The Limits to Power (1979) analyses the spectrum of Soviet interests and policies in the Middle East following the Yom Kippur War of October 1973: how the Soviets handled the oil question, military and economic aid, policy toward Egypt, Syria, Iraq, the Palestinian organisations - and toward Israel itself. The Soviet position in the Middle East in 1970 was as the dominant foreign power in the region, and this book examines the events and actions that resulted, under a decade later, in such a sharp reversal in Soviet fortunes. The ebb-and-flow of Soviet diplomacy, as it emerges from the wealth of official statements and press material, is examined in detail.

Muslim Eurasia (1995) looks at the Muslim states that came into being on the ruins of the Soviet Union, and their complex legacies of Russian colonialism, russification, de-islamicization, centralization and communism - on top of localism, tribalism and Islam. The interaction and contradictions within each category, and between them, form the essence of the struggle to formulation new identities.

By the mid-1980s, public opinion in the USSR had begun to turn against Soviet involvement in Afghanistan: the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) had become a long, painful, and unwinnable conflict, one that Mikhail Gorbachev referred to as a "bleeding wound" in a 1986 speech. The eventual decision to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan created a devastating ripple effect within Soviet society that, this book argues, became a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this comprehensive survey of the effects of the war on Soviet society and politics, Yaacov Ro'i analyzes the opinions of Soviet citizens on a host of issues connected with the war and documents the systemic change that would occur when Soviet leadership took public opinion into account. The war and the difficulties that the returning veterans faced undermined the self-esteem and prestige of the Soviet armed forces and provided ample ammunition for media correspondents who sought to challenge the norms of the Soviet system. Through extensive analysis of Soviet newspapers and interviews conducted with Soviet war veterans and regular citizens in the early 1990s, Ro'i argues that the effects of the war precipitated processes that would reveal the inbuilt limitations of the Soviet body politic and contribute to the dissolution of the USSR by 1991.

The large and rapidly increasing Muslim population of the USSR put an immense strain on the Soviet political system, dominated as it is by Russians. The problems were not confined to internal tensions between ethnic groups but extend also to relations with neighbouring Muslim states, as the invasion of Afghanistan graphically illustrated. This volume, first published in 1984, addresses this field of unique importance. Topics covered encompass the living standards of the Soviet Muslim population, the religious revival, relations with the Arab world, the Soviet experience of guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and many more. In short it provides coverage of the sociological, political, cultural, economic, ideological and international dimensions of Soviet-Muslim relations.

The Soviet Union executed an apparent about-face in its traditional anti-Zionist position when the Palestine issue came before the United Nations in 1947. In addition to political support at the UN from May 1947 to May 1949, important military assistance was rendered to the Jewish Palestinian Yishuv throughout 1948 by the Eastern bloc. Toward the end of that year, however, indications of change became apparent, and the Soviet Union began criticizing Israel. This book studies the USSR's attitude toward the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine in the immediate post-World War II period and toward Israel in the first years of its existence, and it investigates the complex of considerations that caused the initial apparent reversal of traditional Soviet anti-Zionism. The author contends that this support for Israel contributed considerably to the evoking of Soviet Jewry's enthusiastic reaction to the establishment of the State. But this very reaction resulted in turn in Moscow changing its tactics again, since it could not allow its Jewish citizens to identify with a state outside the Soviet Union and the Communist orbit. During the few years after the Israeli War for Independence, in which the Arab-Israeli conflict was relatively low key, the USSR adopted a position of seeming neutrality between two sides while quietly wooing the Arab nations. Ro'i examines how toward the end of the Stalin period the Jewish problem again intervened with the infamous' 'Doctor's Plot," and how early in 1953 the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with Israel. One year later the USSR cast its first two pro-Arab vetoes in the UN Security Council, and from this point on Soviet-Israeli relations openly became a function of the increasingly cordial Soviet friendship with the Arab world.

The Muslim states that have come into being from the ruins of the Soviet Union, and the Muslim areas of Russia, are striving to carve out a future for themselves in the face of new realities. In addition to international constraints, they find themselves caught between two complex legacies: on the one hand, that of Russian and Soviet periods--colonialism, russification, de-islamicization, centralization and communism; on the other, that of the period prior to the Russian conquest--localism, tribalism and Islam.
The interaction and contradictions within each category, and between them, form the essence of the struggle to formulate new identities. The problems this book describes reflect these legacies in a wide range of fields. They indicate the anomalies that were created by the inconsistencies in Soviet imperialism vis-a-vis its Muslim subject nations, and the injustice and distortions resulting from policies which emanated from a remote and insensitive center.

The large and rapidly increasing Muslim population of the USSR put an immense strain on the Soviet political system, dominated as it is by Russians. The problems were not confined to internal tensions between ethnic groups but extend also to relations with neighbouring Muslim states, as the invasion of Afghanistan graphically illustrated. This volume, first published in 1984, addresses this field of unique importance. Topics covered encompass the living standards of the Soviet Muslim population, the religious revival, relations with the Arab world, the Soviet experience of guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and many more. In short it provides coverage of the sociological, political, cultural, economic, ideological and international dimensions of Soviet-Muslim relations.

