No one better than a representative assigned the task to put the wheels of the Abraham Accords in motion could give a bird’s eye view of the events leading to signing the Accords and the aftermath. Aryeh Lightstone’s narration of the story surrounding the Accords gains credibility as he was part of high-level discussions on the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ vision. Lightstone was Chief-of-Staff to David Friedman, who served as US Ambassador to Israel between 2017 and 2021. He was the liaison between the States parties to the Accords and was in charge of facilitating the Accords’ implementation. Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peace—and What Lies Ahead echoes what the author believes should be the US policy in the Middle East—Treat allies like allies and enemies like enemies. He mentions in the book’s initial pages, ‘Being pro-Israel is America’s national character’ (p. 6), and later on ‘Israel’s love for America and its dependence on the United States are pretty much an unquestioned foundation of Israeli foreign policy’ (pp. 75–76). In a nutshell, Let My People Know revolves around these convictions as it keeps the Abraham Accords at the centre of the discussion. Spread over 39 chapters lasting less than 10 pages each, the book keeps readers hooked on the story of the Abraham Accords.

The two authors of the book under review are academics at separate campuses in the United States, with the first having to his credit previously published books in international and strategic affairs. In their collaborative effort, the authors have chosen to draw attention to the perceived challenge being posed to the existing world order—a creation of the Western alliance led by the United States. Important members of the alliance—Britain, France, Germany and Japan—favour continuity of the existing order. They have been labelled as status quo powers. China and Russia, the main partners of the ‘Eastern coalition’, are being increasingly viewed as challengers to this world order, which makes them revisionist powers. They wish to revise the world order to their advantage. It is not an entirely easy task to place India—a rising power—in this grand tussle between revisionist and status quo powers for controlling and shaping the world order, given its non-aligned legacy. The authors expect that India will play a dominant role in shaping the outcome of the grand tussle. Hence, it could emerge as a kingmaker.

Large-scale disasters have far-reaching impacts that transcend national borders, making a coordinated, “one region-one response” approach essential, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bay of Bengal region has recognized this need and is actively developing structures for regional cooperation, including in disaster management. However, there is a pressing need for a structural framework that enables a coordinated, multilateral, and regional response through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).To this end, this study analyzes the benefits of flat structures over hierarchical structures in the dynamic management of disaster response when various responders, including government officials, military, NGOs, volunteers, and the community, must quickly engage, pass information, take decisions, coordinate, and collaborate to work efficiently in the chaotic post-disaster environment.

The Governments of India and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a bridge across the Palk Strait in July 2002 to join the island nation with the mainland of South Asia by road and rail. The objective of this article is to highlight the likely impact the proposed bridge would have on trade in goods and services and travel between the two countries and beyond. The overall argument herein is that any development activity would have positive and negative outcomes and that on a balance of probability, the positive outcomes of the proposed bridge could outweigh the negative outcomes. The proposed bridge across the Palk Strait could be an alternative to the proposed Sethusamudram project (that could potentially cause environmental damage) rekindled by the Tamil Nadu state assembly in January 2023 in order to stimulate economic growth in the lagging southern parts of Tamil Nadu.