For some time now here at the Agonist we've been front-paging pieces by Hannes Artens. Hannes is the author of a book, The Writing on the Wall, which is a fictionalized account of an American war with Iran.

Hannes has shown that he has foreign policy chops and now has generously offered a review copy or possibly review copies of his new book for the Agonist. There are a couple ways we could do this.

The first, and I think most interesting, would be to have 3 or 4 Agonistas who are willing to commit to a live chat (perhaps on a Saturday afternoon) to read the book, then at the appointed time, one will review it and Hannes and those who have read the book, along with any other interested Agonistas, will chat about both the book, and what a war with Iran would be like. What scenarios are likely? What are the US's capabilities? In what ways can Iran strike back? Of those ways, which, if any, is Iran likely to choose? Would they work, and what can the US do to blunt or prevent them? I think most Agonistas are familiar with the infamous wargame where unconventional tactics allowed the side opposing America to sink a number of American ships: is there some risk of that here, with the US navy operating in enclosed waters? Are there lessons from the Lebanese war that can be applied here or is this a unique situation? What about the price, and actually concrete supply of oil? The questions go on and on.

The second possibility is a more traditional review. As usual, you'd get the book, and be expected to produce a (good) review within 3 weeks of getting it. If for some reason you couldn't do so, you'd be expected to send the book to someone who can.

If you're interested in either (or both) of these possibilities, please say so in comments, or drop me a PM. The possibility of an Iranian war is something we've been looking at seriously at the Agonist for some time and a thorough discussion of what one would be like could be more than worth our time.