Talmiz Ahmad, a veteran foreign affairs expert and a former senior diplomat, has come up with a book, WEST ASIA AT WAR–Repression, Resistance and Great Power Games, which has begun to create ripples even before it out in public domain.
The book will be published by Harper Collins on April 10 in New Delhi. But previews of the book say that it demonstrates a rare understanding into the intricate world of West Asia that has a tremendous bearing on Indian sub-continent.
The author says, “West Asia has been the arena for multiple crises—political, economic, religious, cultural—as also periodic military conflicts that have wreaked extraordinary death and destruction. My book provides an account of the debates and events that have shaped the region over the last century. It examines the role of domestic and external players in defining the West Asian political order and the continuous efforts of the people to take control of their own destiny in the face of severe challenges. Deeply anchored in the Indian perspective, the book discusses India’s substantial historic ties with West Asia and proposes a lead role for India in shaping a regional cooperative security order.”
On the other hand, Swati Chopra, Executive Editor, HarperCollins India, says, “Despite India’s deep connection with West Asia (or the Middle East), there is no accessible book about the region written by an Indian, from an Indian perspective. In West Asia at War, Amb. Talmiz Ahmad evaluates the power play in West Asia, its impact on global geopolitics and economics, and India’s current and possible role in the region. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine having shifted the global balance of power once again, this book is a must read to understand how the crucial West Asian nations are likely to respond to economic and political exigencies in the time to come.”
Events in West Asia constantly demand global attention due to regional conflicts, faith-based divisions, sectarian violence and wars that are often ignited by external powers. Popular agitations for political, economic and social reform frequently make the scenario even more fragile, turbulent and uncertain.
West Asia is at the heart of global energy, trade and financial dynamics, the centre of logistical connectivity projects, and an emerging hub of technological research and development. It is also a destination for millions of pilgrims annually, who visit sites in the region venerated by the three Abrahamic faiths – Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
As a new world order asserts its claims across Eurasia and the Indian Ocean, West Asia is witnessing new diplomatic initiatives to reshape regional alignments that will define global power equations in the time to come. Developments here are of abiding concern for India—in terms of energy, trade, investment, logistical connectivity and the interests of its eight-million-strong resident community.
West Asia at War combines an understanding of the diverse forces shaping the politics and economics of this region, and paints a portrait that is at once grim, painful, colourful and exciting.
About the author
Talmiz Ahmad joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 and was posted to Kuwait, Iraq and Yemen, and then as consul general in Jeddah, in 1987–90. After appointments in New York, London and Pretoria, he became the head of the Gulf and Hajj Division in the Ministry of External Affairs during 1998–2000. He did two stints as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, besides being ambassador to Oman and the UAE, additional secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs.
After retirement from foreign service in 2011, he was in the corporate sector in Dubai and then, from 2016, has been a full-time academic. He holds the Ram Sathe Chair for International Studies, Symbiosis International University, Pune. He has authored three books on West Asian politics, and writes and lectures regularly on political Islam, West Asia, Eurasia and the Indian Ocean, and energy security.
According to M. Hamid Ansari, former Vice President of India, who himself is an authority on Middle Eastern Affairs, “Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad has given a pen picture of the happenings in recent decades in a strategically critical region in our neighbourhood. Of great relevance is the chapter on India’s relations with countries in the Persian Gulf littoral … and more specifically the recent initiatives with the GCC states and with Iran, each of which is mutually relevant in strategic and economic terms.”
On the other hand, Tim Niblock, emeritus professor of Middle East Politics, University of Exeter, and visiting professor, Tsinghua University says, The book should be read “For all those engaging with Middle Eastern issues today … Its scope and depth of analysis, with a perspective that stretches from the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt to the most recent developments, is without parallel.”
“In his beautifully lucid and original account of West Asia’s recent history, Talmiz Ahmad shows us how to think differently about the region’s politics … It is one of the very rare studies of West Asia that is not written from a Western perspective, and which offers an illuminating analysis of India’s relations with the region,” comments Faisal Devji, professor of Indian History, University of Oxford.
WEST ASIA AT WAR
Repression, Resistance and Great Power Games
by Talmiz Ahmad
Publisher HarperCollins HB | Non-fiction | 544 pp | Rs 799
