values.