Joseph Kostiner Knihy

South Yemen was long a key spot in the strategic geography of the West. Before the Second World War, it was important for the British as an outpost on the way to India. From the mid-1940s it was a crucial gateway to the oil rich Arabian Peninsular and a vital area in the context of superpower rivalry. This book, first published in 1984, traces the development of nationalist sentiment in South Yemen and the emergence of the two main groups in the struggle for independence: the NLF and FLOSY. Analysing both the impact of these groups on Yemeni society and demonstrating how they struggled with each other for supremacy, the book provides an perceptive account of how the revolutionary process in an Arab country unfolded.

This book analyzes four main episodes of conflict and defense which have affected the region during the last three decades: the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), which effected the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from a close, neighborly distance; the Iraq-Kuwait war (1990-1991), which constituted an attempt to invade the GCC and eliminate one of its member states, Kuwait. And the subsequent attempts to reestahblish a regional inter-state stability in the Gulf (during the mid-1990s, approximately), and the war of Islamic terrorism (notably al-Qa'ida) against Saudi Arabia (leading up to 2005). Each episode was driven by inimical interests and evolved as a distabilizintg influence on the Gulf states. At the same time, each conflict resulted in a paradoxical combination rivalry and cooperation among the GCC states themselves. A perpetual sequence of conflict and cooperation thus developed.