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Laparoscopic total extra-peritoneal (TEP) inguinal hernia repair under local anesthesia by topical lidocaine injection
Laparoscopic total extra-peritoneal (TEP) inguinal hernia repair is usually performed under general anesthesia (GA) for muscle relaxation. However, TEP hernia repair may be reluctant in high-risk patients of G...
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Frankincense, Oil and Geopolitics
Founded in just 1971, the diminutive nation of Qatar located on the western coast of the Persian Gulf—covering over 11,000 square kilometers and numbering about two million residents—is quite active in the int...
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My Take on the Middle East
The “Greater Middle East” is the region where human civilization first emerged, where the clash and fusion of civilizations have been most evident over the course of world history, and where various conflicts ...
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Migration of Populations Within Greater Central Asia
Greater Central Asia includes all of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan—commonly referred to as “the Stans”—and the Republic of Mongolia, as well as parts of Russia, China, Afghanista...
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Tracing the Footsteps and Influence of Xuanzang and Ibn Battuta
The celebrated French historian Fernand Braudel famously argued that geography determines history. When we speak of the Silk Road, we are thinking of both history and geography. Of course, the “geography” here...
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India’s Take on “Belt and Road”
Most Chinese know that India is heir to an ancient civilization. Five thousand years ago in the Indus Valley urban construction was already well developed, and even included sewers. This culture, which later s...
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Getting Acquainted with the Indian Elephant
Birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism, India is an ancient country with five thousand years of civilization. China’s architecture, sculpture, music, dance and martial arts have all been deeply influenced by thos...
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Renascence of Persian Culture
died soon after he vanquished the . His general Seleucus founded the Seleucid Empire largely within the boundaries of Alexander’s conquests, and ruled territory roughly equivalent to the size of the . It ex...
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Persian Poetry and Painting
Beginning in the mid-seventh century, the birthplace of the powerful and far-reaching Persian , was first occupied by Arabs, and thereafter Hephthalites, Seljuk Turks, Khwarizmis, Mongols and Turkmens, respec...
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Persian Civilization and Iran’s Modernization
Soon after the passing of Abbasid the Great (r. 1571–1629) of Persia’s Safavid Dynasty, the world situation began to change rapidly Empire entered a new era.
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The Post-Soviet South Caucasus
Dissolution of any great empire always has its aftermath.
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Musical Chairs in the Caucasus
In the first half of the seventh flourished in the Arabian Peninsula, thus altering the course of history in North Africa and West and Central Asia. In the Caucasus, the Arabian empire supplanted the Persian...
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Westward Migration of the Turkic-speaking People
are believed to have originated in the upper reaches of , located in present-day northwestern Mongolia. Their language was similar to those of the Dingling, Tiele and Rouran, all nomadic peoples mentioned in...
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Toward a Modern Republic
In 1881, Mustafa Kemal was born in Salonika (present-day Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city), then an important port on the Aegean Sea.
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Anatolian Turkey: Trabzon and Konya
When I was in graduate school at Northwestern University outside Chicago, there was a light-hearted T-shirt that read: “Three years ago, I cudn’t spel ingineer, now I is one.” I can now truthfully say: “Three ...
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The Ancient Silk Road: “Geography as Destiny”
The earth has a history of approximately 4.6 billion years. Plains and mountains, oceans and deserts and flora and fauna all boast a much longer history on our planet than mankind. Human survival and progress ...
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China and Pakistan: A Historical View
China and Pakistan have been and will forever be close neighbors. The two countries have been “Friends in Deed” for the past 65 years and will continue to be for many more. As China–Pakistan celebrate their 65...
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Speaking of Mesopotamia
After the 2013 Lunar New Year, I visited the Hong Kong Museum of History to check out an exhibition, “The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia.” Once wasn't enough; I went back a second time.
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Greater Central Asia and the New Silk Road
My interest in “Greater Central Asia” began with two texts in my elementary school textbook, “Ban Chao Discards his Pen to Join the Army,” and “Be a Settler on the Frontier.” Ban Chao was a Chinese diplomat, e...
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Cultural Conflict and Integration Throughout History
General Yue Fei (1103–1142), the author of these lines, was haunted by the invasion of the Jurchen-ruled ** dynasty that destroyed the Northern Song in 1127, and he later led the battle against during the S...
