Al Venter was rarely conventional in his approach to problems encountered in the Middle East.

Exclusive first-hand accounts, views and analyses from personal author interviews with individuals who either served or lived in Malaya during the troubles

Covers the wider dynamic of Cold War engagements over the emerging Middle East crisis

Al-Qaeda, through its surrogate insurgent force al-Shabaab remains a major player in Somalia, receiving its support from Iran, today a close ally of the Russians

When the world held its breath ... It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944--long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe--with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was French Indochina ... At the end of the Second World War France sought to reassert its military prestige, but instead...

When the world held its breath ... It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944--long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe--with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was Berlin. Allied agreements entered into at Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam for the carving up of postwar Berlin now meant nothing...

The most serious threat to Soviet rule in Eastern Europe before the collapse of communism in 1989.

How the world came to a within a hairbreadth of a nuclear conflagration.

Examine the remarkable life of Mao Tse-tung: teacher, soldier, revolutionary, statesman, tyrant.

The El Salvador conflict remains a classic example of how a communist insurgency or any other popular large-scale revolution, including those launched by al-Qaeda or ISIS can be defeated.