 All right, welcome back and welcome to some who happened to come in the second hour so I Was talking about this PowerPoint that I'm going to use as a sort of backgrounder And I'll be sending this as an email attachment. So Please take notes of things important points that I mentioned here, but this is pretty much an introduction to the politics of the region and We talk about more contemporary issues as I said you can go as many Thousand years as you like in order to understand the Middle East you you may still not understand even after an extensive study so We talk about one of the important things and This is kind of you know the Headings these the issues that I'll be talking well at least for the purpose of this Week and possibly next Tuesday. We'll be talking about these things I mentioned here in the first hour the formation of the Arab League How many of you know? something about the Arab League and we sort of For instance, do you know where the headquarters headquarters of the Arab League? Which country where it was established? Egypt is of course the home to Arab League and headquarters Cairo the capital of Egypt and you know The secretary general of the Arab League. Do you follow the news? And this is someone who's been there for so many years Who used to be the Arab the Egyptian foreign minister? Do you know? Okay Let me introduce you to Mr. Amr Mousa Well, and you know him the guy next next to him. Well, this this picture was taken earlier this year Again in Paris There was this global zero summit Global zero aims at bringing down the number of nuclear weapons in the world to zero which is a I know an ambitious target But it is something that is in my opinion worth you know working for and Amr Mousa was one of the participants and After a comment I made there He just came next to me and said you know how much you like the comment and he wished sort of Turkey pursued a policy with respect to The American nuclear weapons that are deployed in Turkish territory, which I suggested that they should be David Beck, you know taken Back to the or sent back to the United States and then we had a Occasion to have dinner with other people other participants and he's a nice guy and he sort of kind of promised to Oops, sorry Meet again when we Get back Sorry, I'll I'll have to find that the power point again Don't look at my emails And you can see yours. I mean asking me sir. I you know, I want to learn The Middle East and that's why I'm taking this course and I promise I'll be working hard and please Tell your secretary To register this and that and I have a picture here As well this one for instance Maybe I should turn off lights here. Is it better? Yeah, this is Israeli territory and you see Palestinian Well, well, this is not that uniform as you see here. It's like Dalmatians and there are Settlements This is one of the biggest and most sort of contentious issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the one of the most or important impediments To a resolution of conflict between Arabs and Palestinians. Well, the issue the sort of The controversies between the state of Israel and the Palestinians, of course in its essence But it is something that goes far beyond the Palestinian Arab or Israeli problem It has become an Arab-Israeli problem after all Palestinian people not all of them, but most of them are Arab therefore It is quite natural that Arab nations have displayed a certain degree of interest to this problem But other than that other powers like the United States, of course is a strong Ally which gives its strong backup to Israel and also Iran especially over the last Couple of decades has been involved in this problem as well and some other sort of countries In the region and more recently Turkey has also become a part of the problem and or just being one of the actors which tries to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict with a view to you know bringing stability to the region. Anyways, if we go back to our PowerPoint here again, one of the issues that I mentioned was the Full of dynasties and the place by Mitri rules In especially countries like Egypt, Iraq and Syria, of course Each time Israel fought against Arab nations. It has More or less gained additional territories and Consolidated its territory and also its statehood. I mean its state structure that has something that Was somewhat beneficial from Israel perspective because Arabs have never been Contrary to what was sort of expected with the creation of the League of Nations and Contrary to what was stated in the Charter of the Arab League Arab nations have not been able to display Solidarity and enough strength to stand up against Israel and Or to be successful in in their fights Against Israel and Israel has almost on every occasion took advantage of this situation and not only Expanded its territory Well, of course at once especially after 1967 war the so-called six-day war or Six days war or June war in 1967 They of course had Sinai Peninsula, which after all was traded with Egypt at the Expensive Peace between Egypt and Israel and Egypt has been the first country as we will talk about later To recognize the state of Israel and that's why they were expelled from the Arab League and the Arab League's headquarters were moved from Cairo to Tunis the capital of Tunisia anyway, so going back to the 1950s and the this consequences of wars between Arabs and Israel, of course we have seen ultimately especially in Egypt rise of Nazism and Pan-Arab Ideology, this is an important episode which lasts for about 15 or so years where Nasser had his Signature, I mean his had his impact on the politics of the Middle East Of course the coming to power of Nasser in Egypt was not a straightforward or just a quick phenomenon Eventually he sort of emerged as a charismatic personality Well, especially In the fight against Israel some