S.M. Hali
Few figures embody the long arc of British strategic engagement in Asia and the Middle East as vividly as Alastair Warren Crook, a veteran diplomat and intelligence officer whose career spanned three decades within the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). His life’s work, from the rugged passes of Afghanistan to the shadowed corridors of diplomacy, reflects the persistence of what historians have called the Great Game—the centuries old contest for influence between Britain and Russia across Eurasia.
Crook’s career unfolded during the waning years of empire, yet the logic of imperial rivalry remained intact. In the 1980s, as the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Crook helped coordinate British support for the Mujahideen, the guerrilla fighters resisting Moscow’s occupation. The mission was not merely tactical; it was ideological—a continuation of Britain’s nineteenth century policy of containing Russian expansion toward the Indian subcontinent. The Afghan mountains became the new chessboard of empire, and Crook, like many of his generation, played his part in a struggle that would shape global geopolitics for decades.
Educated in the traditions of British diplomacy, Crook entered MI6 at a time when the Cold War had transformed intelligence into the principal instrument of statecraft. His postings in Asia and the Middle East placed him at the intersection of espionage and diplomacy, where covert operations were inseparable from political negotiation. Though diminished in global reach after 1945, British intelligence retained its instinct—to influence events indirectly, through alliances, insurgencies, and information.
Crook’s work in Afghanistan exemplified this approach. Britain, alongside the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, supported the Mujahideen not only to bleed the Soviet military but to reaffirm Western dominance in the ideological contest between communism and capitalism. The eventual Soviet withdrawal in 1989 marked a victory for the West, yet the fragmentation of Afghanistan sowed the seeds of future instability. Crook’s reflections reveal a deep awareness of the paradoxes of power—how short term victories can yield long term disorder.
In recent years, Crook has emerged as a trenchant critic of Western policy toward Russia and Eastern Europe. His remarks, widely circulated online, warn of a dangerous escalation between Moscow and the West. “I foresee an escalation by Russia against America’s closest ally, against Europe,” he cautioned, arguing that European militarization and U.S. encouragement are pushing the continent toward confrontation.
His analogy is vivid: comparing the bombing of Russian commercial infrastructure, such as the Wildberries retail network, to the hypothetical destruction of Amazon warehouses by Russia. “What the hell? Is that even sane?” he asks, exposing the moral and strategic absurdity of targeting civilian economic assets. For Crook, the underlying motive remains unchanged since the nineteenth century: the desire to fragment Russia and seize its vast natural resources. He identifies three historical attempts to subdue Russia—the Napoleonic invasion, the Nazi campaign, and Cold War containment—and suggests the current conflict represents a fourth iteration of the same imperial impulse.
Crook situates the present confrontation within the continuum of the Great Game. Coined in the 1830s, the term described Britain’s rivalry with Tsarist Russia for control of Central Asia. Today, the terrain has shifted—from the passes of the Hindu Kush to the digital and economic frontiers of Eurasia—but the strategic logic endures. The West’s pursuit of influence through sanctions, proxy wars, and information campaigns mirrors the imperial tactics of the past.
The tragedy, in Crook’s view, lies in the failure to learn from history. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was interpreted in Western capitals as the final victory of liberal democracy. Yet triumphalism blinded policymakers to the resentment and insecurity that would later fuel Russia’s resurgence. NATO’s eastward expansion, the militarization of Ukraine, and the weaponization of economic interdependence have revived the very dynamics the Great Game sought to manage—competition for dominance across the Eurasian heartland.
Crook’s reflections carry the authority of experience. Having served in both intelligence and diplomacy, he understands that sustainable peace cannot be achieved through coercion alone. His critique of Western strategy is rooted in realism: every empire, however sophisticated, must eventually confront the limits of its reach.
He advocates a return to genuine diplomacy—dialogue grounded in mutual respect rather than ideological triumphalism. For Crook, the lesson of Afghanistan is instructive: external powers can ignite conflicts, but they rarely control their outcomes. The same principle applies to Ukraine and the broader confrontation with Russia. Escalation, he warns, will not yield stability; it will perpetuate the cycle of intervention and retaliation that has defined Eurasian politics for two centuries.
Alastair Crook’s career invites reflection on the moral dimensions of intelligence work. His service in MI6 was shaped by loyalty to Britain’s strategic interests, yet his later writings reveal a conscience tempered by historical awareness. He represents a generation of operatives who witnessed the transformation of empire into globalized interventionism—a shift that replaced territorial conquest with ideological and economic dominance.
In the twilight of his career, Crook’s voice resonates as that of a seasoned observer urging restraint. His warnings about the West’s confrontation with Russia are not nostalgic defences of old alliances but sober assessments of geopolitical reality. The Great Game, he implies, never truly ended; it merely changed its instruments.
As Europe and America navigate the perilous landscape of twenty first century geopolitics, Crook’s insights remind us that history is not a museum of past mistakes—it is a mirror reflecting present ambitions. The torch of intelligence he once carried now illuminates a deeper truth: that power without wisdom is the surest path to perpetual conflict.
Writer is Senior Analyst, TV anchor and Columnist. He is also author of many books. He can be reached at [email protected]
