Incognito
Banned
I still think that the easiest way to fulfill the OP is through a surviving Ottoman Empire that controls most of Middle East’s oil & uses the oil monopoly as an economic leverage and a source of money to modernize the nation. Ottoman Empire may not be Khomeini’s Islamic Republic of Iran or Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan but the Sultan of Istanbul is still the Caliph and the “universal ruler of Muslims”.
A superpower Ottoman Empire is bound to have global rivals – now can you imagine what it would be like if a Sultan-Caliph decided to pull a Reagan and call Russia or USA an “Empire of Evil”?
A superpower Ottoman Empire is bound to have global rivals – now can you imagine what it would be like if a Sultan-Caliph decided to pull a Reagan and call Russia or USA an “Empire of Evil”?