Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant in Detail, Loses One Star to Hype
Review:
I normally rave over Ralph Peter's books. He is America's Lawrence of Arabia and a brilliant intelligence analyst, especially on non-conventional threats. In this book (actually, a collection of clippings, most from the New York Post, which says something right off), he goes a bridge too far--on the one hand, he and his mentor, General McCaffrey) go several bridges too far in their praise for the "courageous" strategy of the Bush Administration (it's not a strategy, it's a mindless vendetta bought and paid for by Zionists), and on the other, he applies his superb mind to the realities of our global conflict with radicalized Islam.The book is full of gems. I've said he is a soldier-poet before, and this book continues that tradition. The flashes of brilliance demand the purchase and reading of this book. His most important point, one that merits its own book, is that America has misplaced its priorities in attacking radical Islam through Iraq (and passivity toward Saudi Arabia's sponsorship of terrorism, a neglect that will cost vastly more than the Iraq misadventure), and that it is the Muslim "outlands" from Central Asia to Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and India (with the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia) where America would be elevating women, nurturing secular states, and spreading the gospel of peace and prosperity. The author takes the long-view, at least a 50-year view, and this is in sharp contrast to the "quick win at any cost (to the future)" of the current Administration. Indeed, when the author describes bin Laden as "ultimately a blasphemer against his own religion, having appointed himself God's instrument upon earth, assuming the license to kill by the tens or tens of thousands those who do not share his vision, to purge, to punish, to sanctify," the author is in fact describing George W. Bush, not just bin Laden. The author overcomes the limitation of New York Post hyperbole in many of his pieces. Among the most interesting is one on the five socio-psychological pools from which terrorists draw their membership: underclass, "course of conflict" joiners, opportunists, hardcore believers, and mercenaries. Also helpful is his coverage of monotheist cultures, including a subtle reference to neo-conservatism aligned with Zionism as a rising monotheist culture potentially capable of undermining American democracy and religious tolerance. Deep in the middle of the book we find his discussion of a world divided into three strategic zones, apart from North America: the monotheist zone centered in the eastern Mediterranean; the Sino-Verdic(Indian) zone; and the postcolonial zone of Africa and Latin America. His discussion cannot be summarized and contains many brilliant insights, including a conclusion that China is not a regional threat, and China's greatest variable is not its external ambition but rather its potential for internal implosion. He is provocative in envisioning a huge "Afro-Latino-American" triangle of power emerging, with Brazil, South Africa, and the USA as the potential engines for this renaissance of the Southern Hemisphere. The author joins Robert Baer, whose book "SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude" in calling for a complete withdrawal of US support for the despotic and sleazy Saudi regime that blatantly continues to support global terrorism and the radicalization of Muslim youth. Where Ralph Peters falls short, I believe, and I say this with the utmost respect for this warrior-scholar who has placed his life on the line more than once, is in allowing his ultra-patriotism to shut out the discordant and sometimes dissenting view of other patriots who are perhaps more willing than he to acknowledge that we ourselves are part of the problem. This book is a one-man opinion piece with no reference to other works, such as those by Jonathan Schell ("Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People"), Mark Hertsgaard ("The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World"), or Michael Hirsh ("AT WAR WITH OURSELVES: Why America is Squandering Its Chance to Build a Better World"), among the many other national security books I have reviewed here at Amazon. It falls prey, therefore, to the over-powering tuba effect, and loses some of its gloss in being so strident and so unabashedly "grind the bastards down, we are the light"--but then, we acknowledge that he was writing originally for the New York Post. The author gets some big things right: Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright, and Sandy Berger have much to answer for in their deliberate avoidance of the reality of terrorism and their failure to go to a war-footing as both Dick Clarke and George Tenet, among others, advised. He also gets some things wrong. He is wrong, for example, when he speaks on page 166 of Islam's failure to generate a single healthy state, to that we answer: Malaysia. He is half-right when he half-bakes the French, who welcome different dictators to their bosoms for different reasons, while opposing American unilateralism, and he is half-right when he dismisses all of the anti-war voices as ill-considered and cowardly. He is largely wrong in dismissing "Old Europe" as a voice of reason, and he is mostly wrong in assuming that all is right with U.S. intelligence and that everything U.S. intelligence produces is reliable. I realize he is writing hyperbole for the public and knows better, but the book must be judged on its substance. To end on a most positive note, Ralph Peters is completely utterly correct when he points out that America has, in the past 20 years, surrendered the battlefield to our non-state enemies in advance, for lack of attention and insight and will. Ralph is one of perhaps ten people I listen to with rapt attention--his voice, when integrated with the voices of others with different perspectives, is a lifeline to reality, a voice we ignore at our peril.
Rating: 
Summary: Ralph Peters: a true ''patriot''
Review: I love how the truth of reality is scewed by quaint terminology like "national security". Lets call "national security" what it really is - offensive warfare, murder of people on a mass scale for the purely selfish interests of a small minority. Thats precisely what men like Ralph Peters advocate - murder, especially in the name of "cultural" and "economic" hegemony. Ultimately I don't see how people who write tracts such as the following one can even remotely be considered patriots: "There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing."(Major Ralph Peters 'Constant Conflict' Parameters, Summer 1997, pp. 4-14) That's very interesting; note: safe for OUR ECONOMY and open to OUR CULTURAL ASSAULT. Arrogant, short sighted, and deluded fool under the guise of "refined" intellectual elite seems closer to the truth than patriot to me.