were humiliated In in the administrations of Arab nations, but yet This the free officers coup which ultimately or eventually Brought Nasser to power had a certain now ideology. I mean they they were unlike the previous sort of Elite who administer Egypt these people were mainly from rural area. I mean not necessarily Nobility, I mean not from aristocracy or elite sort of people they were coming from the in a rural area from the countryside and of course within With a view to advancing or the elevating the live standards of their people one particular Objective was of course to get rid of the British Colonials, this is that was something which could be You know, which could not be sort of compromised by enemies, of course elimination of feudalism Land reform was something that was promised to the people God bless And was of course according to many political analysts was a source of many conflicts that Egypt had on the gun Domestically, I mean because that was not necessarily successful enough and that you know the At some point according to My readings as far as I can recollect I Mean a very small minority like maybe you know less than 1% own more than one third or even more of lands and Egyptian lands Cultivable lands. I mean where you could you know Do a culture and so they seized power and those who were holding on to power I mean this power of course had a say had had much to say in the administration of the Country, but after this land reform, of course, there were many small sort of landowners Which did not necessarily, you know a combined Could not combine their powers and they were not necessarily effectively using this Sort of power that they had anyway, so We are not going to go into details about Egyptian domestic politics But according to some analysts as I said that was one of the reasons for further sort of deterioration of domestic situation The one again one objective here was to create a powerful army. I mean Mitri sort of capability which was One of the beliefs of Almost every sort of Mitri people who ruled the country but more specifically of Nasser because that in their opinion was the only way to get the you know, Palestinian territory back from Israel Israel proved itself Starting from the first of these wars this this series of wars between Themselves and Arabs that they had superior Mitri capabilities and one important anecdote here something that I'll be Talking about more extensively in the coming weeks was is that Israel actually when even before it was created as a as a nation as a state before the proclamation of Israel officially Important figures in Israel have come together. I mean primarily Bangor Young Simone Perez advisement and especially Bangor Young was so anxious so determined To have what was called absolute power Absolute power meant atomic power. I mean nuclear power and this is something that happens in 1947 even a year at least before The official proclamation of state of Israel and we know this from the writings of Avner Kohan Who is a is a distinguished scholar and also a friend as a colleague With whom I on many occasions had a chance to chat and discuss over his writings and over the situation In the Middle East and most recently it was in May night in I mean this year we met in Doha and Just by coincidence you might remember those who are interested in you know watching TVs or reading papers politics political issues there was a sort of a newspaper article if I'm not mistaken something that was actually an excerpt a sort of a summary of an article that would be published or a book that will be published later on about You know Israeli nuclear capability and Avner Kohan was right next to me sitting sitting And Over the phone, you know given interviews to people who was who were calling them. So According to Avner Kohan Israeli the founding fathers and more specifically it is Bangor Young who Very much committed to having this Absolute power namely nuclear weapons capability Otherwise, he believed Israel could not survive within this hostile environment. Well and according to him, I would say If somebody else were in his place Israel might not have been successful in getting through all the way to having what is not official acknowledged as being there or what is not being denied either Namely nuclear weapons capability. So therefore Israeli sort of survivability today is so much believed by the Israelis themselves and Analysts is that it depends on their nuclear capability and therefore There are some other countries who are trying to match Israeli capability and maybe for a eventual desire to eliminate Israel This is something that we can understand in between the sentences of some of these statements made by some leaders in the region So I'm not going to go into detail right now, but this is important. So since from the beginning the Ambition to match Israeli military capabilities has been there in almost every nation but of course we should not Think that that was the only reason as to why Middle East is so over armed today on or the you know the presence of all sorts of weapons Capabilities exists. It's not only Israel. I mean there's there has always been Other reasons even more substantial or more important reasons for the Arab nations or nations in the Middle East to arm themselves I mean for instance Even today at present day There is this deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia for the sale of some aircraft and helicopters Fort of 60 billion dollars six zero billion dollars and this will be the probably the single most highest figure of arms sale between United States and any country as far as I know and especially in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia will buy like approximately 85 or so new state of the art 15 I guess and they will some of their existing aircraft will be upgraded and there will be all sorts of attack