The Other Side of the Mirror (Brooke Allen, Paul Dry Books – Philadelphia 2011)

(International Affairs) Brooke Allen, an American critical writer, attempts in this book the ambitious task of writing a travelogue that opens up the closed state of Syria to an American public. Sadly, what Allen has created is a fragmented, superficial and deeply flawed foray into Syria that, considering the great potential of the task, is disappointing.

Although featuring sections of history and political commentary, the book reads much like a holiday diary. Much of the 248 page work comprises chunks of quotations ranging from Mark Twain to T. E Lawrence and a number of postcard-like pictures of Syria’s greatest tourist attractions. What’s more, the Syria that Allen describes is almost completely devoid of real characters. With no Arabic language skills to enable her to converse with Syrian people, the majority of the author’s encounters are with workers in the tourist trade. Allen admits to having ‘untutored eyes’ and one wonders how much you can really learn from an author whose book is based on seemingly only two short  trips to the country.

(Young Fabians) At a recent talk to Young Fabians Shadow Defence Minister, Jim Murphy MP, gave a glimmer into the recommendations that will come out of the soon to be released Labour defence policy review. Murphy bemoaned that in the past while Labour is seen as the natural party of the NHS, that the Conservatives are perceived as the party of the military, however in the era of Osborne’s cuts even the Hawkish Liam Fox isn’t able to truly defend that perception.

One of the key findings that Murphy spoke about is that an in-depth procurement review will allow Labour to set out how they propose to match the correct strategy to Britain’s global ambitions. Before the election last year the Conservatives hammered the government on the issue of helicopter procurement in Afghanistan. The 2010 Conservative Manifesto published a graph highlighting the difference in helicopter numbers between the UK and the US, going on to describe how Labour mismanagement has ‘endangered lives’ partly due to being ‘too slow to provide the equipment, such as helicopters, which our Forces on operations have badly needed’.

(The Majalla) The sheer size of the US Embassy in Baghdad says a lot about Washington’s intentions for the country. It is one of the largest and most expensive embassies on the planet, with 21 buildings fitting into an area that is two and a half times the size of the Vatican City. Yet, when it comes to the subtleties of international diplomacy, size isn’t everything. Indeed despite the US war in Iraq costing $750 billion and 4,470 lives there is a danger that the super embassy could become a white elephant, an enduring testimony to the failure of the US project in the country. As one of the 1.5m US veterans of the Iraqi war recently bemoaned to The Economist; “at a great cost of blood and treasure, we achieved nothing tangible.”

Iraq has become a quasi-ethno-sectarian state, a hyper-version of Lebanon with oil and a restive population of 30 million. Its democracy suffers from corruption and an enduring gridlock; in 2010 it took 249 days for a government to form. Although George W. Bush and Tony Blair regularly appeal to history to vindicate their Iraq adventure, the reality of what was a disastrous experience was highlighted by concerns during the fall of Qadhafi as to whether the lessons from Iraq had been learnt. As Qadhafi’s compound in Tripoli was captured a plethora of articles compared Libya with Iraq with the headlines asking “how can the new authorities stop an Iraq-style slide into chaos?”