A graduate of University of Toronto and Cambridge in economics, he has been writing on East-West relations since the 1980s. He has lived in both the Soviet Union and Russia, and then Uzbekistan, as a UN adviser, writer, translator and lecturer. His articles appear in Russian, German, Spanish and Arabic and are accessible at his website ericwalberg.com. Walberg is author of Postmodern Imperialism Geopolitics and the Great Games (2011). A version of this article appeared at Presstv. Views expressed in IDN news analyses reflect opinions of respective writers, which are not necessarily shared by the IDN editorial and advisory boards. [IDN-InDepthNews – December 19, 2013]