helicopters and All sorts of other new metro helicopters all of which combined will amount to something like 60 billion dollars I mean whether this is necessary for Saudi Arabia or how this will implicate the Arm sales through the region by other powers like France is always sitting on the fence to find new Customers etc. So there has always been In many many reasons actually In the Middle East for countries to arm themselves, but one particular reason and maybe the something that trigger especially Egypt under Nasser to Invest in armament was of course the ambition to match to to equalize if not No overcome the metric capabilities of Israel Well These are some details, but what what we see here, of course Under the British colonial rule, of course and arguably Egypt was you know or did not have any contradiction with Western countries because it was ruled by the elite who were brought to power or maintained power by the British and the Western powers so you could not expect Radical sort of a controversy between it did sort of the Egyptian ruling elite and and the West but Nasser's succession to power and holding on to power in the country eventually Elinated Egypt from the West. I mean distance put a distance between Egypt and the West and Because of this ideological stance Egypt even if you go today, I mean You can see in the streets of Cairo or elsewhere People who very much looked like Egyptians 5000 years ago. So there is therefore this Notion or understanding of being an Egyptian Even being over being In Arab so Egyptian identity is sometimes Clashed or sometimes Seen as being superior by some not all of the Egyptian people over when compared to Arab identity So Egypt in a sense in its foreign policy did not only pursue an Arab foreign policy and Egyptian history or legacy of the past has has always been an important factor in their Sort of a foreign policy making and also in their national identity. So this is something important This is not unique to Egypt. But of course Egypt is one of the most ancient civilizations So there are Egyptians who associate themselves maybe more with their ancient past rather than current Arab sort of Identity well, this is quite normal or at least there is this mixture of the two so and That was more so maybe during the dynasty period or the king or the sort of elite During the colonial rule, but Nasser who has someone from as I said in rural Area and he emphasized the Arabness. I'm an Arab identity of Egypt So under Nasser we could see Egypt sort of pursuing pretty much almost entirely an Arab sort of foreign policy and And also propagating this and throughout the Arab world and therefore He was categorically against a Colonial rule or imperial rule or intervention of great powers in the regional politics and that he taught just like stated in the Arab League, which was not necessarily something Done in his presence, but something that in some respects were upheld by him or were supported by him to I mean pursuing Arab foreign policy or Arab policy and Therefore he declined to join the the Baghdad pact the Baghdad pack was a product of what I would call the Eisenhower sort of doctrine which aimed at creating You know big and small alliances in the region which would get support of the United States With a view to protect of course US interest overseas I mean the United States and that was a period of transition as I said This region was ruled for long centuries by the British by the French and other colonial powers and Ottomans but during the decline of the Ottoman rule and that was the subject of what was known as the eastern question and Eastern question was as to whom would replace the Ottoman rule Whether it will be the French or the British or others So and French and the British were forthcoming in in sort of a taken over the rule from the Ottomans if not they sure because Ottoman Empire was still there until the end of the First World War and But in the facto situation the British and French have been effective so but over time especially as I said In the post World War two period when French and the British were war wary. I mean we're sort of a tired of fighting the World War two They were victorious powers, but they were devastated their countries. I mean Britain France Well, France surrendered and did not sort of undergo much destruction But Britain economically politically they were not in a position to sustain their powers or at least I mean next project their meter capabilities to control everything on a daily basis, so there was this period of transition of the rule of the region from British French as the previous superpowers to the United States and to some extent of course Soviet Union in opposite camps as new superpowers of the Post-World War two period and during that time of course in order to contain the Soviet expansionism of course United States was Erecting some pacts alliances One of one of which was of course the North Atlantic three organization NATO in Continental Europe With of course inclusion of the United States in Canada in North America and eventually Turkey being together with Greece being part of it and in the Middle East there were such organizations which brought together Turkey Iran Pakistan and Turkey Iraq Iran, so they were all aiming at sort of Containing the Soviet expansionism and blocking the Soviets or preventing Soviets from coming down to the Middle East which actually was very rich Oops, sorry for that let's so Blocking the Soviet expansionism toward the oil rich regions, which were strategically very very important, so But the Baghdad pact Which has a long history? I'll not I'll be not be talking about at this moment but Egypt and under Nasser denied to be part of it and not only Himself stood away from Baghdad pack but also used its influence on other Arab nations such as Jordan such as Syria to stay away from it and