Word: islam
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Other Lebanese factions have resented the Marines for their backing of the Christian-dominated government. Among them are the Druze, members of a sect that broke away from Islam in the 11th century. They are angry both because they have never had a fair share of political power in Lebanon and because the Christian militias moved forcibly into their mountainous region as soon as the Israeli forces had staged a partial withdrawal from Lebanon almost two months ago. Equally resentful of the Marines' presence are the Shi'ite Muslims, who are also fighting for a greater share of political power...
...Primakov and the advocates of "progressive Islam," as Primakov's position might be dubbed, will fare under Andropov remains to be seen; power politics in the Kremlin have their own logic, and the substance of Primakov's argument may ultimately have little bearing on his ability to expand or even maintain his position during Andropov's rule...
...doctrine of progressive Islam, however, could well appeal to the apparently pragmatic Andropov, for it provides an ideological justification for a Soviet attempt to harness the anti-Americanism of resurgent Islam, and so subsume religious fundamentalism within the framework of East-West rivalry. Such a doctrine also creates intellectual justification for overt support of left wing Muslim fundamentalists, which groups have in the past received only covert assistance...
...success of such a doctrine relies ultimately though on Muslims outside the Soviet Union Primakov's notion of progressive Islam permits the Soviets to justify support of religious revolutionaries, hitherto unrecognized and unrecognizable by the USSR. This view of Islams, though can not ensure that Muslim activists will trust the Soviets, nor that they will turn to the USSR for aid. Muslim non-Marxists have long been suspicious of the Soviets, so Moscow must create are receptive Muslim audience abroad before progressive Islam may provide an effective strategy for Soviet infiltration of the Middle East Presumably, then, the next task...
Martha Brill Olcott is a Research Fellow at Harvard's Russian Research Center and another of an article entitled "Soviet Islam and World Revolution," which appeared in World Politics...