Eric Margolis is a journalist specializing in Central asian Affairs. this is a book analyzing the events and trends at the turn of the millenium. A good deal of the work is anecdotal, but the premises do seem sound, especially i the light of recent events. His concern is over China's growth to a world power from being a regional one. Sadly, India appears not to have kept pace in standing up to China's expansion. If one postulates that the current tension s are growing because of the possession of the remaining stored water in the glaciers of the mountain chain, the tension has only increased in the following decades. ( )

Always fascinating, if sometimes frustrating and inconsistent. Margolis is a talented writer and he does a fine job of summarizing the various conflicts that have erupted and might explode in the future in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Tibet, Burma, and other nations straddling the roof of the world. The inconsistencies in tone are often frustrating, however. It's clear that colonial powers from Britain to Russia to China to the US are responsible for much of the strife in the region. However, it's a bit discomfiting to hear Margolis talk about the callousness of the British overlords against Afghani soldiers on one page and on the next, the author is cheering with a group of mujahedin as they launch self-propelled grenades into an unsuspecting group of Russian soldiers.
America comes off as the big bully for most of the book - a country whose greed and power-lust lie at the root of most modern problems in the region. Yet, he then blithely claims that US intervention was the prime motivator for the cessation of ethnic hostilities between the Germans and French after the Second World War without making clear any distinctions between America's post-war intervention in Europe and their current intervention in Central/South Asia. The author also has a view of Israel that borders, at times, on particularly virulent historical stereotypes. The world is not secretly controlled by a cabal of Jewish bankers who have financed everything from American intervention in Iraq to Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons. In this arena, his claims are not once backed up with facts or evidence.
Finally, as with many reporters dealing with issues in China, his facts are sometimes ridiculously off base. Leaving out any statements which could be construed as political opinion, he still manages to get names, dates, and geography completely incorrect.
Despite these flaws, when he sticks to the facts (ones that he gets correct) the book is a great primer on some of the forces at work in the region and the writing is engaging. ( )