after the Mitri coup in Iraq Which of course toppled the Dynasty and brought the Mitri to power then Baghdad pack Iraq was not part of it and Since the capital of Iraq which was now under Mitri rule, which was not part of Baghdad pack Which was its capital indeed of course the pack could not survive at least Eventually just faded away So therefore This is something that in a sense that was seen as You know Initiation of Egypt from the West so under Nasser because of his ideological stance And not so much in the sense that I mean when I when we talk about ideology We do not mean I do not mean here Socialist ideology as we have seen as in the Soviet Union The under Nasser Egypt was at an equidistant position Bought to the Soviet Union to the United States. I mean him being out alienating himself from the West Was not because he was getting closer At least at the beginning toward the Soviet Union for ideological reasons. He was not obsessed with Socialist ideology. I mean in per se, but eventually he developed something like A you know a mixture of both Arab identity Arab nationalism and Socialist sort of ideology and there is therefore this emergence of what is not now known or then also known as Arab socialism So it was in one respect. It was you know Featuring some nationalist undertones, but also socialist stance was kind of interesting mixture particular to the radical or Arab world which Eventually made these countries more radical. I mean in their stance vis-a-vis Western nations so His defines Rows him to regional prominence. I mean Nasser's charismatic stance and his defiance of the colonial powers superpowers standing up against them and just sort of Just like today for instance not at the same level at the same extent But I can see whenever I read these comments made after Mamoud Ahmadinejad the President of Iran Islamic Republic of Iran his defiance of US pressure and also European pressure sort of gains him a lot of I don't know reputation a lot of sympathy in the Islamic world also in in the Arab world even though Iran is not an Arab country I can tell you in the streets of many Arab nations the profile of Iranian president is pretty high So is Turkish Prime Minister's profile is very high because again of his Stance in some respects not in all likelihood, but in some respects vis-a-vis the you know Situation Gaza and and Israel and the stance of Israel. So in the past we have seen this and therefore Nasser gained a lot of prominence get a lot of reputation and had a lot of Followers sorry for that So of course as we stated earlier Egypt had this desire like many other Arab nations to advance its means of capabilities and That was pursued more so by Nasser but he of course He could not realize some of his desires and he was approached by the Soviets at the time and because not because the Soviets were in fond of Nasser, but because of course political reasons Let me see if in the next Sorry for that Yeah, I mean this is something that Is Accepted as the turning point in the history of Middle East the Suez Canal crisis something that I mentioned at the beginning of the first hour Nasser Desired to buy certain weapon systems and Western countries declined to provide Nasser with or Egypt with this because They would most like to be used against Israel in the first place and also because of his stance is a video Western nations and At that time as I mentioned the Soviets were quite ready to provide Egypt with necessary arms weapons munitions and that was somewhat presented as a different deal arms deal between Czechoslovakia and and Egypt and Of course Egypt did not have enough Financial resources to Get these arms And one way Which was taught by Nasser was The nationalization of the revenues of the Suez Canal That of course was not acceptable for the French who built the canal and also British who heavily depended on the canal because it was on their way to Still oops, sorry again this To The Southern Asia and where they were doing all this trade This is of course not something that will be allowed By the British and as I said during the first hour British French and Israelis have come together and large and offensive Which of course was not Accepted neither by the United States nor by the Soviet Union and The reaction of the United States the intervention of the United States Putting a halt to this war and forcing the British French and Israeli troops to be throw from their positions wherever they were Of course cause a trauma in in these capitals London Paris and Tel Aviv So this again something had more reputation more prominence to Nasser I mean because well in one sense if you look at the issue materially That was not a successful war from the perspective of Egypt, but the ultimate result the result of which was a Portical success after all the United States Interweaned and forced it three powers who have attacked Egypt to withdraw So that was a political success and added much more reputation to Nasser in terms of You know or as a political figure so this had a big influence on our people And what we have seen especially in Syria Egypt was a role model and It was he was someone who was seen as a savior who could save Syria from falling to the hands of the communist sort of our rulers and We have seen upon the proposition Suggestion that came from the Syrian People creation of the United Arab Republic Which did not leave for long and the reason why it did not leave for long because United Arab Republic was formed. Well, when you look at the maps here Syria and Egypt Having a distance between the two Forming a one-state which pretty much you know was difficult to rule and It was rule from Cairo the the capital of the two was seen as Cairo and the Syrian politicians deputies a military sort of elite who are supposed to be in their proper places in in Syria were Asked to be here in Cairo So therefore