A Red Line in the Sand

“As we are learning every day, the world is an ever more dangerous place, on a hair trigger from East to West, North to South. David Andelman, one of our most experienced national security journalists, gives us a timely, insightful analysis of the dangers and prospective solutions in this very welcome book.”

"If you’re taking bets on where the next war will break out, this is essential reading."

"Andelman moves briskly and confidently through these various hotspots, drawing on decades of experience reporting on international affairs. The result is a worthy introduction to a wide range of simmering regional conflicts that threaten global peace."

“David Andelman has masterfully accomplished the most difficult possible intellectual exercise: understanding where the balance point lies between war and peace. His work, without a doubt, is an essential landmark for all those who analyze or influence international affairs.”

“In his vital new book, David Andelman deftly marshals a wealth of examples from diplomatic and military history to demonstrate the life-and-death dangers of proclaiming red lines without fully thinking through the consequences. Calling attention to the dizzying web of lines in the sand around the world, Andelman urgently alerts us to the seeds of future conflicts as well as the opportunities for making peace.”

“David Andelman draws on decades of experience as a foreign correspondent to provide a smart, fresh take on the proliferating phenomenon of coercive “lines in the sand” that world leaders like to draw, often with disastrous consequences.”

“Do good fences make good neighbors? Does intervention cost more lives than it saves? From the Ramayana to Syria, Andelman takes us on a sweeping tour of every important place where arbitrary borders and diplomatic bluffs intersect. Before deciding on how to tackle North Korea, Russia, Iran, and other hotspots, the next president needs to read this book.”

 

“David Andelman’s book is valuable for specialists, academics and citizens who want to understand not just various conflicts around the globe, but also the origins of these conflicts and how our global political structures make future conflicts almost inevitable. A Red Line in the Sand is more than another trip around the world.  It probes a dynamic that has become almost ubiquitous in global affairs-red lines that must not be (but often are) crossed-to offer a compelling framework for understanding war and peace in the 21st century.”

“The term ‘red line in the sand,’ has been used for ages, but with varied, often disastrous results. Examining the history of states using the threat of retaliation to control their neighbors is essential to building a more inclusive and peaceful world. David Andelman offers a powerful testament of how today's world is filled with more ‘red lines’ than ever before and the dangers they present.”

“A fantastic work, and an eye opener, vital to understanding past and present red lines that have shaped the world as we know it today. It draws lessons that can help the world become safer and more peaceful. This is especially important in light of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not recognized any boundaries or red lines. The recent agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to establish formal diplomatic relations is another example of how eliminating red lines could help the greater good of nations.” —

“In this important and thoughtful book, David Andelman explores the fascinating story of how red lines have played a decisive, if not always fully understood, role throughout the recorded history of global diplomacy. Andelman traces how leaders have used and abused red line strategies through the centuries with consequences that are often unforeseen, sometimes calamitous, and every once and a while successful. Andelman’s detailed study uncovers an aspect of statecraft that, remarkably, has never really been examined before, providing fresh and original insights into the geopolitics of our past and our present.”

“Andelman’s book is both immediate and forward-looking—a sharp analysis of the situation in the many of the hottest areas of our planet. As an historian of the present, his work combines the in-depth research of an historian and the responsiveness of a journalist who has followed the most immediate and compelling global events. He brings to this work contacts at the highest levels he has accumulated over decades and used them in pursuit of his quest. A Michelin Guide to a world of crises, a roadmap of the perils that threaten us all. Read it with open eyes to learn more about the world today, how to react to it, if you can, and where to set foot.”