On November 20, 1979, the world’s attention focused on Tehran. But three weeks into the Iranian hostage crisis, hundreds of seized Islam’s holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. That event might actually be the more important one. Joining us to explain is the author of The Siege of Mecca, Yaroslav Trofimov.
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Yaroslav Trofimov on the Siege of Mecca
2 comments:
Thanks for posting this. I read your blog every once in a while, and forgot Fareeds show was posted online.
Looking forward to hearing this author's take on The Seige of Mecca. Saudi Arabia is a fascinating country, and I think it is often forgotten in the popular discourse about the War in Iraq, and The War on Terrorism.
In addition to this attack on Mecca, close to the Quaba no less, but also attacks on some of the first T.V. stations in the country. These were both attacks by Royal Family affiliates.
I am not advocating an attack or Republican Style Regime change in Saudi, but I think an honest appraisal of foreign influence of the region can be made by looking at the inability or slowness in getting Saudi Arabia to liberalize and play its own part.
In clearer terms, Bush and Bandar were buddy buddies for decades now, and women still can't drive in Riyadh. If "The West" can't get those type of policy changes in it's allies, what makes it think that it can do something greater in a hostile nations with limited economies and weak civil societies.
It is a bleak reality to realize that, but the mistakes that you can make ignoring that reality are much worse.
Thanks for reading the blog. I thought the thesis in the book was a bit far fetched- but it's interesting. The connections with Saud family and Wahabism goes a long way to creation of Saudi Arabia by Ibn Saud, I think.
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