Quicksilver War
Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict
-
- $23.99
-
- $23.99
Publisher Description
Quicksilver War is a panoramic political history of the wars that coursed through Syria and Iraq in the wake of the 'Arab Spring' and eventually merged to become a regional catastrophe: a kaleidoscopic and constantly shifting conflict involving many different parties and phases. William Harris distils the highly complex dynamics behind the conflict, starting with the brutalizing Baathist regimes in Damascus and Baghdad. He charts the malignant consequences of incompetent US occupation of Iraq and Bashar al-Assad's self-righteous mismanagement of Syria, through the implosion of Syria, and the emergence of eastern and western theatres of war focused respectively on future control of Syria and the challenge of ISIS. Beyond the immediate arena of conflict, geopolitical riptides have also been set in motion, including Turkey's embroilment in the war and the shifting circumstances of the Kurds. This sweeping history addresses urgent questions for our time. Will the world rubber-stamp and bankroll the Russian-led 'solution' in Syria, backed by Turkey and Iran? Is the 'Quicksilver War' about to reach an explosive finale? Or will ongoing political maneuvering mutate into years of further violence?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Harris, professor of politics at the University of Otago, New Zealand, maps the rapidly shifting contours of the post Arab Spring Syria conflict, which has defied resolution largely because a "zoo of local regimes and sub-state actors" have all "exhibited autonomous tendencies." Harris rejects the notion that Syria's violence can be attributed to spillover from Iraq; rather, the power vacuum in Syria allowed a nucleus of Iraqi jihadists to reconstitute themselves as ISIS at a time when they were nearing irrelevance, and Turkey's reticence to control its border "integrated two scenes widely separated in time, space, and character." Peppered with personal observations, Harris's narrative relies heavily on reports in the Arabic media and think-tank analyses, occasionally becoming a thicket of acronyms and anodyne accounts of temporary alliances made and broken for obscure reasons. More detailed evaluations of the Kurdish response to the war and of Turkish policy ("entirely incoherent") go beyond what is easily available from other sources. All of the actors including Russia, the U.S., and a smattering of ersatz militias pursue complex and often self-contradictory priorities in a crucible of distrust and animosity. Harris sheds light on a very dark situation, but offers little hope for the future beyond "superficial restoration of the prewar status quo." Maps.
