The "Great Game" in the 19th century was the battle between Russia and Britain for influence in Central Asia and for control of the land-routes to India, the "Jewel in the Crown". "The Great Game, Mark II", just beginning, is the struggle between Islamic fundamentalism and the West (characterized respectively by Iran and Turkey) for dominance in the six newly-independent Central Muslim republics of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizia and Kazakhstan. (Of these, Kazakhstan - nearly as large as India - possesses hundreds of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. The Muslim fundamentalists' recent electoral success in Algeria (subsequently suppressed) raises the prospect of fundamentalism holding sway from the Atlas Mountains to Indonesia. It is vital to understand the context in which the Ankara-Tehran contest to shape the future of Central Asia - a region of immense strategic significance - is developing as a proxy struggle between the West and militant Islam. Dilip Hiro has travelled to the new Muslim states (as well as Turkey and Iran) and interviewed politicians, religious leaders and writers of all descriptions. His book of analysis and reportage is a contribution to understanding one of the central political issues in the post-communist world.

Between Marx and Muhammad: The changing face of Central Asia

History

HIRO, DILIP

World

Harpercollins

As each of the newly-independent Muslim-majority states of Central Asia struggles to find an identity, ethnic tensions have frequently given rise to political turbulence and civil strife. The author discusses to what extent Turkey's model of secular democracy will prevail over the fundamentalist regimes of Iran and Afghanistan; what role Russia will play in the area; and what chance the free market and multi-party democracy will have in these conditions.

Between Marx and Muhammad: The Changing Face of Central Asia

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Inside the Middle East

McGraw=Hill

Black British, white British (Pelican books)

Europe

Penguin

The "Babur Nama", a journal kept by Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530), the founder of the Mughal Empire, is the earliest example of autobiographical writing in world literature, and one of the finest. Against the turbulent backdrop of medieval history, it paints a precise and vivid picture of life in Central Asia and Afghanistan - where Babur ruled in Samarkand and Kabul - and in the Indian subcontinent, where his dazzling military career culminated in the founding of a dynasty that lasted three centuries.

Babur Nama

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Penguin Global

Cold War in the Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle for Supremacy

For four decades Saudi Arabia and Iran have vied for influence in the Muslim world. At the heart of this ongoing Cold War between Riyadh and Tehran lie the Sunni-Shia divide, and the two countries' intertwined histories. Saudis see this as a conflict between Sunni and Shia; Iran's ruling clerics view it as one between their own Islamic Republic and an illegitimate monarchy. This foundational schism has played out in a geopolitical competition for dominance in the region: Iran has expanded its influence in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, while Saudi Arabia's hyperactive crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, has intervened in Yemen, isolated Qatar and destabilized Lebanon. Dilip Hiro examines the toxic rivalry between the two countries, tracing its roots and asking whether this Islamic Cold War is likely to end any time soon.

Middle East

Oxford University Press

Desert Shield/Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War

Once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East, Lebanon, the only Arab state headed by a Christian president, slipped into one of the longest civil wars in history in April 1975. With a few interludes of uneasy peace, and two invasions by Israel, the conflict continued until October 1990. In this account of the people, politics and policies that led to the internal strife in this troubled republic, and fuelled it for nearly 16 years, Dilip Hiro lays bare the intricate twists and turns of regional and international diplomacy and military strategies, involving not only Lebanon's various Christian and Muslim factions but also Syria, Israel, the PLO, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, America, France and the United Nations. The conflict cost Lebanon half a million casualties, including 150,000 dead, a quarter of them children, in a country with a population of 3.5 million.

Lebanon: Fire and Embers: A History of the Lebanese Civil War

Asia

Orion Publishing Co

An important new history of the relentless growth of South Asia's jihadist violence, and a careful analysis of how it can be countered This hard-hitting and timely book explores the roots of militant Islam in South Asia and how it has grown to become a source of profound global alarm. By meticulously tracking the rise of the jihadist movement from its initial violence in Afghanistan in 1980 to the present day, Dilip Hiro challenges conventional narratives of the roles of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, the United States, and India. He warns that the Line of Control in Kashmir, where jihadists seek to incite war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, is today the most dangerous border in the world.
Drawing on evidence from a wide variety of sources including newly released Kremlin archives and classified U.S. Embassy documents published by WikiLeaks, the author compiles the first complete and accurate history of Islamist terrorism in South Asia. He chronicles historic links between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India and their varying degrees of destabilization at the hands of the jihadists. He also sheds unprecedented light on the close military and intelligence links that have developed between India and Israel. Finally, he outlines the ambitions of Pakistani, Afghan, and Al Qaeda jihadists to establish an "apocalyptic realm" covering South, Central, and Western Asia. Compact, comprehensive, and fast paced, this book lays bare the causes of today's escalating terrorist threat, sets the historical record straight, and offers fresh strategies for defeating jihadist extremism.

Apocalyptic Realm: Jihadists in South Asia

Yale University Press

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