Gilbert Achcar

This book assesses the causes and consequences of the impact on the recent Middle East war. The authors describe the popular basis of Hezbollah in Lebanon among the Shiites, but also its relation to the country's other religious communities and political forces. They analyze the regional roles of Syria, Iran, and Hamas as well as the politics of the United States and Europe. The authors dissect the strategic and political background behind recent actions taken by Israel; the impact of Israel's incursion into Lebanon and effects on Lebanon's population -- and the consequences of the war on Israel polity and society.

"This inquiry into the probable shape of things to come is sober, uncompromising, deeply informed, and full of provocative insights and judicious analyses." Noam Chomsky "The most forceful, most rigorous text that there is to read on this war." Le Monde Diplomatique The volatile Middle East is the site of vast resources, profound passions, frequent crises, and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct U. S. intervention. Two of the most astute analysts of this part of the world are Noam Chomsky, the preeminent critic of U. S. foreign policy, and Gilbert Achcar, a leading specialist of the Middle East who lived in that region for many years. In their new book, Chomsky and Achcar bring a keen understanding of the internal dynamics of the Middle East and of the role of the United States, taking up all the key questions of interest to concerned citizens, including such topics as terrorism, fundamentalism, conspiracies, oil, democracy, self-determination, anti-Semitism, and anti-Arab racism, as well as the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the sources of U. S. foreign policy. This book provides the best readable introduction for all who wish to understand the complex issues related to the Middle East from a perspective dedicated to peace and justice.

"This inquiry into the probable shape of things to come is sober, uncompromising, deeply informed, and full of provocative insights and judicious analyses." Noam Chomsky "The most forceful, most rigorous text that there is to read on this war." Le Monde Diplomatique The volatile Middle East is the site of vast resources, profound passions, frequent crises, and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct U. S. intervention. Two of the most astute analysts of this part of the world are Noam Chomsky, the preeminent critic of U. S. foreign policy, and Gilbert Achcar, a leading specialist of the Middle East who lived in that region for many years. In their new book, Chomsky and Achcar bring a keen understanding of the internal dynamics of the Middle East and of the role of the United States, taking up all the key questions of interest to concerned citizens, including such topics as terrorism, fundamentalism, conspiracies, oil, democracy, self-determination, anti-Semitism, and anti-Arab racism, as well as the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the sources of U. S. foreign policy. This book provides the best readable introduction for all who wish to understand the complex issues related to the Middle East from a perspective dedicated to peace and justice.

From the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, to the fate of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and the Palestinian conflict, this volume brings together Gilbert Achcar's major writings on these issues over the past decades. Achcar analyses the social bases, strategies and tactics of PLO, Hizbollah, Israel and the United States from the establishment of the state of Israel to the second Intifada. He pinpoints the contradictions of the Israeli state - seeking at the same time to be Jewish and yet democratic - and the impact of these contradictions on all parties to the conflict. Informed by strong moral and political commitments, Eastern Cauldron is aims to produce a better understanding of the conflicts of the region.

From the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, to the fate of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and the Palestinian conflict, this volume brings together Gilbert Achcar's major writings on these issues over the past decades. Achcar analyses the social bases, strategies and tactics of PLO, Hizbollah, Israel and the United States from the establishment of the state of Israel to the second Intifada. He pinpoints the contradictions of the Israeli state - seeking at the same time to be Jewish and yet democratic - and the impact of these contradictions on all parties to the conflict. Informed by strong moral and political commitments, Eastern Cauldron is aims to produce a better understanding of the conflicts of the region.

The essays collected in Eastern Cauldron describe and explain the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, the fate of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and its aftermath, and above all the Palestinian conflict - in which the regional stakes are so dramatically embodied and contested. Achcar analyzes the social bases, strategies and tactics of PLO, Hizbollah, Israel and the United States from the establishment of the state of Israel to the second Intifada. He pinpoints the contradictions of the Israeli state - seeking at the same time to be Jewish and yet democratic - and the impact of these contradictions on all parties to the conflict.

The route to any coherent understanding of our time runs through the issues addressed in this collection of essays: the political meaning of Islam, the relation of the West to the Islamic world, the new form of imperialism signaled by the Soviet and U. S. occupations of Afghanistan, the intractable conflict over Palestine. In confronting these inescapable issues, global power is being reshaped and the ends for which it will be used are being decided. This volume brings together Gilbert Achcar's major writings on these issues over the past decades. The essays collected in Eastern Cauldron describe and explain the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, the fate of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and its aftermath, and above all the Palestinian conflictin which the regional stakes are so dramatically embodied and contested. Achcar analyzes the social bases, strategies and tactics of PLO, Hezbollah, Israel and the United States from the establishment of the state of Israel to the second Intifada. He pinpoints the contradictions of the Israeli stateseeking at the same time to be Jewish and yet democraticand the impact of these contradictions on all parties to the conflict. Eastern Cauldron is primarily aimed at producing a better understanding of the conflicts of the region. Achcar's work is informed by strong moral and political commitments but is never limited to polemic. His work demonstrates the immense capacities of Marxism to illuminate economic, political, and ideological developments without losing sight of their concrete singularity and their complex interconnection. His analyses are supple and inventive, and consistently informed by reflection on rival traditions of political thought and a deep knowledge of the region."

Ernest Mandel (1923-1995) was a member of a very rare breed: a theorist of activist Marxism. Leader of the international Trotskyist movement, lifelong revolutionary, and scholar of world renown, Mandel was one of those few individuals who combined the roles of political leader with intellectual work that commands the respect of the academy. This work presents a critical appraisal of the vast range of Mandel's theoretical work. The authors assess his contributions to political and economic theory; his humanist and optimistic variety of Marxism; his crucial contribution to the analysis of the dynamic of capitalism in the late twentieth century; his analyses of the bureaucracy in the workers' movement; his conception of the problems involved in the transition to socialism; and the specific relationship that this man-who came close to perishing in the Nazi concentration camps-had to the question of the Holocaust. Finally, this volume also includes a bibliography of Mandel's works as well as two previously unpublished pieces by him, one on the Holocaust, the other on the foundations of his unrepentant commitment to Marxism. Contributors include Robin Blackburn, Norman Geras, Michael Lowy, Charles Post, Francisco Louca, Michel Husson, Jesus Albarracin, Pedro Montes, and Catherine Samary.