War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence

War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
Ronan Farrow

A book for anyone interested to know more about how the world really works by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow.‘This is one of the most important books of our time.’ Walter Isaacson‘A masterpiece’ Dan Simpson, Post-Gazette THE NEW YORK TIMES #3 BESTSELLERUS foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America’s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America’s deals and protect democratic interests around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. Increasingly, America is a nation that shoots first and asks questions later.In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth – Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His first-hand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan.Drawing on newly unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, and policymakers – including every living secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson – War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, short-sightedness, and outright malice – but it may just offer a way out of a world at war.

Copyright (#ub930abdd-f9f7-50e3-b06e-669480286438)

William Collins

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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018

Copyright © Ronan Farrow, 2018

Cover design by Jack Smyth

Ronan Farrow asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007575626

Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780007575640

Version: 2018-04-18

Dedication (#ub930abdd-f9f7-50e3-b06e-669480286438)

For Mom.

Contents

COVER (#u9ddc47a2-506a-5475-b34c-9ae67d70903f)

TITLE PAGE (#u600736a9-b5e2-5f13-851a-0e62bf9e35cf)

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

PROLOGUE: MAHOGANY ROW MASSACRE

PART I: THE LAST DIPLOMATS

1 AMERICAN MYTHS

2 LADY TALIBAN

3 DICK

4 THE MANGO CASE

5 THE OTHER HAQQANI NETWORK

6 DUPLICITY

7 THE FRAT HOUSE

8 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

9 WALKING ON GLASS

10 FARMER HOLBROOKE

11 A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION

12 A-ROD

13 PROMISE ME YOU’LL END THE WAR

14 THE WHEELS COME OFF THE BUS

15 THE MEMO

16 THE REAL THING

PART II: SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS NEVER

17 GENERAL RULE

18 DOSTUM: HE IS TELLING THE TRUTH AND DISCOURAGING ALL LIES

19 WHITE BEAST

20 THE SHORTEST SPRING

21 MIDNIGHT AT THE RANCH

PART III: PRESENT AT THE DESTRUCTION

22 THE STATE OF THE SECRETARY