Description
In the series of 21st century wars initiated by Washington in the name of a ‘New Middle East’, resistance forces are prevailing. Like all imperial gambits before it the US-led plan has been to subjugate the entire region – whether through the direct application of force, or through coalitions or proxies – to secure privileged access to its tremendous resources and then dictate terms of access to all other players.
Insofar as the key to a definitive defeat of Washington’s ambitions lies in regional integration of the resistance forces–an integration led by Iran, the undisputed leader of an ‘Axis of Resistance’ to foreign domination and Zionist expansion—Iran has emerged as an ever more central target for regime change.
This book, Axis of Resistance: towards an independent Middle East, follows the author’s 2016 book The Dirty War on Syria. It examines the end of the war on Syria and the wider elements of the regional conflict, in particular the prospects for a democratic Palestine, the character of the Resistance and the role of Iran. It draws attention to these broad leitmotifs underpinning each particular history that are key to understanding both the parts and the whole:
- A single, essentially colonial impetus drives each particular US aggression from Libya to Afghanistan. These hybrid wars utilize propaganda offensives, economic siege warfare, terrorist proxies, direct invasions and military occupations followed by repression via client states. The aim is to keep resistance forces fragmented.
- Just as each aggression forms part of a broader Washington strategy, similarly the integration of the resistance in particular remains critical to its success.
- The Resistance has a common character but no idealised personality or ideology. However the common features are a demand for popular self-determination and for accountable social structures that serve broad social interests.
This book addresses myths about the wars and the resistance, while attempting a partial and provisional history of the conflicts. A focus on resistance can help readers understand the defeat of great powers, something not possible for any analysis which begins and ends with power.
DENIS RANCOURT –
“Professor Tim Anderson’s book Axis of Resistance: Towards an Independent Middle East may be the most important geopolitical analysis of 2019, by a Western academic and field researcher.
I am in awe. It is an intellectual pleasure comparable to when I first read On Power and Ideology by Noam Chomsky.”
Father David Smith Anglican Priest, Sydney, Australia –
“Thanks, Tim, for once again putting your scholarship to work in the service of justice and truth. When immersed in the struggle – the bloodshed and the propaganda – it’s often hard to see the big picture. You’ve given us that big picture, along with what all of us in ‘the resistance’ most need – hope.”
Father David Smith
Anglican Priest, Sydney, Australia
Rev. David B. Smith, B.A. (Hons), B.Th., Dip.A.
Parish Priest, Holy Trinity Dulwich Hill
Professional Boxer, 6th degree black belt,
Senior Trainer, Father Dave’s Fight Club
Manager, Binacrombi Boot Camp
Managing Director, Fighting Fathers Ministries
President, Friends of Sabeel Australia
Marrickville Citizen of the Year 1994 & 2009
Nominated Australian of the Year 2004, 2009 & 2017
Guiness World Record “Most Continuous Rounds of Boxing” 2012