Perilous Prospects: The Peace Process And The Arab-israeli Military Balance [Paperback]

Anthony H Cordesman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813330742 | ISBN-13: 978-0813330747 | Publication Date: May 31, 1996

Nobody understands the delicate and dangerous balance of power in the Middle East better than Anthony Cordesman. In Perilous Prospects, he supplies the first account of the military and security concerns arising out of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the recent assassination of Prime Minister Rabin.Cordesman considers a number of possible futures for the region, and their effects on the peace process, ranging the outbreak of a new intifada, to war between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights. He also provides an analysis of the internal security requirements of both Israel and a new Palestinian state, which are the key to any lasting settlement.Offering hard-headed analysis combined with hope for the future, Perilous Prospects is both timely and provocative.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anthony H. Cordesman is currently a senior fellow and codirector of the Middle East Program, and director of the Middle East Program at CSIS, a military analyst for ABC News and adjunct professor of national security studies at Georgetown University. He has served in senior positions in the office of the secretary of defense, NATO, and the U.S. Senate. Abraham R. Wagner is an independent defense consultant in the area of national security problems working with Science Applications International, Inc., as well as several federal agencies. He has written extensively on Third World military technologies and appeared on ABC News, the BBC, National Public Radio, and CBN to provide expert analysis of the Persian Gulf War.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (May 31, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813330742
• ISBN-13: 978-0813330747
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,265,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Perilous Prospects, July 31, 2001

By 

Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum, Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perilous Prospects: The Peace Process And The Arab-israeli Military Balance (Paperback)

Cordesman stands back and looks in illuminating detail at two main subjects: the relative strength of the Israeli vs. the Arab forces and the possible scenarios of war between the two sides.

Assessing the military balance, the author starts with formalistic lists of equipment and manpower, then peels away the externalities to get at the real strengths and weaknesses, the intangibles. Crude numbers show Israel in trouble; a look at only the highest performance weapons shows Israels position to be somewhat better; and a consideration of the whole pictureincluding quality of personnel and training, readiness, forward leadership, technological competence, command and control, combined operations, waging 24-hour war, and deep strike capabilitiesshows Israel to have a force qualitatively better than that of its neighbors. In this sense not much has changed from prior decades; indeed, Cordesman gives the distinct sense that Israels edge continues to increase.

As for scenarios, Perilous Prospects takes up eight in all, from a renewed intifada to an all out nuclear war, including a takeover of the Egyptian government by fundamentalists. Perhaps most interesting, because otherwise so little noted, is the 35-page analysis of a Syrian grab for the Golan Heights, which Cordesman sees as a realistic possibility intended to create new facts on the ground and perhaps to alter the outcome of peace negotiations.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1997