The Middle East has long been one of the most volatile regions in the world, but with events of the recent past, it has gone from a slow burn to a dangerous conflagration. The civil war in Syria, the Arab Spring, and the looming threat of Iranian nuclear weapons pose a unique threat to world peace. The three most stable powers in the region--Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia--have long been bulwarks against regional instability and outright war. However, even these nations are feeling the threat of changing times, fueled as much by internal pressures as by U.S. disengagement and increased meddling by Russia and China. These nations represent a Sunni Vanguard, the last bastion of defense against terrorism, expansionism, and Islamic radicalism that, when combined, form the core of the greatest threat to the Middle East in generations. This volume explores the existential threats facing these allies--and evaluates whether they will be able to continue their historic roles as stabilizing forces in the region.

Why do cultures commit suicide? Why are we witnessing a new great extinction of peoples? Why is the economic crisis really a spiritual crisis? Probing the inner workings of civilization in a tour d'horizon of cultural decline, Spengler argues that Europe's postnational, secular dystopia is a death trap, that the onslaught of modernity has plunged Islam into an even greater crisis, and that the destiny of nations is decided in the human heart, by religion. Christian America, in spite of its follies and gullibility, has the spiritual strength to restore the faith of the West. This book presents, in one comprehensive volume, the wide scope of Spengler's theories on Christianity, Islam, America, the financial crisis, horror movies, modern art, Israel, Tolkien's Middle Earth, tribalism, the global balance of power, demography, and sex in the twenty-first century. These highly original essays may provoke you, even frighten you--but never bore you.