The dealings with the diaspora

When democracy was first conceived of and then slowly constructed as a sensible way of governance, no one could have foreseen what has become a major problem: the presence of minorities who not only support another nation, but who also receive support from that nation in ways that are technically legitimate but which violate their own country's vital national interest. Indeed, the problem is not confined to ethnic or religious minorities. It can extend to, say, ideological formations, such as communist parties, as well.

This book is about the activities of the Israel lobby in the US and how this lobby has often prevented the US from following the most appropriate foreign policy in West Asia and how this has prevented a viable solution from emerging. The authors don't say it and maybe don't even intend it. But any clever reader who joins the dots will see that the absence of a solution, mainly of the Palestine issue, is what has led to globalised jihadi terrorism.

It needs to be read very carefully in India because it has had to face similar problems, albeit in domestic rather than foreign policy. There are differences, of course. But the key message is the same, namely, that the dynamics of modern democracies, regardless of the political system, ensure that only the worst policies get adopted. This extraordinary outcome is the result of the extreme leverage that can be and is applied to the self-interest of political parties and politicians. Some game theorist should model the phenomenon.

There is another feature that appears to be common across democracies: the note of apology arising from PC. One would not have expected American academics to sound so apologetic about pointing out something like this but, in spite of their brave defiance, they sound exactly that way. We in India are familiar with this phenomenon. Even when you are telling the truth, you have to surround it with a dozen caveats of good faith and so on.

So this is what the authors say in the Introduction, "We categorically reject all of these anti-Semitic claims. In our view, it is perfectly legitimate for any American to have attachment to a foreign country." Nice try, that, the term attachment. Indians, Mexicans, Irish, you name it, they have all these "attachments". But how many have a lobby as powerful as the Israeli one and a patron as committed as Israel?

Consider this. "It is now largely forgotten but in the fall of 2001, and again in the spring of 2002, the Bush administration sought to reduce anti-American sentiment in the Arab and Islamic world by pressing Israel to halt its expansionist policies in the Occupied Territories and by advocating the creating of Palestinian State."

But it was "unable to persuade Jerusalem to change its policies and Washington instead ended up backing Israel's hard-line approach towards Palestinians (italics added)". How this was achieved "" the section is called "The Lobby Humiliates Bush" "" makes for fascinating reading. The lobby turned all its guns "" in the media, amongst the neocons, in the legislature "" on Bush and Colin Powell, the Secretary of State. It was a no-contest.

The authors provide scores of examples of this sort over the last 40 years, which need to be read by anyone who wishes to understand how the lobby operates and how really powerful it is.

THE ISRAEL LOBBY

John J Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt
Allen Lane
Price: Rs 750
Pages: 484