Customer Reviews

Iran: Time for a New Approach

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Contrary to the predictable hysterical denunciations from hard-line neo-con or (some)Israeli circles, this work is in fact a hard-nosed but nuanced analysis based on a recognition of the complexities of the Iranian polity and its foreign policy-making system, and on a grasp of what actually happens inside that system of overlapping and crosscutting factions, rather than on bland assertion. Again contrary to what, for instance, another reviewer on this site claims, this work by no means assumes Iran is transparently innocent - merely that it contains multiple voices, has serious grievances, and can quite possibly be addressed by the sorts of alternative approaches that President Obama (now with one of the authors as his Secretary of Defence aand another as an influential voice in the background) is attempting. If you want to have some understanding both of where Obama is coming from in this respect, and of how Iran works in foreign policy terms, you could do worse than read this excelllent short book. (For a very recent study, see also Ray Takyeh's latest, Guardians of the Revolution). The point, at the time of publication, was to try and talk some sense into the blinkered, and palpably failed, US policy on Iran then being pursued, by showing possible ways forward (and, indeed, by showing just how badly existing policy was failing). There are no rose-tinted spectacles here, though.

Brzezinski and Gates seem to think that Iran is some Middle Eastern version of the Girl Scouts. i.e If one talks nicely and politely to them they will respond by providing nice goodies in return. But the fact , which Brezinski and Gates underplay is that Iran is a radical Muslim regime which is driven by Ideology. It is not a ' realpolitik player' in some chessboard game of international relations. It is rather a fanatically committed regime whose aim is overthrow of the United States, culturally as well as politically.
Brezinski and Gates show no sign of urgency in regard to impending Iranian nuclear weapons. And this when it is clear that a nuclear Iran not only threatens domination of the Gulf, and world oil resources, but has vast new potentialities for achieving its major aims, including destruction of Israel and eventually the United States. A nuclear Iran means a nuclear- arms - race throughout the world, and the end to non- proliferation.
There are works that make us see deeper into the military and political realities- and those which hide the severity of the real problems by opting for non- realistic , and simplistic solutions. This book gives much evidence of belonging to the
latter category.