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Review
"An enthralling read" --Economist
"Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued." --Publishers Weekly
"A reasoned and perspicacious overview of the western failure to recognize the Iranian threat." --Kirkus
"Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued." --Publishers Weekly
"A reasoned and perspicacious overview of the western failure to recognize the Iranian threat." --Kirkus
Product Description
With nuclear aspirations, an Islamic theocracy, oil riches, and a leadership given to inflammatory rhetoric, Iran is the new bogeyman of global politics. Arch-enemy of the United States and bane of Britain since taking 15 navy sailors hostage in 2007, its president Ahmadinejad has been defiant on the world stage, with many predicting a US-led incursion sooner rather than later. But war is not about to break out. It has been raging for thirty years. Beneath the facade of strained diplomacy, there has been a quagmire of assassination attempts, arms trading, suicide bombers, and political manoeuvring. What's more, despite the monumental resources in the hands of Mossad, the CIA, and MI6 for this clandestine war, Iran has been winning. This explosive political tract draws on a decade of research to deliver a hard-hitting account of a vast conflict being fought under the public's radar. With unprecedented access to classified documents, interviews with intelligence agents, and revelations from political hit men, investigative journalist Ronen Bergman provides a gripping insight into the power struggle at the heart of the Middle East. Ronen Bergman is the senior security and intelligence correspondent for Israel's largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. An authority on Israeli intelligence, he has published widely on topics such as Israeli military history, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian-funded terrorism. A qualified lawyer, he holds an MPhil in International Relations and a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge. As well as presenting a leading Israeli television news programme, he teaches investigative journalism at the University of Tel Aviv.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having followed international politics since school in the late 1970s, I am familiar with most of the events mentioned in this book but the stories behind them still came as a complete surprise to me. Whilst we in the West are encouraged by our media and politicians not to trust Iran, this book gives good reason - if true - not to believe our own countries and governments. For those with a knowledge of the region, and/or the events, this book is a fascinating read though perhaps a bit American/Israeli in its perspective. The style of writing for such an analytical subject is also good, though it does sometimes verge more towards a novel.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an astonishing fusion of academic precision and a journalistic tour de force of Iran's activities in Lebanon, of the wide and vicious reach of Hizbollah and its other proxies in South America, Europe and Turkey. It pursues the convoluted, and often corrupt interactions between the US, Israel and Iran - and pinpoints some ugly and shocking twists - how an admired Israeli fertilised Iran's chemical program, more dark twists to the Iran-contra arms affair, and illuminates the details of Khaled Mashaal's botched killing in Amman with far greater clarity than laxer, earlier sources.
Bergman's lack of references is understandable given the nature of his sources, but at times they are extraordinarily precise.
He gives the hired Maltese motorbike number plate of the assassins of PIJ's Fathi al-Shkaki, a verbatim copy of Iranian Opn.s unit 43 Ali Akbar detailing the official but tightly muzzled support of Al-Qaeda, and seems to have broken the seal on Israel's previously ultra secret MI 504 unit. He plainly has intimate ties with highly placed Israeli, European and US intelligence sources, he has an insider's grasp of Mossad, and deep acquaintance with Shin Bet and Israel's MI.
Yet he is no man's spokesman, he is dispassionately critical in turn of Israel, the US, Hizbollah and Iran's own strategic flaws and weaknesses. For those who criticise him for bias, I'd be interested in a reference to a US equivalent, let alone a French, German or Iranian one!
The strong commendation of his former Cambridge mentor, Prof.Andrew undergird his academic credentials.
Whilst the book reads almost like a vain case for a rerun of Osirak on Iran - which now seems vanishingly unlikely, its value as an expose of the bloody and circular machinations of the intelligence agencies will long endure.
Bergman's lack of references is understandable given the nature of his sources, but at times they are extraordinarily precise.
He gives the hired Maltese motorbike number plate of the assassins of PIJ's Fathi al-Shkaki, a verbatim copy of Iranian Opn.s unit 43 Ali Akbar detailing the official but tightly muzzled support of Al-Qaeda, and seems to have broken the seal on Israel's previously ultra secret MI 504 unit. He plainly has intimate ties with highly placed Israeli, European and US intelligence sources, he has an insider's grasp of Mossad, and deep acquaintance with Shin Bet and Israel's MI.
Yet he is no man's spokesman, he is dispassionately critical in turn of Israel, the US, Hizbollah and Iran's own strategic flaws and weaknesses. For those who criticise him for bias, I'd be interested in a reference to a US equivalent, let alone a French, German or Iranian one!
The strong commendation of his former Cambridge mentor, Prof.Andrew undergird his academic credentials.
Whilst the book reads almost like a vain case for a rerun of Osirak on Iran - which now seems vanishingly unlikely, its value as an expose of the bloody and circular machinations of the intelligence agencies will long endure.
Format:Paperback
The author has compiled a comprehensive account of Iran's covert activities since the Islamic revolution in 1979. He gives lots of behind the scenes information, from declassified information. The book flows very well, and Bergman has done a good job of tying the chain of events over the last forty years, to paint a whole picture. He also goes in depth to give insight into the mindset of the regime in Iran. I have not seen any other work on Iran, which delves so deep. This is a must read, especially as the topic discussed is a current event, and also something which could have implications for the entire world.
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This was quite interesting in it's way, and obviously written from an Israeli perspective. My quibble was simply "how can we know how much of this is true? Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2010 by Stuart Fairney
Good book - But overreaches
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