Don't Panic

It took a quarter-century of bad strategy, including more than a dozen years of Western air attacks and invasions in the Middle East, to bring the so-called "Islamic State" into existence. Can we somehow manage to avoid the well-trodden path of overreacting to the provocations of Islamist extremists?
     
With the rise of ISIS, a new style of terrorism that publicly gloats over acts of extreme cruelty has reawakened the fears of the global audience. But in Don't Panic, Gwynne Dyer argues that the advent of "Islamic State" and its clones does not substantially raise the risk of major terrorist attacks in Western countries. It does, however, pose a grave threat to the Arab countries of the Middle East.

In Don't Panic, Dyer first explains why the Middle East has become the global capital of terrorism. He then examines how terrorist organisations in the Arab world have evolved over time, with particular emphasis on the events of the past fifteen years and the current situation in Syria and Iraq. And in the end Dyer departs from his long-standing position that foreign interventions always make matters worse to argue that a little military intervention of the right kind may avert a genocide in Syria.

     "When my information changes, I alter my conclusions," said John Maynard Keynes. "What do you do, sir?"

“If you want to become knowledgeable about the current situation in the Middle East and ISIS politics, read Don’t Panic.” —Nelson Star

“If you’re interested in the ISIS question, pick up Don’t Panic: ISIS, Terror and Today’s Middle East, by Gwynne Dyer, a chatty, crystal-clear read.” —Ottawa Magazine GWYNNE DYER has served in the Canadian, British and American navies. He holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from the University of London, has taught at Sandhurst and served on the Board of Governors of Canada's Royal Military College. Dyer writes a syndicated column that appears in more than 175 newspapers around the world. In 2010, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He lives in England with his wife and children.