ABSTRACT
We have already established that, in the aftermath of the Cold War and 9/ 11, regional MENA politics have changed substantially, and at one level have widened the strategic arena of the traditional Middle East and Arab regions to incorporate the Caspian region as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. This greater Middle East will remain at the heart of global strategy for some decades yet – this is indisputable, for a ‘new strategic map’ is said to be emerging ‘that assures that the Middle East will remain a prize in an emerging international system whose future contours are not yet clear’.1
