How Britain Broke the World - Snell, Arthur

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Résumé :
How Britain Broke the World is a compelling, eye?opening account of how British foreign policy helped shape the turbulent world we're living in now. If you've wondered why the rules?based international order feels weaker, why conflict keeps spreading, and why trust in Western leadership has eroded, this book connects the dots - from the Balkans to the Middle East, from London's financial districts to Brexit's aftershocks in Europe. Snell isn't a distant commentator. He served as a British diplomat through the era of ethical foreign policy, humanitarian intervention and the war on terror, including postings in places where the consequences were brutally real. He writes with an insider's understanding of the Foreign Office, Downing Street decision?making, intelligence culture, and the national obsession with punching above our weight - and he shows what happens when ambition outruns strategy, expertise and accountability. Across a fast?moving narrative of modern history and geopolitics, you'll see how pivotal UK choices since the late 1990s contributed to a world of greater instability, rising authoritarianism and deepening great?power rivalry. Snell explores how Britain repeatedly became the marginal buyer in international crises: not always the biggest actor, but the one that tipped the balance. Inside, you'll explore:Kosovo and the birth of liberal interventionism: NATO's war in Europe, the humanitarian argument, and the long?term cost of bypassing UN Security Council authority Iraq, MI6, and the weapons of mass destruction fiasco: intelligence failures, the infamous dossier, and how a botched invasion helped fuel sectarian violence, regional chaos and the conditions that later fed ISIS/Islamic State Afghanistan and the fantasy of government in a box: counter?terrorism, nation?building, Helmand, and why exit strategies collapse when local realities are ignored Libya and Syria: regime change, power vacuums, proxy warfare, and the ripple effects of prolonged conflict and refugee flows Russia and the London laundromat: oligarchs, offshore tax havens, money laundering, corruption and the security consequences of letting dirty money shape politics China and Britain's golden era error: trade, technology, strategic dependency, and tensions inside the Five Eyes intelligence alliance...

Biographie:
After graduating from Oxford with a first class degree in history, Arthur Snell joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He took and passed the Arabic language course, becoming a fluent Arabic speaker.He served Britain in many troubleshoots around the world, including Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Yemen, and Iraq.He headed the international strand of the UK Government's Prevent counterterrorism programme.He is currently a geopolitical consultant and host of the hit podcast Doomsday Watch....

Sommaire:
Engrossing and frankly deeply troubling - The Bookseller I cannot recommend this book highly enough - Monocle One of the most engaging and original analyses I've read of events of the last quarter century - Shakespeare & Co Buy this book - John Sweeney, journalist Turmoil in the 2020s.Russia has invaded Ukraine. China threatens Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Endless war in the Middle East sends waves of migrants and terrorists around the world. And the biggest nations on Earth cannot agree effective action to stop global heating. Instead of being a global force for good and actively preventing some of these problems, Britain has all too often fostered instability and division. In fact, the UK's careless 'humanitarian' interventions, grandiosity and greed have helped to fracture the global order built after World War II, argues former British diplomat Arthur Snell in this pithy book. Why is the world so dangerous now? How Britain Broke the World critically assesses UK foreign policy over the past 25 years, from Kosovo in 1998 to Afghanistan in 2021, while also scrutinising British policy towards the powerhouses of the USA, Russia, India, and China. Far from being unimportant, Snell reveals, Britain has often played a pivotal role in world affairs, for instance, by supplying the false intelligence that justified the Allied invasion of Iraq and and by plugging Russia's corrupt elite into Western economies. Then come the bungled humanitarian interventions in foreign states. Without the UK's marginal but key role, the author argues, it's likely that wars would not have blighted the Balkans, Iraq, and Libya, hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved, and the world would be a safer place in the 2020s. Taking in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Snell charts the key political, economic and geographic factors that drive the behaviour of the most powerful and populous countries. Like a diplomatic version of Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall, How Britain Broke the World reveals the ignominious reality of UK foreign policy and the true state of world affairs. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Britain's role in international affairs. Review 'In this engrossing and frankly deeply troubling book, former senior British diplomat Snell explains how Britain's often incompetent, inconsistent and sometimes downright greedy foreign policy has played a pivotal role in rendering the world a more dangerous place. Not only in regard to Russia, where successive British governments have helped to plug Putin's oligarchy into the Western economic system, but also when it comes to the wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya and more' - The Bookseller's Caroline Sanderson, awarding an 'Editor's Choice' for Non-fiction ???Diplomats are masters of urbane double-talk, so it is refreshing to find a former Foreign Office mandarin issuing a trenchant indictment of Britain's deplorable geopolitical performance over the last twenty-five years. - Literary Review...