While the world waits expectantly for the Obama administration’s Middle East policy, Financial Times Associate Editor and Chief Leader Writer - the hugely respected David Gardner speaks frankly with Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow about what needs to be done now.

Gardner advocates nothing less than a reappraisal of what realpolitik means as we enter the 21st century. Truly 'smart power', he argues, would not continue to prop up despotic regimes from Syria to the Gulf in the interests of short-term stability.

In his new book: Last Chance: The Middle East in the Balance he argues that if democracy is suppressed for even a few years longer in the Arab world, the Middle East will be lost to anti-Westernism and violence for several generations.

David Gardner is Chief Leader Writer and Associate Editor at the Financial Times. He was the paper’s Middle East Editor from 1995-1999. In 2003 he won the David Watt prize for political journalism for his writing on the Arab world.

Last Chance: The Middle East in the Balance will be on sale at this event for the discounted price of £12 (cash or cheque) and 13.50 (credit or debit card)

Tags for this entry: David Gardner, diplomacy, International Relations, Israel, Jon Snow, Middle East, Obama, Peace, USA