Synopses & Reviews
The foundations of World War III are being laid today.
American defeat in Iraq is only a matter of time, but how long it takes matters a lot. The fate of Iraq is a sideshow, the terrorist threat is a red herring, and the radical Islamists' dream of a worldwide jihad against the West is a fantasy, but the attempt to revive Pax Americana is real. No matter what the outcome of the election in November, 2004, the enterprise is likely to continue. It is bound to fail eventually, but we need it to fail soon.
American military power is not limitless, and the other big powers will not stand for US military domination of the world. They don't buy the cover story about the 'terrorist threat,' but they don't want a fight either. They are all on hold for the moment, hoping that America will remember its commitment to the United Nations, the rule of law and multilateralism. If it does not, then the drift back into alliances, balance-of-power politics and military confrontations will begin. Ten years from now, an American-led alliance that includes India and occupies much of the Middle East could be facing a European alliance led by France, Germany and Russia AND a hostile, heavily armed China.
In Future Tense, Gwynne Dyer's brilliant follow up to last year's bestselling Ignorant Armies, he analyzes how the world made its way to the brink of disaster, and describes how we may all slide over the edge. It was fringe groups of extremists - Islamist fanatics and American neo-conservatives - who set the process in motion, but it has gone well beyond that now. It is not too late, but the clock is running.
Synopsis
The war in Iraq: is it the war that brings peace to the Middle East, or the start of worldwide hostilities?
September 11, 2001 made the world wake up to two new threats to global stability: First is the attempt by Islamic zealots to goad the Western world, in particular the USA, into attacking them with such ferocity that Muslims everywhere will rally to their cause. The second is the American neo-conservative project, led by President George W. Bush and his advisers, which sees the USA as the victor of the Cold War and is intent on sweeping away all obstacles to the untrammelled exercise of American power and corporate expansion. In this timely and far-seeing book, Gwynne Dyer asks whether the future world will be split into these two warring camps or whether a third way will prevail – theshopworn but dogged attempt at world stability through the spread of human rights, which is epitomized by the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. In Future: Tense, Dyer looks in detail at these three global ventures and envisions a time soon to come when a massive realignment of alliances forever changes our world.
Synopsis
CA
About the Author
Gwynne Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than twenty years. His twice-weekly column on international affairs is published by 175 papers in some forty-five countries and is translated into more than a dozen languages.