But how do you know Hiro on Central Asia was top quality stuff? Hiro may have been born in India but has apparently spent his adult life in Britain and the US. I doubt he can speak any modern Central Asian languages and nothing in his bibliography or anything of his I've read suggests he can speak Russian. His expert status seems to be based upon the fact that he's published a lot of books with Iran, Middle East and Islamic in the titles rather than from any serious academic position (his highest degree appears to be a masters from Virginia Polytechnic and State University - whatever that is). I am sure he knows more about the ME and Central Asia than me (even if most of what he does know is either questionable or downright wrong) and a hell of a lot more than your typical BBC anchor. However he is not an objective expert - he's a Leftist with an agenda and everything he writes and says should be judged on that basis. Nobody treats John Pilger or Tariq Ali or Noam Chomsky as unchallengable experts and Hiro is very much in their camp. Doesn't mean that everything he says is wrong but you only need to know what his starting ideological position is to be able to predict with 100% accuracy where he will stand on any issue.