In the past twenty years almost three quarters of a million Russian Jews have emigrated to the West. Their presence in Israel, Europe and North America and their absence from Russia have left an indelible imprint on these societies. The emigrants themselves as well as those who stayed behind, are in a struggle to establish their own identities and to achieve social and economic security
In this volume an international assembly of experts historians, sociologists, demographers and politicians join forces in order to assess the nature and magnitude of the impact created by this emigration and to examine the fate of those Jews who left and those who remained. Their wide-ranging perspectives contribute to creating a variegated and complex picture of the recent Russian Jewish Emigration.

This book is devoted to the study and analysis of the prospects for democracy among the Muslim ethnicities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), both those that have acquired full independence and those remaining within the Russian Federation. The nineteen Western academics and scholars from the Muslim countries and regions of the CIS who contribute to this volume view the establishment of democratic institutions in this region in the context of a wide and complex range of influences, above all the Russian/Soviet political legacy; native ethnic political culture and tradition; the Islamic faith; and the growing polarity between Western civilization and the Muslim world.

The main focus of this book is Jewish life under the Soviet regime. The themes of the book include: the attitude of the government to Jews, the fate of the Jewish religion and life in Post-World War II Russia. The volume also contains an assessment of the prospects for future emigration.

The former Muslim republics of the USSR are struggling to strike a balance between the legacy of the Soviet regime and the revival of their own, traditional culture. This volume examines the religion, economy and demography of the areas as well as both internal and external relations.

The Soviet Union executed an apparent about-face in its traditional anti-Zionist position when the Palestine issue came before the United Nations in 1947. In addition to political support at the UN from May 1947 to May 1949, important military assistance was rendered to the Jewish Palestinian Yishuv throughout 1948 by the Eastern bloc. Toward the end of that year, however, indications of change became apparent, and the Soviet Union began criticizing Israel.

This book studies the USSR's attitude toward the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine in the immediate post-World War II period and toward Israel in the first years of its existence, and it investigates the complex of considerations that caused the initial apparent reversal of traditional Soviet anti-Zionism. The author contends that this support for Israel contributed considerably to the evoking of Soviet Jewry's enthusiastic reaction to the establishment of the State. But this very reaction resulted in turn in Moscow changing its tactics again, since it could not allow its Jewish citizens to identify with a state outside the Soviet Union and the Communist orbit.

During the few years after the Israeli War for Independence, in which the Arab-Israeli conflict was relatively low key, the USSR adopted a position of seeming neutrality between two sides--while quietly wooing the Arab nations. Ro'i examines how toward the end of the Stalin period the Jewish problem again intervened with the infamous' 'Doctor's Plot," and how early in 1953 the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with Israel. One year later the USSR cast its first two pro-Arab vetoes in the UN Security Council, and from this point on Soviet-Israeli relations openly became a function of the increasingly cordial Soviet friendship with the Arab world.

Over ten years ago, Benjamin Fain, a physicist now living in Tel Aviv, attempted to hold a conference on Jewish culture in Moscow, an effort that was foiled by the KGB. Many of the participants were eventually able to flee, most emigrating to Israel. In this book, these distinguished scholars and others from around the world present their personal and professional views of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union.
The book explores a wide range of topics, including underground literature, religious revival, and the rise of a national Jewish consciousness. Some writers claim that the refuseniks are not the leaders of the Soviet Jews but rather an isolated minority, with most Jews being assimilated, acculturated, and uninterested in fleeing. Other essayists look at the ambivalent role traditionally played by the Soviet Union in both allowing some forms of cultural expression and suppressing any efforts at individual religious practice. Others explore the revival of Jewish culture as instanced by underground teaching of Hebrew. A major debate involves the Nature of Jewish emigration, whether the Jews will go to Israel or to America.

In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Using a range of personal interviews, he explores how Jewish self awareness arose both as a result of the founding of the State of Israel and as a product of the Holocaust. Local groups developed and sustained Jewish cultural interests and their Jewish identity in the face of popular anti-Semitism and Soviet policy. The author continues by analyzing the campaign conducted in the West and mobilized by the Israeli government on behalf of Soviet Jewish rights as a whole and emigration in particular. Ro'i convincingly argues that despite the efforts of Soviet Jewish groups to flourish in a steadfastly anti-Semitic system, by 1967 most had accepted that the only way of implementing their Zionist aspirations was to emigrate to Israel. However, without the extensive groundwork carried out in the period 1948-1967, it is doubtful if the mass emigration of the 1970s would have been possible.

In the most detailed historical study of Islam under post-war Soviet communism yet published -- and the first to be based largely on official Soviet archival material available only since the demise of the Soviet Union -- Ro'i surveys all aspects of the Muslim faith that relate to the Soviet domestic scene. In the process, the author illuminates the often uneasy coexistence of government and religion, demonstrating how and why Islam survived in the face of Soviet authority.

Ro'i begins with background on the dimensions of the Islam, as well as Soviet policy and legislation as it pertained to religion, before moving into investigations of both Establishment Islam -- the spiritual directorates, registered mosques and clergy -- and unofficial "parallel" Islam, which manifested itself in the form of unregistered groups and clergy. The author also considers Islamic practice and the observation of fasts, festivals, and rites of passage. Finally, the author turns his attention to the political realm, exploring regime policy as it relates to different religions as well as the religion's relationship with local organs of government.

