It is almost universally recognized that the Middle East and Asia constitute two of the most important regions today when thinking about international relations, energy and sustainable development, economics, religion, culture, and the so called clash or dialogue of civilizations. Both the Middle East and Asia are, independent of one another, significant sources of natural resources, military conflict, cultural production, human migration and political attention. Despite the high level of international interest in the Middle East and Asia, there have been relatively few publications focused...