The Loom of Time, page 50
Stuttaford, Andrew, 18n
Sudan, 128, 148, 220
Suez Canal, 109, 122, 128–129, 140
Suleiman “the Magnificent” (Ottoman Sultan), 77–78
Suleymaniye Mosque, 77–78
Sumer, 237
Sunni Muslims. See also Ottoman Empire
Aleppo Artillery School massacre (1979), 227–229
historic geography and potential of Syria-Lebanon Sunnis uniting, 231–232
ideology of, 306–307
Kurds as, 278–279 (See also Kurdistan)
Lebanon and European colonialism, 217
murder of Iraqi royal family (1958), 253–254
pan-Arab coup in Egypt (1958), 253
of Saudi Arabia, 180–181
“Sunnified” Turkey, 66, 73–74
Sunnis in Iraqi government, 287
Syrian civil war and Arab Spring, 272
Surrender or Starve (Kaplan), 146–147, 147n
Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), 251
Syria. See also al-Assad, Hafez
Aleppo and Damascus as historic rival regions, 216
Arab-Israel War of 1973, 224–226
Arab League on U.S. foreign policy and, 125
Arab Spring in, 112, 229–230, 272
artificiality of state, 232–233
Asad of Syria (Seale) on, 220–224 (See also Seale, Patrick)
Ba‘athism and, 32, 256–259
as bilad al-Sham (nation of the Levant), 224
civil war in, 18, 229–231, 256
coups and governments of (1946–1970), 218–219
Egyptian alliance of, 224–226
ethnicities and religions of, 216
Fertile Crescent geography and ancient history of, 210–212
first impression to travelers, 233–234
French colonialism and, 217–218
Golan Heights and, 226–227
“Greater Syria” concept, 216
Hama massacre (1982), 227–229, 262
historic geography of, 212–216
Kurdistan proximity and groups backed by, 276–281
Landis on Bashar al-Assad’s political survival, 271
pan-Arab nationalism and coups/elections of 1947–1954, 254–255
refugees of, in Turkey, 73
Saudi Arabia and wars with, 118
Sunnis and potential of Syria and Lebanon uniting, 231–232
Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), 251, 251n
Turkey’s foreign relations with, 63, 69, 73, 81, 85–91
Umayyad origins of, 213–215, 237
United Arab Republic and, 255
U.S. policy on civil war, 268, 271–273
T
Tacitus, 49
Tajiks, 323, 326, 328, 330
Takeyh, Ray, 313
Talabani clan (Kurdistan)
Bafel Talabani, 297
civil war (1992–1996), 296
Jalal Talabani, 281, 292–294, 297
PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and Sulaymaniyah, modern-day, 280, 284–294
Sulaymaniyah (modern-day) vs. Erbil urban environment, 294–296
Taliban, 181, 294, 326–329, 332, 337. See also Pathans (Pashtuns)
Al Tamimi, Sarah, 189
Taraki, Nur Mohammed, 317
Tavolato, Umberto, 150
technology and social media. See also Arab Spring
in Ethiopia, 156
Iranian Revolution and, 311
ISIS and use of, 73, 274
postmodern crowd psychology and, 119
religiosity and reaction to, 58
in Saudi Arabia, 199–200
Turkey’s oppression of, 74–75
Theroux, Paul, 33
Thesiger, Wilfred, 96
“thick description,” 95–96, 98, 142, 146, 216, 257
The Thousand and One Nights (Burton’s translation), 41, 173
Tigrayans
Ethiopian famine of 1984–85 and, 147
Ethiopian war of 2020s and, 148–157, 163–164, 167–171
ethnicity of, 143–144
government formation (1991) of, 163
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), 149–150, 155, 163, 166
Tigris river, 53–54, 82, 210, 234–237, 278
al-Tikriti, Barzan Ibrahim, 242
Tillion, Germaine, 320
Tito, Josip Broz, 69, 135, 152, 159, 160
Tolstoy, Leo, 339
Toynbee, Arnold, 8, 10, 23, 30, 32, 177, 245, 250, 259–261
Trabzon (Turkey), modernization in, 77
Transjordan, Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), 251n
Travels in Arabia Deserta (Doughty), 172–175
Treaty of Lausanne, 63
Treaty of Sèvres (1920), 85–87, 279
Tunisia, 12–13, 33–34, 122
Turkey, 45–92. See also Erdoğan, Recep Tayyip
Ankara as capital of, 59, 62, 64, 78–83, 86, 90–91
Arab League on U.S. foreign policy and, 125
Atatürk’s post–Ottoman Empire changes to, 58–65, 68–69, 73–76, 78, 80–81, 85, 86, 90
Azeris of, 91, 301, 302
coup (2016) attempt, 62–64, 67, 71, 84, 91
ethnic Greek population in (1922), 23
Fertile Crescent geography and ancient history of, 210–212
Gibbon on empire as default system of order, 9, 47–56, 72
“Golden Horn” of Constantinople (Istanbul), 45–47, 57, 64
Greco-Turkish war and, 23–25
Greece as western frontier of Ottoman Empire, 28, 31–33
Istanbul, characterization of, 45, 57–58
Kurdistan proximity and groups backed by, 276–281
