The Scorpion's Tail: The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan-And How It Threatens America

Most of the facts are old and irrelevant

Extremely interesting ... well written

Excellent book! This is a great read for all knowledge levels of Middle East relations. If you don't have much knowledge of the Middle East and our relations with Pakistan this will completely fill you in not only what is happening currently but also the 20th century. It is also a great book if you are well educated in current affairs and find yourself somewhat frustrated with Pakistan and question why they do not do more to help Allied Coalition forces in the destruction of the Taliban on the Af-Pak border. It definitely changed my opinion of Pakistan as our allies and gave me a different review and respect for them, especially after realizing they have been at war with terrorism right there with us, but in their own country. Also, not sure if the book was updated but some of the reviews I read before I bought the book complained about it being hard to remember locations and regions throughout the entirety of the book. My book came with a map of Pakistan and important surrounding regions right in the beginning so it was a great help to occassionally flip back to and put the pieces together. Would recommend this book to anyone interested in everything going on in our world today.

Hmm...The take home here is that the old guard of the Al Qaida comprised of a bunch of disaffected Arab and Central Asian Islamists is being replaced by a new generation of highly educated, militarily trained Pakistanis ... and that this shift is detrimental to US security, and to global and regional stability. But actually the whole new Al Qaida movement is wracked with self-contradictory impulses, and it is likely to leave more dead Pakistanis behind than Americans, Afghans, or even Indians.Okkkkkaaaaayyyyy - Aah... Paging Dr. Obvious, Paging Dr. Obvious... why is this well known fact suddenly the subject of a book?The book confirms some of the conclusions that I have reached in my own deep dives into the myriad ailments of Pakistan, i.e.- The Pakistani state lives in a constant (self-imposed) fear of extinction - this psychosis is collectively shared by the government, the media and everyone else who wants to think this way/- This fear leads the Pakistani state to constantly make deals with the devil. All of these deals rebound on the Pakistan state - reinforcing the same fear that led to the deals in the first place.- Absent any mechanisms for true accountability, the cycle of fear perpetuates leaving a trail of dead people in its wake.- And a bunch of observers write all manner of self-serving accounts of the "troubled times in Pakistan".- And some miserable chump like me actually buys such books and reads them only to discover that whatever is written there is already published in much greater detail elsewhere.Seriously, my money would have been better spent on the modern classic "How to Avoid Huge Ships" by Capt. Trimmer!

Very good book which deals with many of the ongoing challenges that Pakistan faces.

a poorly written and poorly thought out book. you need to have a detailed map of the countries and regions burned into your head. author also assumes you are already aware of all the foreign named persons in the book. don't buy it unless you are a geography expert and student of islam.