Harvard prof launches self into orbit: can't see up for down! DRAFT!

Stephen Kinzer, the bestselling author of Overthrow, All the Shah's Men, and Crescent and Star, among others. An award-winning foreign correspondent, he served as The New York Times bureau chief in Turkey. He teaches international relations at Boston University, contributes to The New York Review of Books and writes a world affairs column for The Guardian.


Kinzer wrote, in his book published on 1 October 2010:
"Peace and democracy in the Middle East have been the aim of world leaders for generations, yet the US, UK or their closest allies in the region have been behind nearly every war in the Middle East in the last century. How did the West get everything so wrong? In this concise and readable book Stephen Kinzer takes the reader on a tour of modern Middle Eastern history, highlighting the errors, alliances and betrayals all acted out for what was shortsightedly seen as being in the interest of Western states. His insight and historical knowledge culminate in the startling conclusion that the US has allied with the wrong Middle Eastern states. Rather than Israel and Saudi Arabia, America's natural allies- according to Kinzer's controversial but closely reasoned analysis- should be Iran and Turkey."

THE United States must befriend Turkey and Iran while loosening its ties with Israel and Saudi Arabia. That is the central message of a new book by Stephen Kinzer, a former Middle East correspondent of the New York Times. Written before the flotilla of activists who recently tried to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza thrust Turkey into the heart of the argument between Israel and Palestine, this book is particularly timely. As an old ally of America within NATO and a rare Muslim friend of Israel, Turkey has recently become a lot more hostile to the Jewish state and a lot less keen to act in unison in the region with the Americans.

The implication of Mr Kinzer’s study is that Turkey could serve as a diplomatic hub for bringing America, Israel and the Palestinians together. The other half of his thesis is that Iran, too, should and could become a true friend to America, despite the bitter mutual hostility that has prevailed on an official level since
the Islamist revolution deposed the America-backed shah in 1979.
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