Özal as transition figure in, 60–61, 63, 66, 70, 75, 82, 90
PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and, 278, 283, 291
Turki Al Faisal (Prince of Saudi Arabia), 203
Twelver Shi‘ites, 306–307
Tyndale, William, 174n
U
Umayyad Empire, 213–215, 237, 306
United Arab Emirates, 161
United Arab Republic, 255
United Nations (U.N.), 4, 328–329
United States. See also Cold War
Afghanistan war (2001–2021), 328–330
American empire decline, 17–18, 270, 330
American view of “AfPak,” 324, 332, 334
Arab oil embargo of 1970s, 179–181
Egypt and foreign policy of, 112, 124–130, 132, 134–135, 140–141
Ethiopia and foreign policy, 168
Gulf War (1991), 66, 124, 194, 197, 241, 242, 254, 281
Iranian hostage crisis, 310
Iran-Iraq War and foreign policy of, 242–243
Iran’s future and China’s relationship with, 314–315
Iraq no-fly zone, 281–282, 286, 291, 298
Kissinger’s role in Middle East, 124, 221–222, 225–226, 340
Kurdistan and foreign policy, 280, 282, 284
Libya and foreign policy, 270–273
Moore on, 98, 100
Pentagon Defense Policy Board, 112
September 11, 2001, attacks, 265, 322
Shah of Iran and rise to power, 310
U.S.-Iraq War (2003–2011), 4n, 19, 62, 86, 124–125, 264–270, 339–340
Vietnam War, 269, 329–330
Ünlühisarcikli, Özgür, 83–84
Uzbeks and Uzbekistan, 325, 330, 336
V
van Dam, Nikolaos, 217, 227n
Verhofstadt, Guy, 18n
Vietnam War, 269, 329–330
Vision 2030 (Saudi Arabia), 200–202, 209
W
Wafd (Egyptian Party), 106–107, 117
Wahhabism, 119, 177–178, 180, 310
al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik (Umayyad Caliph), 213
Wallach, Janet, 257n
Walsh, Declan, 324, 325
War and Peace (Tolstoy), 339
War of al-Basus, 218
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 249–250
water supply
Nile River, Egypt, and Ethiopia, 103, 121, 128–129
Pakistan and, 333–334
Wax and Gold (Levine), 142–146
Weizmann, Chaim, 252n
Western interpretation. See Middle East and Western interpretation
The Western Question (Toynbee), 23
Whittow, Mark, 50n
Wieseltier, Leon, 272–273
Wilayat al-Faqih (jurist) concept, 307–310
Wilson, Woodrow, 117
Wingate, Orde, 144
Winstone, H.V.F., 257n
women’s rights
in Egypt, 114, 115, 138, 139
in Iran, 312, 313
ISIS and, 275
in Kurdistan, 297
in Ottoman Empire, 56
Pathans and Pukhtunwali code of behavior, 325
in Saudi Arabia, 183, 186–190, 195–200, 206
World-Island (theory of Mackinder), 334–338
A World Restored (Kissinger), 340
World War I
Ottoman Empire’s collapse and, 6, 13–18, 23, 58
Paris Peace Conference, 106, 117, 251n, 252n
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Lawrence) and, 175–177
Treaty of Sèvres (1920) and Kurds, 85–87, 279
World War II
Cold War as extension of, 335 (See also Cold War)
Farhud (Iraqi pogrom, 1941), 246, 257–259
Worth, Robert F., 113
Wright, Robin, 310
X
Xenophon (Greek commanding officer), 277
Y
Yassin, Hassan Youssef, 204–205
Yazid (Caliph of Umayyad Empire), 306
Yeats, William Butler, 34
Yemen, 118, 125, 185, 194, 223, 321
Yom Kippur War. See Arab-Israeli War (1973)
Young, Brian, 50n
Young Turks, 24–25, 65, 68
Yugoslavia, 69, 135, 152, 154, 159, 160
Z
Zaghlul, Saad, 105–108, 117, 130–131
Zahir Shah, Mohammed (King of Afghanistan), 317, 320
al-Za’im, Husni, 218
Zenobia (“Queen of the East”), 7
Zeyrek Mosque (Pantokrator Monastery), 45, 46
Zia-ul-Haq, Muhammad, 326
Zimbabwe, 157
Zoroastrianism, 214, 260, 305
Zwemer, Samuel, 172
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
BY ROBERT D. KAPLAN
The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China
The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power
Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age
The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government’s Greatest Humanitarian
The Return of Marco Polo’s World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century
Earning the Rockies: How Geography Shapes America’s Role in the World
In Europe’s Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond
Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific
The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground
Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground
Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia, and the Peloponnese
Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos
Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus
