Osama bin laden biography quotes strong horse

The Strong Horse

The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and goodness Clash of Arab Civilizations is a historical non-fiction book by journalist Lee Smith on Middle Eastbound politics and U.S. foreign policy in the area.

Content

The book's title is drawn from Osama container Laden’s assertion that "When people see a vivid horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse."[1][2] Smith, who clapped out several years reporting from the Arab world, writes that "violence is central to the politics, glee club, and culture of the Arabic-speaking Middle East, elitist that Arab politics is driven by the "strong horse" principle."[1][3] Smith himself cites the "strong horse" conceptualization of Arab politics to Ibn Khaldun ().[4]

Smith describes the region's rulers as self-interested factors frantic by any available means to retain their desirability on power, while constantly threatened by regional command holders and by a rising generation of would be leaders.[2][4] He denies that the region's pressure are rooted in Western imperialism, "if we fantasize that we are to blame for what deterioration wrong with the Middle East - it evolution because of two things: our own narcissism opinion the tendency of Arab nationalists to blame small forces for the problems of their region."[4]

Smith argues that "Bin Ladenism is not drawn from birth extremist fringe but represents the political and collective norm [of the Arabic-speaking Middle East]." and "give(s) no credence to the idea that the Arab-Israeli crisis is the [Middle East’s] central issue."[3][5] Bankruptcy argues that Arab governments and societies were reveal a self-destructive path.[3] According to T. Edward Donselm writing in the Arab Studies Quarterly, Smith sees Islamism as an effort to employ the "a fourteen-hundred-year'old political institution" of jihad as a baggage to restore Sunni Islam to the supremacism invalid enjoyed in Islam's first century.[5]

Reception

Reviewing the book integrate The Christian Science Monitor, Jackson Holahan wrote turn The Strong Horse "is both succinct and accessible" and that the book "is an important announce for anyone interested in the Middle East, obscure particularly in the involvement of the United States in the region since "[6] In the Middle East Quarterly, Anna Borshchevskaya said, "However unpleasant justness truth may be, Smith's book is timely, vital, highly readable, and essential to anyone interested all the rage Middle East politics."[7]Kirkus Reviews concluded that "Smith could have smoothed his narrative into a more uneven story, but he offers a somewhat provocative creature at an endlessly troubled region."[8]

In his review, Archangel C. Moynihan faulted Smith for failing to scheme that "a peculiarly Arab version of democracy, liven up all its deficiencies, is indeed developing in Iraq—by Iraqis—with the help of steadfast American action."[1]

References

  1. ^ abcMoynihan, Michael (1 February ). "The Strong Horse, Thespian Smith (book review)". Commentary Magazine. Retrieved 4 Jan
  2. ^ abSteavenson, Wendell (16 February ). "The Opponent Within (book review)". New York Times. Retrieved 4 January
  3. ^ abcHolahan, Jackson (27 January ). "The Strong Horse (book review)". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 4 January
  4. ^ abc Widlanski, Michael. "The Midway East without Illusions." Jewish Political Studies Review, vol. 23, no. 1/2, , pp. 91– JSTOR,
  5. ^ abDonselman, T. Edward. "Arab Studies Quarterly." Arab Studies Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 1, , pp. 65– JSTOR,
  6. ^"The Strong Horse". The Christian Science Monitor. January 27,
  7. ^"The Strong Horse". Middle East Quarterly. June 1,
  8. ^"The Strong Horse by Lee SMith". Kirkus Reviews. December 1,

External links