The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) hosted its Second Flagship Dialogue with Martin Indyk on his new book, Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy.

This Dialogue featured a conversation between the author, Martin Indyk, and Shivshankar Menon, Distinguished Fellow, CSEP, and former National Security Adviser of India.

More than twenty years have elapsed since the United States last brokered a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In that time, three presidents have tried and failed. Martin Indyk — a former United States Ambassador to Israel and Special Envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013 — has experienced these political frustrations and disappointments firsthand.

In his book, Indyk draws on extensive interviews with Kissinger, newly available documents from American and Israeli archives, and his own parallel diplomatic experiences and interactions with the main players. From Kissinger’s efforts to end the Yom Kippur War, to the construction of his peace negotiations that laid the ground work for the next 50 years of American diplomacy in the Middle East, Indyk draws the lessons of how to and how not to make peace in the Middle East.

About the Author:

Martin Indyk is a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, and Special Assistant to President Clinton. Previously, Indyk was Executive Vice President of the Brookings Institution, where he had also served as Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy program and the Founding Director of its Center for Middle East Policy. He served as President Obama’s Special Envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from July 2013 to June 2014.

Discussant:

Shivshankar Menon is a Distinguished Fellow at CSEP and Visiting Professor at Ashoka University. Previously, he served as the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of India (2010 – 2014) and as Foreign Secretary of India (2006 – 2009). Currently, Menon is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. He is the author of Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy (2016) and India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present (2021).

Please contact nnayar@csep.org for general queries and twahengbam@csep.org for media inquiries.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.