Adrian's Reviews > Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East

** spoiler alert ** This book has both historical breadth since it covers Egypt, Lebanon,Pakistan, Iraq, Afganistan and of course the two important players of the regions Iran and Saudi Arabia , and of course depth since it depicts events unfolding from 1979 to 2020.

What i learned would be this:
- the trouble in middle east started in the fateful year of 1979 with 3 events unfolding in parallel and ubrelated to one another:

1. Khoemini's Revolution in Iran which toppled the shah and instead of a more moderate regime a theocratic repressive regime was installed that endures to this day , a regime whose main goal is to export revolution everywhere. Of course this set the tone for revolutionaries in Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon and Syria to topple their own leaders.

2. The terrorist attack carried out in Mecca, Saudi Arabia which made the Saud family fearful of losing control of the country, and made it forge a powerful symbiotic relationship with the more radical clergy , the followers of Wahhabism.
Saudi rulers in order to mask their incompetence and divert attention in the later decades would export Wahhabism in Pakistan , Egypt in the form of cash, Madrassas and modified Quran's inciting to sectarianism (making killing of fellow christians , shia etc legally ok , even a muslims' duty).

3. The soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which in the 80's neighbouring Pakistan served as a launching for soldiers and also think tank meeting places for people like Bin Laden and Zarqawi to meet and plan grander designs.


In short, along the decades Saudi Arabia has always feared Iran and its ever expanding influence. Saudi Arabia tried and tried again to become as feared and respected as Iran by pumping cash in Sunni states and turning them into little satellites (Pakistan).
However this set the tone and fermented and what turned out in Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq and Syria was something macabre sinister that would start a life of its own, terrorist organisations sprouting along the decades each using the previous one as inspiration and also trying to outdo the other.

What is ironic is that religion has been used time and time again as a smoke screen or weapon for Saudi Arabia while Iran always used the "Islamic Resistance against infidels" theme to further its agenda and set up proxies in the middle east like Syria and Lebanon.

This is a book about the countless people that tried to oppose their countries heading into darkness more and more with each generation.
The countless assasinations , bombings , exilations and wrongs done upon them.

The book is also about the future.
Funny enough Saudi Arabia's Young Prince Muhammmad bin Salman the soon to.be king realised religion cannot be used anymore to appease people and project power , so he dismantled and turned the country 180 degrees in the span of a couple of years, of course while silencing his foes in more brutal and direct approach (killing and hacking to pieces of a reknowned journalist inside the Saudi Arabian embassy of Istanbul) !


I seriously marvel that behing these two countries the religion is just a toy , a dangerous toy that was used time and time again to brainwash entire generations, erasing the collective memory of millions of people.

Splending work !