Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East

As other reviewers say, this book highlights the role of modern Syria in the middle east crisis which has gone on so long. When Asad came to power with Ba'athist colleagues in the sixties Syria was a country with little credibility as an independent nation. People like Asad saw Syria as part of the Arab nation, and at that time were under the spell of Nasser of Egypt who at one time seemed likely to unite the Arab world and stand up effectively against Western influences. However Nasser's way of doing things was to subjugate other nationalities to his own way without considering their character or needs and Syria broke with him. Asad and his comrades established themselves initially as an independent socialist country, neither communists, nor yesmen to other Arab states. After Asad fought off his rivals to become president around 1970 he spent a decade or more learning the hard way what it meant to try and unite the Arab cause in an area where not only Israel had its heavily underwritten ambitions to further but the US and Russia not to mention France and other nations all had their axes to grind. He discovered that relations with his fellow Arab nations would prove almost as difficult as the struggle against Israeli hegemony, aided and abetted as they were for the most part by the US, above all Kissinger, highly skilled at playing off one nation against another, and others who followed in his footsteps.

This very well researched book - the bibliography cites book in many languages including Arabic - then is mostly a story of how Asad learned to live with the big hitters on the international stage, and eventually to at least hold his own, mostly by learning to heed his own counsel.

I would say it would be impossible to really understand what is going on in the middle east without understanding the position of Syria, and this is one of very few books which has anything to say about it. But thats all right because its a cracker.

An excellent reader on Arab views of foreign policy (6/6 people found this helpful)

This book is interesting in that it takes the view of the Middle East from the Arab side. This in itself makes it an almost indispensable reader for those who want to find out both sides of the story of the struggle in the Middle East.
Basically, it tells the struggle of Hafez Asad and Syria to confron Israel and to stand up for Arab rights. Unfortunately, this has led Syria into fifty years of conflict with Israel.
This book goes through everything, the early years of conflict in the 1950's, the disaster of 1967, the even bigger setback of 1973 and Egypt's peace with Israel, and the final redemption of the Lebanon war (the only time when Arabs were able to resist Israel and push them back over their border).
It also covers Syrian wrong-doings, such as the massacre in Hama (often quoted by the west and Israel), and how these situations were created and sponsored by foreign security services (no prizes for guessing who). Read it and find out... Be prepared to find out that Al-Quaeda are linked to the people that Asad fought in Hama (the Muslim brotherhood)? This book was written in 1992, but if you make the connection this book takes on an even more unsettling relevance.
A worthy book for the open reader, one who doesn't just swallow western platitudes about 'terror'.

Donýt dare comment on the Middle East before reading this ! (6/6 people found this helpful)

I would not call myself a fan of political literature, yet I found this book absolutely riveting. Don't be fooled by the title, it's much more than just a biography of the mysterious Syrian leader. The book explains the background to the current problems in the Middle East and does not shy away from exposing the Israeli Middle East agenda and it's Washington allies. The book offers very fair commentary and illustrates how Kissinger and his cronies have created a time-bomb in this part of the World. It dispels the carefully cultivated myth of Israeli "self defence" and is a damming indictment of a grossly biased US policy that can only harm America in the longer term.

It's undoubtedly uncomfortable reading for us in the West and forces us to question our perceptions. For instance, how do we define terrorism and who are the real terrorists in the Middle East ? Why was it deemed critical to knock Saddam Hussein down to size after the Iran - Iraq war? Why is Israel able to consistently flout / side step and break both international conventions and UN resolutions? All these issues and more are answered in this superb commentary book.

"Asad" does of course delve the personality of this modern statesman and offers insight into his shrewdness and the events that shape his policies. He is portrayed as an essentially peaceful man who wants peace but not a peace dictated by exclusively Israeli terms. In short, he is the one Arab leader who understands the need to negotiate from a position of equality with Israel. The Syrian leader does of course have a darker side to his personality, and the book does not shy away from exposing this. Yet we must temper this with the knowledge that other Middle Eastern personalities (including Rabin, Dayan, Begin, Ben-Gurion and Meir are hardly angels). This book is a "must read". Buy it!

fascinating and informative (6/6 people found this helpful)

Although this book purports to be a biography of Asad, it is really a whirlwind tour of 20th-century Syrian history. The book's main focus is on its foreign relations with the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and the United States. With clarity and insight, Seale details such seminal events as the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, the Middle East peace process, and the Gulf Wars. Seale provides the perfect balance of explanation and analysis while never getting bogged down in useless detail. Useful analyses of such key figures as Sadat, Begin, and Sharon are just as relevant today as they were when this book was written. His detailing of Asad's relationship with Kissinger is enough to make the reader cringe for, unfortunately, Kissinger's duplicity and manipulations were not limited to such places as Chile,Kurdistan,etc. This book is invaluable for its enumeration on the political situation in the Middle East. Valuable to the reader struggling to gain an overall understanding of the Middle East, this book also shrewdly portrays Asad's rise to power both in his own country and in the Middle East.

Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East

P Seale

Reader Reviews:

The Man Who Put Syria on the Map (0/0 people found this helpful)

An excellent reader on Arab views of foreign policy (6/6 people found this helpful)

Donýt dare comment on the Middle East before reading this ! (6/6 people found this helpful)

fascinating and informative (6/6 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories