The Devil We Know

Fülszöveg

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... Tovább

Fülszöveg

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 oppo-
site of the one normally drawn. For example, Iran's
hate-spouting President Ahmadinejad is by no
means the true spokesman for Iranian foreign pol-
icy, nor is Iran making it the highest priority to
become a nuclear player.
Even so, Baer has discovered that Iran is cur-
rently 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 a significant 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 demon-
strates that Iran, far from being a wild-eyed rogue
state, is a rational actor—one skilled in the game of
(continued on back flap) Vissza