Rating:
Summary: Ralph Peters: a true ''patriot''
Review: I love how the truth of reality is scewed by quaint terminology like "national security". Lets call "national security" what it really is - offensive warfare, murder of people on a mass scale for the purely selfish interests of a small minority. Thats precisely what men like Ralph Peters advocate - murder, especially in the name of "cultural" and "economic" hegemony. Ultimately I don't see how people who write tracts such as the following one can even remotely be considered patriots: "There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing."(Major Ralph Peters 'Constant Conflict' Parameters, Summer 1997, pp. 4-14) That's very interesting; note: safe for OUR ECONOMY and open to OUR CULTURAL ASSAULT. Arrogant, short sighted, and deluded fool under the guise of "refined" intellectual elite seems closer to the truth than patriot to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Just finished watching Ralph Peters on Fox news.
Review: I've read quite a bit of Ralph Peters, and I've seen him interviewed several times on TV. What he has to say isn't pretty. I saw a former CIA agent interviewed on TV the other night. He said we will not see the end to this conflict with terrorism in our lifetime, meaning people in their 40s and 50s. People like Jozsef Kele, in his "review" below, who live in a world of fuzzy wuzzy fantasy, don't want to come to terms with the dangerous world we live in. Many cowards hide behind the cloak of "conscientious objector."
Why some people in this country can't see the connection between Syria, North Korea, and probably Iran, is beyond all understanding. I guess they don't see it because they don't want to see it. I suppose that was the problem with Neville "Peace in our time" Chamberlain, who negotiated us into WWII. Do these people not understand that the socialist country of France was Iraq's biggest trading partner, and Russia is Iraq's biggest creditor? Who needs Iraq oil the most, France or the U.S. Why is Russia Iraq's biggest creditor? Why did Sadaam invade Kuwait? Did they do all this just to make us invade them. Wake up, all you people like Josef Kele. We have a war on our hands, and it just may be the worst war in world history. It will take a dedicated war plan, as Col. Peters says. And it won't be pretty. So Mr. Kele, just sit back and let the soldiers that hold the flag, and die for the flag, and whose casket is covered by the flag, do all your dirty work for you, then you can enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Rating:
Summary: plain common sense
Review: If the US policymakers listened to Ralph Peters, the world would be a better, safer place.
Rating:
Summary: Simplistic, Jingoistic, and Antagonistic
Review: If you believe in the USA uber alles, by all means read this book because Peters will confirm your worst fears about a multilateral foreign policy. If you don't, don't bother. From his author bio: "Ralph Peters maintains strict independence from all partisan organizations and finds the sight of burning bridges inspiring." Well, these aren't just figurative bridges Peters wants to burn--if you're a country in the middle East with a river to cross you'd better watch out, because Peters is coming your way soon.
Rating:
Summary: The Hatemonger speaks
Review: Mr. Peters is a rabid conservative partisan and known hatemonger who engages in peronsal insults. He is a disgrace to his country, and to the Miltary.
Rating:
Summary: Start with Fighting for the Future first
Review: Peter's writes another outstanding work which continues to expand upon the ideas presented in his previous works(Fighting for the Future and Beyond Terror). He pulls no punches in his analysis of the shaping strategic environment, and elaborates upon his changing ideas for the threats facing the US in the 21st century. This work is somewhat lacking in originality of content (almost all of the chapters are reprints of previous articles, and present few new ideas like his previous works) but still packs the trade mark Peter's incitefulnes. Worth reading just for the one liners.
Rating:
Summary: Start with Fighting for the Future first
Review: Peter's writes another outstanding work which continues to expand upon the ideas presented in his previous works(Fighting for the Future and Beyond Terror). He pulls no punches in his analysis of the shaping strategic environment, and elaborates upon his changing ideas for the threats facing the US in the 21st century. This work is somewhat lacking in originality of content (almost all of the chapters are reprints of previous articles, and present few new ideas like his previous works) but still packs the trade mark Peter's incitefulnes. Worth reading just for the one liners.
Rating:
Summary: Machine-gun bursts of common sense!
Review: Ralph Peters has the talent to present his ideas with exemplary clarity without being repetitive or boring. Although he can't conceal his Republican sentiments and his contempt for the Clinton policy regarding the Al Qaeda and Iraqi threat, he gives a fine analysis of the current geostrategic environment and the kind of threats that Western civilization faces. His views regarding the militant Islam and Osama bin Laden are based on solid facts but they are rather stretched sometimes with conclusions like "extremist Islamists fear the girls". The epithets "killers" or "murderers" are also overused when he refers to Al Qaeda operatives, but I think that if it is a characteristic of the Islamic terrorists that we can't deny it's their immense courage and self-sacrifice (no matter the cause they are fighting for). US and the West must respect their opponents and their ferocity and not try to degrade them with epithets (it is understandable that during a war you have to cultivate hate against the enemy but this must not lead to fatal underestimation of his strengths). The best part of the book is in my opinion the second one ("Our Wars") which contains articles that Peters wrote before and during the Operation Iraqi Freedom. The author should be proud of his clear judgement and forethought when a lot of media people saw only doom and failure, and also for his courage to blame Defense Secretary and his entourage for their naive instistence to wage a war with inadequate land forces (a fact that became painfully obvious in the postwar Iraq).
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