Dazzled by the Imperial splendours of India – the jewel in The Crown – and distracted by Byzantine politics in Cairo, Baghdad, and Damascus, The Arabian/Persian Gulf became a neglected backwater of the British Empire that allowed the USA to develop the Saudi Arabian oilfields, and usurp British interests in Persia (Iran). The Americans deposed the democratically elected government of Mosedeq, and replaced him with the corrupt Shah and his cronies.

The situation became so bad that Ayatollah Khomenei was invited to fly in unopposed and to install a deeply religious regime. As the Iranians say, “We used to drink in public, and pray in private. Now we pray in public and drink in private.”

It was American greed for oil, their naivete, and their unconditional support for Israel that has created what they perceive as a threat to Western democracy. As Ray Horrocks, a character in my book THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind” says:

“The Yanks understand the problems, they don’t understand the people. The Iranians write backwards, read backwards, and think backwards.”

My book is a collection of linked short stories featuring the flotsam and jetsam of expatriate Westerners who wash up in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. It highlights, and gives insights to the clash of cultures that has led to the present conflict.

THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind” is available in paperback from http://www.ReadARead.com, or can be downloaded as a ebook from Amazon’s Kindle.