Item — HN Reader

For me, Taleb is the Levante expert, I simply don't know anyone else.

His view that the interference of all possible powers has only brought disaster seems plausible to me. He has criticized the export of fanaticism from Saudi Arabia in particular for a while.

The downfall of a regime is perhaps simply difficult to predict.

I experienced this in the case of the GDR. Suddenly it was gone, everyone was astonished.

2 comments

>For me, Taleb is the Levante expert, I simply don't know anyone else.

For me, he has become obsessed with being an anti-establishment contrarian that he is too biased to trust.

What makes him an expert, other than being Levantine?

He is smart and independent. I trust him not having a geopolitical agenda, he cares for the people living in the region. And I think he is a true intellectual with a great interest in history.

Strangely enough, there is good Middle East reporting in Germany by academically educated journalists.

Kristin Helberg is great, she reminds me of Peter Scholl Latour in his good times.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Helberg

Thomas Avenarius from "Süddeutsche Zeitung" is nice as well. Though I think he is usually crippled by his neocon boss.