The jihadist hard line was manufactured through US-Saudi cold war sponsorship
Evidence
Munif voiced outrage at the way, during the cold war’s final decade, “the people behind fundamentalism’s current hard line were recruited as youths, then nurtured in Afghanistan, and ultimately sent on to Bosnia, all with the enthusiastic support of the United States and Saudi Arabia.” The jihad was not some atavistic, medieval eruption, but was in large measure the child of modernity in the form of the Soviet-U.S. rivalry, of which control over petroleum reserves was a critical dimension. — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 276
Categorization
- XREF: Challenges the framing in The New Crusades that treats Islamophobia as unidirectional; the jihad as child of modernity complicates the civilizational narrative. Also echoes ch19’s claim about unavailable technological marvels condensing the haves/have-nots chasm. — connects to: Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247; US Cold War aid to Saudi Arabia enabled the Bin Laden family fortune — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 1114; U.S. Cold War funding created the mujahedeen who became Al Qaeda (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- U.S. Cold War funding created the mujahedeen who became Al Qaeda
#corroborates(0.95) - Islamic fundamentalism is a modern product of Cold War politics
#corroborates(0.93) - US facilitated Muslim violence when it served Cold War interests
#corroborates(0.92) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 288 - American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism
#corroborates(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 219 - US cold-war strategy deliberately weaponized religion against nationalism and communism in Muslim regions
#corroborates(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 388 - US-sponsored anti-Soviet jihad fed Zia’s Islamization and armed Pakistan’s arms market
#expands(0.88) - Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution
#expands(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247 - US officials welcomed Saudi Islamicization as a Cold War counterweight to Nasser
#expands(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 390 - Eisenhower armed Islamist groups against secular nationalists during the Cold War
#exemplifies(0.85) - US Cold War aid to Saudi Arabia enabled the Bin Laden family fortune
#expands(0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 1114 - US Cold War aid armed the extremist groups that later became the Taliban
#expands(0.78) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 46