In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Using a range of personal interviews, he explores how Jewish self awareness arose both as a result of the founding of the State of Israel and as a product of the Holocaust. Local groups developed and sustained Jewish cultural interests and their Jewish identity in the face of popular anti-Semitism and Soviet policy. The author continues by analyzing the campaign conducted in the West and mobilized by the Israeli government on behalf of Soviet Jewish rights as a whole and emigration in particular. Ro'i convincingly argues that despite the efforts of Soviet Jewish groups to flourish in a steadfastly anti-Semitic system, by 1967 most had accepted that the only way of implementing their Zionist aspirations was to emigrate to Israel. However, without the extensive groundwork carried out in the period 1948-1967, it is doubtful if the mass emigration of the 1970s would have been possible.

In less than a century, Jews in Russia have survived two world wars, revolution, political and economic turmoil, and persecution by both Nazis and Soviets. Yet they have managed not only to survive, but also transform themselves and emerge as a highly creative, educated entity that has transplanted itself into other countries. Revolution, Repression and Revival: The Soviet Jewish Experience enhances our understanding of the Russian Jewish past by bringing together some of the latest thinking by the leading scholars from the former Soviet Union, Israel and the United States. The book explains the contradictions, ambiguities and anomalies of the Russian Jewish story and helps us understand one of the most complex and unsettled chapters in modern Jewish history. The Soviet Jewish story has had many fits and starts as it transfers from one chapter of Soviet history to another and eventually, from one country to another. Some believe that the chapter of Russian Jewry is coming to a close. Whatever the future of Russian Jewry may be, it has a rich, turbulent past. Revolution, Repression and Revival sheds new light on the past, illustrating the complexities of the present, and gives needed insights into the likely future.

Why did the Soviet Union spark war in 1967 between Israel and the Arab states by falsely informing Syria and Egypt that Israel was massing troops on the Syrian border? Based on newly available archival sources, "The Soviet Union and the June 1967 Six Day War" answers this controversial question more fully than ever before. Directly opposing the thesis of the recently published "Foxbats over Dimona" by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez, the contributors to this volume argue that Moscow had absolutely no intention of starting a war. The Soviet Union's reason for involvement in the region had more to do with enhancing its own status as a Cold War power than any desire for particular outcomes for Syria and Egypt.
In addition to assessing Soviet involvement in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli Six Day War, this book covers the USSR's relations with Syria and Egypt, Soviet aims, U.S. and Israeli perceptions of Soviet involvement, Soviet intervention in the Egyptian-Israeli War of Attrition (1969-70), and the impact of the conflicts on Soviet-Jewish attitudes. This book as a whole demonstrates how the Soviet Union's actions gave little consideration to the long- or mid-term consequences of their policy, and how firing the first shot compelled them to react to events.

This text provides a detailed historical study of Islam under post-war Soviet Communism. Yaacov Ro'i describes and analyzes all aspects of Islam which relate to the Soviet domestic scene, with the purpose of demonstrating how and why it survived in the face of Soviet repression and secularization. The first part of the book deals with establishment Islam - the four spiritual directorates, the registered prayer houses and religious personnel. The second focuses on unofficial Islam: those groups and personnel which operated without any official registration. The third section surveys the Islamic practice and observation of fasts, festivals and rites of passage. The final part of the volume is devoted to the political - regime policy, its implementation in different regions, and the implications of Islam's survival for the national consciousness of Muslim ethnicities.

Uzbekistan, the most strategically situated Central Asian country, has exhibited the most appalling record on human rights and democratic reforms. Yet, post-September 11, a transformation in US policy has suddenly taken place. US troops are now stationed there; Washington has put the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on its list of terrorist organizations; and the Bush administration has promised to triple aid to President Karimov's highly authoritarian regime. This unique study explores the centrally important question from a longer-term Uzbek point of view: to what extent are closer ties between Washington and Tashkent contributing to political reforms inside Uzbekistan? Akbarzadeh describes political events since independence, including the emergence of a radical Islamic opposition. He analyzes how September 11 has catalyzed a transformation in Washington's attitude as it perceived a common Islamic enemy, and he examines the possible beginnings in a retreat from Soviet-style politics.

Uzbekistan, the most strategically situated Central Asian country, has exhibited the most appalling record on human rights and democratic reforms. Yet, post-September 11, a transformation in US policy has suddenly taken place. US troops are now stationed there; Washington has put the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on its list of terrorist organizations; and the Bush administration has promised to triple aid to President Karimov's highly authoritarian regime. This unique study explores the centrally important question from a longer-term Uzbek point of view: to what extent are closer ties between Washington and Tashkent contributing to political reforms inside Uzbekistan? Akbarzadeh describes political events since independence, including the emergence of a radical Islamic opposition. He analyzes how September 11 has catalyzed a transformation in Washington's attitude as it perceived a common Islamic enemy, and he examines the possible beginnings in a retreat from Soviet-style politics.