Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...billions of dollars' worth of the most sophisticated weaponry and aircraft in the U.S. arsenal began pouring into Iran. America's decision to depend on the Shah as its surrogate policeman in the Persian Gulf was perceived as even more crucial in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, when Iran disregarded the boycott and continued to sell vital petroleum to the West. In retrospect, one top U.S. policymaker of that period reflects: "We let the arms sales get out of control, and we failed to press the Shah to establish the roots of democratic institutions...
Perhaps the greatest single fear of U.S. strategists is that the troubles in Iran could have a direct effect on Saudi Arabia. The rulers in Riyadh place a high priority on both Arab solidarity and socioeconomic stability in the region, and thus their interests tend to parallel those of the U.S. Saudi leaders have worked actively to counter Soviet influence in northeast Africa and the Middle East-notably by helping keep Egypt afloat financially, by offering aid to Somalia's regime after it broke with Moscow, and by giving moderate counsel at Arab summits...
...protect as well as they can their oasis of stability, the Saudi leaders have used the power of petrodollars to help shore up moderate regimes around them. They yearn for consensus rather than polarization and try to soften up radical Arab regimes rather than fight them. They annoyed the U.S. and Egypt by going along with a condemnation of the Camp David agreements at the Baghdad summit meeting of Arab states; but they did so in return for an easing of radical Arab retaliation against Egypt. The West was disappointed at the Saudi performance at last month's OPEC...
...totals a staggering $14.7 billion. The President's ambitious program of industrialization, especially the largely automated natural gas plants, provided too few jobs for a population that has grown from 12 million to 18 million since he took over. In foreign affairs, Boumedienne lost some prestige in the Arab world by backing and providing bases for the Polisario rebels, who seek to wrest the former Spanish Sahara from neighboring Morocco and Mauritania. His successor must decide whether to continue that fight...
Having long concentrated on northerly climes, scientists know little more about the monsoon than did the old Arab traders who named the awesome wind mausam, or season. In fact there are not one but two monsoons every year. Rolling off the tropical seas from the southwest, the sodden summer winds unleash torrential rains that give life to crops across India-and take human lives as swollen rivers flood towns (this year's toll: at least 900 dead, 3 million homeless). Reversing themselves after an autumn lull, the winds return, this time from the northeast, carrying cool, relatively...