If humility is the strength of the weak,
then hubris is the weakness of the strong.
—Mardy Grothe
then hubris is the weakness of the strong.
—Mardy Grothe
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Treacherous Alliance - the secret dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States by Trita Parsi
A couple of months back I had come across a reference to this book in a newspaper article. Earlier, a mention of Israel would have made me think of only the Palestine and the US. I didn't know of the Iranian angle to this equation. But then I wasn't too interested in international politics before. This book has changed it all.
It begins at the very beginning - the relation between the 3 countries i.e. Israel, Iran and the US right from the era of the cold war. The US probably had only one agenda then - to keep the erstwhile USSR out of the region. But the sheer complexity of the relations between Israel and Iran is mind-boggling. On one hand, Iran needed Israel to get closer to the US while on the other a very open diplomatic relationship ran counter to her pursued goal of leadership in the region. And Israel looked at Iran through the prism of her Periphery Doctrine. While we are grasping this, the author takes us through the event that changed the dynamics of the region right from its very core - the collapse of the USSR. It is intriguing to find that the very Israel that always wanted the US to have closer ties to Iran did a smooth U-turn and cited Iran's nuclear program as the reason why it wanted the country isolated. Add to this the Sunni-Shia angle, Iraq, the rest of the Arab states and of course, the issue of the Palestine. The plot thickens to such an extent that it would put the pea-soup fog in England to shame. The author also describes how the regime change - from the Pahlavi dynasty to the reign of the Ayatollahs - has shaped Iran's foreign policy.
After reading this book, I have come to realize what complex web of reasons can lie at the root of a seemingly perplexing action by a nation. If formulating a foreign policy was like walking on a tightrope in last century, it must be nothing short of a trip through a minefield in this one - thanks to globalization and terrorism.
It begins at the very beginning - the relation between the 3 countries i.e. Israel, Iran and the US right from the era of the cold war. The US probably had only one agenda then - to keep the erstwhile USSR out of the region. But the sheer complexity of the relations between Israel and Iran is mind-boggling. On one hand, Iran needed Israel to get closer to the US while on the other a very open diplomatic relationship ran counter to her pursued goal of leadership in the region. And Israel looked at Iran through the prism of her Periphery Doctrine. While we are grasping this, the author takes us through the event that changed the dynamics of the region right from its very core - the collapse of the USSR. It is intriguing to find that the very Israel that always wanted the US to have closer ties to Iran did a smooth U-turn and cited Iran's nuclear program as the reason why it wanted the country isolated. Add to this the Sunni-Shia angle, Iraq, the rest of the Arab states and of course, the issue of the Palestine. The plot thickens to such an extent that it would put the pea-soup fog in England to shame. The author also describes how the regime change - from the Pahlavi dynasty to the reign of the Ayatollahs - has shaped Iran's foreign policy.
After reading this book, I have come to realize what complex web of reasons can lie at the root of a seemingly perplexing action by a nation. If formulating a foreign policy was like walking on a tightrope in last century, it must be nothing short of a trip through a minefield in this one - thanks to globalization and terrorism.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read the following:
With assembly elections less than a month away, the Congress has asked the Election Commission "to hide lotus ponds from the eyes of voters", in a desperate attempt to keep voters away from the "party symbol of the BJP".
I guess we all will have to walk with our hands covered if the BJP decides to respond in kind. :-)
With assembly elections less than a month away, the Congress has asked the Election Commission "to hide lotus ponds from the eyes of voters", in a desperate attempt to keep voters away from the "party symbol of the BJP".
I guess we all will have to walk with our hands covered if the BJP decides to respond in kind. :-)
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