The Foreign Service Journal, October 2010

this excellent memoir, the 41st publi- cation in the ADST-DACOR series. Let me close by quoting a blurb from Jack F. Matlock Jr., U.S. ambas- sador to the USSR from 1987 to 1991, which I believe many readers of this account will echo: “To us veterans of the Cold War’s diplomatic front lines, Kempton Jenkins tells it like it was. He names the key players, gives a keen insight into their character, and shows why some were heroes and some villains. ColdWar Saga is an ab- sorbing read. If you fought with Jen- kins in the political trenches, it will stir fond memories. If you didn’t, it will take you there … [to see] what was at stake.” Aurelius (Aury) Fernandez is a retired U.S. Information Agency Foreign Ser- vice officer. A New Middle East “Power Triangle”? Reset: Iran, Turkey and America’s Future Stephen Kinzer, 2010, Henry Holt, $26.00, hardcover, 274 pages. R EVIEWED BY R ICHARD M C K EE Veteran foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer challenges long-held premises of U.S. policy in his latest book by arguing that Washington should pursue peace and stability in the Middle East via a “power triangle” comprising the United States, Turkey and Iran. In his view, the people of these three nations share a strong commitment to democracy and their governments’ strategic interests are congruent, so such an entente could attain objectives that America’s tradi- tional reliance on Israel and Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve. To make his case, Kinzer first re- calls remarkable personalities who have participated in Iranians’ and Turks’ sustained struggle for democ- racy and independence. He profiles two Americans still revered in Iran — Howard Baskerville, killed in 1906 while defending Tabriz against coun- ter-revolutionary forces, and Morgan Shuster, who five years later was ap- pointed to reform Iran’s finances. (British and Russian envoys soon had him fired.) Kinzer also portrays former Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossa- degh as a democrat and nationalist whose overthrow by the CIA in 1953 ushered in Reza Shah’s abusive autoc- racy — which, in turn, led to the cre- ation of the Islamic Republic. Thirty years after the Iranian Revolution, Ira- nians still hope to regain their lost democracy, as their protests against the fixed 2009 elections demonstrate. Despite bitter memories and heat- ed rhetoric on both sides, Kinzer ad- duces evidence that Washington and Tehran have found common ground in the past. Soon after 9/11, the two gov- ernments agreed on ways Iran could assist U.S. troops in Afghanistan. And even though President George W. Bush included Iran in his “axis of evil,” in 2003 Tehran secretly offered to open its nuclear facilities for inspection and cut off aid to Hamas and Hezbol- lah. In return, it wanted sanctions lifted, access to peaceful nuclear tech- nology and recognition of its “legiti- mate security interests.” Regrettably, the Bush administration never pursued such a deal. As for Turkey, Kinzer recalls Kemal Ataturk as a military hero who, in 1923, rallied the Turks to drive out European troops, established a secu- lar republic and, inter alia, ordered men to wear caps and women to drop their veils in public buildings. Al- though thrice set back by military coups, by 2007 democracy had be- come so entrenched in Turkey that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo- gan, described as a wily street fighter, could call the generals’ bluff and have a pious fellow Muslim, Abdullah Gul, elected president. Kinzer correctly asserts that Turk- ish diplomatic initiatives can achieve objectives Washington is unable to pursue directly, though recent events underscore the odds against success. Ankara once encouraged Israeli-Syr- ian contacts, but that effort perished along with nine Turks on the flotilla headed for Gaza this summer. About the same time, Ankara and Tehran agreed to store some Iranian nuclear materials in Turkey, but Wash- ington immediately dismissed that possibility with disdain. Moreover, Turks still resent the great damage in- flicted on their now-booming econ- omy by U.S.-promoted sanctions on Recent developments complicate Kinzer’s thesis that Tehran, Ankara and Washington can forge closer relations. O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 B O O K S