The clouds of war or the dawn of a new beginning?
German Middle East analyst Guido Steinberg and television journalist Ulrich Tilgner have both published new books on the conflicts in the Middle East. Their analyses and their forecasts for the region could not be more different. By René Wildangel
Ulrich Tilgner made his name as a television journalist. Many German viewers will still recall his coverage of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 in particular, where he reported for the German public broadcaster ZDF from the famous/infamous Hotel Palestine. Tilgner, however, was not the flak-jacket war-reporter type. Nor was he a typical avuncular Orientalist. He always endeavoured to see past the thicket of misinformation and cliches – something that essentially applies to his books as well.