The cheery premise of this book is a simple one: the world is looking at a blow up of cataclysmic proportions of which the whole of the west remains remarkably ignorant.

War at the top of the World is one of the best examinations of the conflicts now brewing in the Far East ever published. Veteran foreign corespondent Eric Margolis, who writes for the Toronto Sun, has created a tiny masterpiece that weaves together the assorted, lucid story lines he tells of all the countries involved.

Margolis eloquently explains the various motivations of India, China, Pakistan, and the various ex-Soviet republics in what may become the next war to go nuclear. Even seasoned foreign observers can learn from this fantastically clear speaking book.

Margolis’ study concentrates on the dispute between India and Pakistan over the territories of Jammu and Kashmir and a half dozen other interrelated border conflicts throughout the Far East. The East of India and China have always had a dangerous and forbidding air about them, and Eric Margolis does a fantastic job of explaining the new dangers now lurking in these ancient tribal areas. He shows how these regional conflicts could spill over into a nuclear war, threatening millions of people directly and possibly contaminating the world’s water supply to boot.

A 16,000-foot-high mountain range smack dab in the middle of the hardest to reach country on God's green earth may seem like the oddest place for an armed war to begin, but one is erupting in the Siachen Glacier right now. This is where Pakistani and Indian forces currently engage in an increasingly bitter low-intensity war. In one of the most foreboding and distant territories on earth, this kind of combat is "like fighting a war on the moon", as one Pakistani soldier too-aptly put it.

The book details the four-way situation in a minimum amount of time with intensely clear prose that illuminates all the various factions’ points of view. This makes War at the Top of the World a Herculean effort of analysis and a unique exposition of plain language, all contained within an amazingly small space. It flows well too. I finished the book in one sitting with only two glasses of wine.

In brief, Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India are at loggerheads over the mostly Muslim-populated area called Kashmir, which is a lush highland rich in resources. This is where the impossible war is being fought, but it is only one of several flashpoints likely to become a full-scale war. Joining the fray is China, whose border claims ignited a war in the early 60s with India and remain a source of friction between the two populous nations. Also included in the mix is Russia, who instinctively fears Muslims insurgencies, one particularly large and fanatical one having been started in Pakistan only recently. So as a result of this dynamic, two competing blocs are emerging- China and Pakistan versus Russia and India. These countries are basically forming alliances of convenience which center on large exchanges of weaponry.

It's hard to summarize correctly the vast array of complications looming over these conflicts. Issues like the Hindu minority in Jammu (inside Kashmir), the huge minorities of Muslims inside India (over 100 million Muslims- the largest minority in the world), and the quick war India fought with China muddy the waters almost beyond comprehension. Nevertheless, Margolis does an outstanding job illustrating the insane complexity of the situation, and he even gives the beginning reader a good primer on the Far Eastern conflicts which will in the coming years become great concerns to world stability.

Indeed, it's something of a mystery why the Far East and its myriad conflicts aren't more popular to those whom danger and death give a terrible fascination. Vast amounts of newspaper space and worry occupy the Western world over the fate of the Palestinians, who have no nuclear bombs. Yet the China-India-Pakistan-Russian conflict with its apocalyptic overtones draws almost no attention except from experts in the field.

And this conflict has everything. CIA skullduggery, Pakistani commandos, massed Chinese troops, treachery, religious conviction, rape and murder are all here for the reading, making that entire part of the world a fascinating, real-life, Tom Clancy thriller writ large. And Margolis' writing is entirely free of the ideological obfuscation so common in writings like those of Noam Chomksy. Margolis' assertions are plain and his reasoning is above board, making him a rarity, a straight-shooting foreign correspondent writing in an age of sideways glances, innuendo and prose designed to keep the reader asleep.

Another excellent reason to buy this book is Margolis’ personality. It is a delight to read about those who view manhood and honor as serious things worthy of consideration. He treats soldiering and geopolitics as serious subjects, and he respects the brave soldiers he investigates, whether he agrees with them or not. Margolis instinctively respects hallowed concepts like honor and duty, and it shows. One gets no stink of the cowardly in Margolis' thoughts. I think most men will be naturally impressed with his sense of beau geste.

Margolis is the antidote for the postmodern disease in writing and thinking. I almost get the sense Margolis is too good a writer for this day and age, and picture him trudging next to Rudyard Kipling in some deep jungle as an intrepid explorer of the unknown. His prose isn't brilliant, but it is consistently clear, which is something this kind of book needs more than anything else. War at the Top of the World stands out as the best book on foreign policy in the new millennium; it is certainly the best English-language book on the subject. Buy it.

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