The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower
Author: Robert Baer
Over the past thirty years, while the United States has turned either a blind or dismissive eye, Iran has emerged as a nation every bit as capable of altering America’s destiny as traditional superpowers Russia and China. Indeed, one of this book’s central arguments is that, in some ways, Iran’s grip on America’s future is even tighter.
As ex–CIA operative Robert Baer masterfully shows, Iran has maneuvered itself into the elite superpower ranks by exploiting Americans’ false perceptions of what Iran is—by letting us believe it is a country run by scowling religious fanatics, too preoccupied with theocratic jostling and terrorist agendas to strengthen its political and economic foundations.
The reality is much more frightening—and yet contained in the potential catastrophe is an implicit political response that, if we’re bold enough to adopt it, could avert disaster.
Baer’s on-the-ground sleuthing and interviews with key Middle East players—everyone from an Iranian ayatollah to the king of Bahrain to the head of Israel’s internal security—paint a picture of the centuries-old Shia nation that is starkly the opposite of the one normally drawn. For example, Iran’s hate-spouting President Ahmadinejad is by no means the true spokesman for Iranian foreign policy, nor is Iran making it the highest priority to become a nuclear player.
Even so, Baer has discovered that Iran is currently engaged in a soft takeover of the Middle East, that the proxy method of war-making and co-option it perfected with Hezbollah in Lebanon is being exported throughout the region, that Iran now controls asignificant portion of Iraq, that it is extending its influence over Jordan and Egypt, that the Arab Emirates and other Gulf States are being pulled into its sphere, and that it will shortly have a firm hold on the world’s oil spigot.
By mixing anecdotes with information gleaned from clandestine sources, Baer superbly demonstrates that Iran, far from being a wild-eyed rogue state, is a rational actor—one skilled in the game of nations and so effective at thwarting perceived Western colonialism that even rival Sunnis relish fighting under its banner.
For U.S. policy makers, the choices have narrowed: either cede the world’s most important energy corridors to a nation that can match us militarily with its asymmetric capabilities (which include the use of suicide bombers)—or deal with the devil we know. We might just find that in allying with Iran, we’ll have increased not just our own security but that of all Middle East nations.The alternative—to continue goading Iran into establishing hegemony over the Muslim world—is too chilling to contemplate.
From the Hardcover edition.
Publishers Weekly
Former CIA operative Baer (See No Evil) challenges the conventional wisdom regarding Iran in this timely and provocative analysis, arguing that Iran has already "half-won" its undeclared 30-year war with the United States and is rapidly becoming a superpower. In Baer's analysis, Iran has succeeded by using carefully vetted proxies such as Hezbollah and by appealing across the Muslim sectarian divide to Sunni Arabs, and is well on its way to establishing an empire in the Persian Gulf. Baer claims that since "Iran's dominance in the Middle East is a fait accompli," the United States has no viable choice but to ask for a truce and enter into negotiations prepared to drop sanctions against Iran and accept a partition of Iraq, which is already, and irretrievably, lost. Baer's assumptions are often questionable-most tellingly that Iran is now trustworthy-and his conclusions premature: he states unequivocally, for example, that "the Iranians have annexed the entire south [of Iraq]." But his brief adds an important perspective to a crucial international debate. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Kirkus Reviews
Former CIA agent Baer (Blow the House Down, 2006, etc.) examines Iran's growing influence in the Middle East, fundamentally challenging commonly held U.S. views. America doesn't recognize or understand this rising superpower, the author argues. Dissecting Iran's rapid evolution, the Baer notes numerous examples of modernization-use of the Internet, a burgeoning youth culture, sexual freedom-that are rarely reported outside the country. His central aim is to establish how Iran has maneuvered into a dominant position in the Middle East, largely thanks to the war in Iraq. By weakening the Iraqi army and decimating the moderate Shia clergy, Baer contends, the United States has unwittingly opened the gateway for Iran to seize control of Iraq's oil resources. As evidence of this, he points to the Afghan city of Herat, now full of Iranian goods, including gasoline. A radical new approach is required, the author suggests, if America is to gain leverage with Iran. This will involve negotiating with the country to turn it into an ally, not an enemy. The book's most intriguing passages analyze the mind-set that has enabled Iran to attain such a powerful position. Iran's leaders keep their military authorities hidden, they don't keep important paperwork, and they have learned valuable lessons from past mistakes, particularly those made during the bloody 1980-88 war with Iraq. Terrorist tactics have waned, Baer notes; there have been no known instances of Iranian suicide bombers since 1988, and behavior typified by notorious Iranian terrorist Imad Mughniyah has become a thing of the past. Many of the author's interviewees, including a former aide to Ayatollah Khomeini, believe that Iran is already asuperpower, and Baer concludes by emphasizing the urgent need for the United States to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the country's leaders. An important text studded with keen insights into a nation about which America remains dangerously misinformed.
Table of Contents:
Prologue 1
1 The Iranian Paradox 7
2 How Iran Beat America 29
3 The Master Plan: How Iran Arrived at Its Secret Blueprint for Empire 51
4 From Terrorism to Power Politics: How Iran Became a Statist Power 77
5 Lethal and Elusive: Why Iran's Weapons and Tactics Make It Unconquerable - Even Without Nukes 95
6 Seizing the World's Energy Corridors: Why Iran Will Shortly Control the Most Vital Oil and Gas Trade Routes 113
7 Toppling the Arab Sheikhdoms: How Iran Plans to Seize the Persian Gulf's Oil 137
8 White Knights: How Iran's Shia Are Winning the Hearts of the Sunni Palestinians 155
9 Winner Take All: Why the Shia Will Prevail - and the Opening It Offers 181
10 Ultimate Sacrifice: Martyrs, Suicide Bombers, and the Fight for the Soul of Islam 205
11 Memories That Don't Fade: What Iran Really Wants 233
Epilogue 249
Glossary 263
Index 271
Interesting textbook: E Mail Selling Techniques or How to Cheat in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6
Government 2.0: Using Technology to Improve Education, Cut Red Tape, Reduce Gridlock, and Enhance Democracy
Author: William D Eggers
A well-written, lively, optimistic book that calls for the transformation of technology in government from lipstick on a bulldog to total information awareness. This book is proactive in nature (see what these governments are really doing), does not call for a wholesale and costly transformation, and employs a subtle shaming of those governments that have not yet joined the 21st century. William Eggers's argument, conservative in nature, states that the world of politics would quickly and markedly benefit from this digital transformation in terms of a fiscal payoff, but a more profound change would result as governments become more transparent, more democratic, and more efficient.
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