A review essay for Peacehawks, by Jamie Arbuckle
if you want peace, prepare for peace.
-Hans Blix
Being a review of the book The Fog of Peace – How to Prevent War, by Gabrielle Rifkind and Giandomenico Picco,[1]
and
of the Zoom conference, Honouring Giandomenico Picco: A Conversation About Negotiation and Diplomacy,narr Christine Amanpour and Sulome Anderson[2]
Introduction
Gabrielle Rifkind is Director of the Middle East programme at Oxford Research Group, and a group analyst dealing principally with the politics of the Middle East. Giandomenico Picco was for 20 years a UN Secretariat officer and was prominent as a negotiator with focus on Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 1991 he was able to secure the release of a number of hostages from long-term captivity by the Hezbollah; best known among them were Terry Anderson and Terry Waite. Rifkind and Picco have co-authored this important and highly readable book, which is amplified by the Zoom conference, co-hosted by Amanpour and the daughter of Terry Anderson.