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Acknowledgments The creation of this book would not have been possible were it not for the hard work of my gifted, globe-trotting research assistant and friend Richard Cashman. His deep interest in the ideas discussed herein and intimate knowledge of the countries, cultures, customs, of Eurasia were invaluable as we crafted this work together. I thank Paul Hughes for his research support when this project was just a twinkle in my eye and of course Steve Catalano, my intrepid editor at Praeger, who immedi- ately became inspired by the book’s concept in a phone call from Kabul. Finally, I would like to thank all those kind enough to review this book when it was still a manuscript: Ambassador Richard Burt, Dr. Samuel Charap, Dr. Ariel Cohen, The Honorable Dr. John Hillen, The Right Hon- ourable Dr. Liam Fox MP, Professor Charles King, Edward Lucas and General Charles “Chuck” F. Wald Any errors of fact or interpretation are my responsibility. Alexandros Petersen Ashgabat, Turkmenistan September 2010