Comment

The Devil We Know

Dealing With the New Iranian Superpower
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Port Moody Public Library.
voisjoe1
May 03, 2013voisjoe1 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I found “The Devil we Know” to be kind of a difficult read. Perhaps this is because America’s educational system is so Eurocentric that almost nothing about the Middle-east, Africa and Asia is taught in American schools. One thing that I do get from this book though is that Iran is no pushover like the neo-cons try to sell. Baer points out that the Iranian power structure is more complex that the neo-cons would like us to believe and that President Ahmadinejad is just a minor power center and the Ayatollahs and others are the real powers. Baer says that America must find a way to coexist with Iran, no matter how distasteful that may seem today. Armed conflict, sought by the neo-cons would just put us into a war that would last 10, 30, and perhaps 100 years and thus ruin the American economy more completely than it is ruined already with the last two neo-con wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Baer says that Lebanon and Iraq are now controlled by Shiites and Iran with its large Shiite population will be the most powerful Islamic group and the Sunnis (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan?) will be in permanent decline.