War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What do you look for in a non-fiction book? For me, I want it to be informative - very much teaching me to learn new things; but I also want it to challenge my thinking, force me to analyze my existing ideas on a topic with the new information. It needs to be engaging.
On all counts, Farrow's "War on Peace" succeeds for me. While many will be drawn to the book due to recent events, which Farrow does cover, his thesis is much more expansive. He draws on the last 30-40 years of history - essentially using examples and case studies since the fall of the Soviet Union - to make his point. The U.S. has slowly, through both Democratic and Replublican administrations, de-emphasized and de-legitimized diplomacy. In its place, the U.S. has succumbed to over-reliance on "mil-think," reducing everything to military ideologies. In so doing, Farrow argues, U.S. has done a disservice to the noble traditions of the Foreign Service and diplomacy in the country, as well as made the country - and by extention, the world - less safe.
As I was reading, a recurring thought I had was how much the saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" has dictated our foreign policy. In the Cold War days, the U.S. would support anyone that would be in opposition to communism and the Soviet Union. This resulted in the U.S. providing support for questionable individuals who established regimes that often carried out great atrocities. But they weren't communist, so our foreign policy justified it. What recurred to me in reading this book was how easily the "spread of communism" has been replaced with the "spread of terrorism." U.S. foreign policy consistently supported warlords in Afghanistan and parts of Africa because they were secular and not jidadists.
Another recurring thought I had reading this is that the "end of diplomacy" of which Farrow speaks is consistent with the loss of respect for expertise that has gripped the U.S. over the past few decades. In this context, the U.S. - its citizens, politicians, and by extension its policies - have grown to not respect the amount of skill, knowledge, and expertise is gained through the Foreign Service, and by having those individuals in countries - talking to people, learning the language and the culture, understanding how certain actions will be perceived. The U.S. has slowly lost that over the last three decades, Farrow argues, and this book makes a compelling case that it won't easily be recovered.
In the end, Farrow's books educated me a great deal on recent historical events in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia, Somolia, and other places. The book is extensively researched, with interviews with every living (I think) Secretary of State, up to and including Rex Tillerson. Farrow also had interviews with multiple ambassadors in the State Department, heads of the CIA, and multiple generals.
The book will inform you. It will challenge you. That, to me, makes it a great read.
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