Fareed Zakaria’s recent book, The Post-American World, is a real disappointment. Scholars with roots in the Middle East, the Arab World, or Islamic cultures in general, are naturally expected to be more inclined to reflect a fuller understanding of the sociopolitical realities of the regions that have been on the receiving end of America’s foreign policies. Not Mr. Zakaria, who is clearly more interested in preserving his tenure as a rather successful television host and an international commentator and a frequent guest on various TV shows. He is not alone in this; the so-called Middle East “Expert”, Fuad Ajami, is another media darling with similar motivations.

This book is a compilation of some valid and interesting material available is most newspapers and magazines, nothing original at all, interspersed with meaningless statistics and cherry-picked data, spiced by opinions that betray the author’s attempt in pandering to the public sentiments.

In short, don’t waste you time or money on this book.   

The Shadow Factory, by an expert in the inner workings of the formidable National Security Agency, James Bamford, should be a must-read. Even though each of the numerous chapters begins with a cinematic layout of the people and places, possibly anticipating a motion picture rendition at some later date, the wealth of material presented reveals the awesome power and reach of the world’s most elaborate and capable intelligence gathering agency.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft

These two Cold Warriors are looking at the new world of the 21^st century and its challenges to America’s position as a tried and tired superpower. Their views are dispassionately objective and eloquently argued.

THE DEVIL WE KNOW

Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower

Robert Baer

As a former CIA operative with vast experience in the Middle East affairs, Robert Baer offers an eye opening view of the Islamic Republic of Iran that the American people have seldom been exposed to. Sheltered from a realistic appraisal of Iran’s true position and agendas in its sphere of influence, the American public has been subjected to an anti-Iran propaganda that continues to snowball, now affecting even the stated foreign policy agendas of our presidential candidates.

Robert Baer is anything but an Iran apologist. However, he believes as I do, as reflected in most of my writings, that acknowledging Iran’s natural position and historical significance in the region and allowing a rapprochement, not as a master dealing with an underling, but as equals with common interests, would be the best of all options for the United States.