A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East
— From the Cold War to the War on Terror
By Patrick Tyler
Portobello, 640p
The author gives a graphic account of how first the British and then the Americans have played political and diplomatic ball in the oil-rich West Asia both during the Cold War period and after the Cold War ended only give to place to a global war on terror.
It is an account of five decades of missed opportunities, indecision, and inefficiency and above all of giant sized egos and of backroom players who thought they control the world by default.
Makes interesting reading. It offers no scholarly analysis. The author is content with a racy account of events that have unfolded
Nevertheless, Tyler effort serves a purpose.
Like the many quickies that have come to coincide with the inauguration of new American president, it is a guide on the Inheritance and on how to do better. The last chapter is devoted to Bush Junior’s days in the White House. And it reads like a virtual charge sheet.
Whether President Obama will succeed where his predecessors had failed remains a million dollar question. As the author tells, West Asia presents an opportunity to Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to write a new chapter by turning around the long record of American (British for that matter) failure, all because of their blatant partiality towards Israel.
It is time Tel Aviv factors in 21st century geo-political and security realities and learns to be a good neighbour while Israel’s neighbours stop wishing away the Zionist state.