There were some problems in on the ground in terms of administration and more important than that Egyptians and Nasser Politically and you know ideologically dominated this United Republic and Syrians actually after sometimes started to complain and also found it difficult to Continue this Republic and did not Last for long so in 1961 it just disappeared one important turning points in history of the Middle East was as I mentioned the June war or six days war because the war last for only six days and During which Israel Extended its territories and also defeated three nations Within a span of actually three days or so especially using its air power in first of all eliminating the air powers of its enemies Egypt Syria and Jordan And so therefore this is something that had far-reaching consequences for the region Of course the The profile of Nasser as I mentioned was so high that he was Seen as a I mean or his ideology was seen as a panacea for every problem in the Middle East I mean people taught Nasser would solve almost every problem that was the inspiration that was the perception of the period and It has been of course in the Sort of a political agenda of Nasser to achieve some goals such as liberating Palestine from Israeli occupation strengthening of course Arab nations and more specifically Egypt and stopping Israeli expansion territorial expansion, but but follow was almost the opposite the 67 war Egypt lost Sinai Peninsula this part which is Strategically geo strategically extremely important not only as a land, but also as a buffer zone as a you know territory between Egypt and Israel it is something that provides enough strategic depths from the Egyptian perspective a safe distance between capital Cairo and Israeli sort of our Mitra units so but overall this is a Significant land portion a huge something actually maybe bigger than Israeli territory in a way so After the 67 war that was lost to each Israel and Also control is Jerusalem, which is still at present day According to some statements made by Israeli Poetitions Netanyahu for instance Lieberman today and others East Israel which is claimed by the Sort of Palestinians to be the capital of Palestine state of Palestine is or can by no means be left to Anybody and that it is from Israeli perspective It is a Israeli territory and they have they started control is Jerusalem Gaza and West Bank after this war Let me just show you this map again The other map will show you better Gaza and West Bank so The this war in a sense enhanced the position of Israel which was The actually the the opposite what was expected from launching this war well The 67 war and the June 67 war actually Started based on Wrong or misperception or wrong information or miscalculation it was so Suggested by the Soviets that in Israeli attack was imminent and Of course the the intelligence reports were not necessarily reflecting the reality, but Egyptian Syrians wanted to take advantage and they sort of made some metri preparations, but Israel preempted and especially the first strike was against the air powers of these countries and they eliminated an overwhelming majority of almost eighty percent of the Syrian and Egyptian air powers and in the absence of air power or Because Israel was controlling or had almost undisputed air superiority the conduct of war was not that difficult and eventually came to a halt because Arab nations were defeated and One of the consequences was of course further radicalization of the Palestinian problem under LFT Which was created already with a view to pursuing the Objectives of the Arab Palestinian people and we have seen Arafat and LFT becoming or dominant among the Palestinian people and What we have seen especially after 67 war But its parties and the Mitra eventually taking control and we have seen these two Sort of Iraq and Syria these two countries becoming even further radical and Establishing deeper relations with the Soviet Union, which eventually led to if another series of conflict between Israel and Arab nations and also within the Arab nations because there is there has always been a Rivalry among the Arab states with respect to whom would be the leader? I mean Egypt Syria and Iraq always claimed to be leader of the Arab world and This aspect has been one of the reasons as to why Arab unity could not be achieved Of course, this is not the only factor that there are other factors which have Sort of paid away to this result, but for instance, you know some Gulf countries which are quite rich in terms of oil resource and financial assets and there is there is this sort of a disparity between in terms of richness between these countries and some other Arab nations where people are living in misery, so therefore Among many factories this has been another reason as to why the Arab nations could not come together because of this rivalry I mean even though there were both is parties boss party As we call it in Iraq and Syria. They were at some point even more than you know rivals I mean they were almost fighting each other. I mean if not in the battlefield, but in proxy wars and so there was this animosity hostility between Iraq and Syria for so many years and one of one of the reasons was of course the different interpretations of Bautist ideology, so let's let's for the moment stop here and because I'll continue with more maybe details with the Other developments that follow the 67 or please keep quiet for a while and What war and peace in the Middle East in the 70s and 80s and these developments will sort of bring us to the 1990s when most of what we are seeing today have started I mean with especially Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the wars that followed and All other developments that we now see in the Middle East and likely to see in the future. All right, I'll see you on Tuesday Don't be late. I'll start at 9 30