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    The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran's Global Ambitions
    The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran's Global Ambitions
    The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran's Global Ambitions
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran's Global Ambitions

    Written by Arash Azizi

    Narrated by Eric Jason Martin

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    About this audiobook

    Until his assassination by US drone strike in January 2020, commander Qassem Soleimani was one of the most powerful men in Iran and the military spearhead for Iranian foreign policy, enacting the wishes of the country's Supreme Leader in the region. A widely popular but also feared maverick operator, he helped to establish the Islamic Republic as a major force in the Middle East, with interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. This was a long way from where he began as a youth, living on the margins in a country ruled by a monarch supported by the United States.

    In this engaging account, historian Arash Azizi examines Soleimani's life, regional influence, and future ambitions. The Shadow Commander breaks new ground through interviews with Iranians, Afghans, Iraqis, and Syrians who knew Soleimani for years, including his personal driver, the aides who accompanied him to his Moscow meeting with Vladimir Putin, and his brother. Ultimately, Azizi uses the story of this one important figure to make sense of the global ambitions of Iran, a country whose actions are much talked about but seldom understood.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 15, 2020
    ISBN9781705266120
    Author

    Arash Azizi

    Arash Azizi is a historian at New York University where he researches the transnational links that tied Iran and the Arab world during the Cold War. He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Daily Beast, Toronto Star and Jacobin, and several of his book-length translations have appeared in Iran and elsewhere. He lives in New York City.

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    • 4/5
      Pretty informative to learn of this man’s background, especially his origins beyond the brief outlines you get in papers. The author covers both the achievements (for the Islamic Republic) that led to his rise and the impact, including deaths of many, of Suleimani’s actions. As with most well written accounts you keep wanting more: relationship with the regular Iranian Army, how he saw the end game in realistic terms beyond the bluster.