"In his co-authored book 'Water: The final resource', William Houston envisages a time when severe water shortages cause internal strife in China, Pakistan and North Korea. He sees the countries potentially joining forces to invade three far more fertile regions: South Korea, Burma and the Indian state of East Punjab. Pie in the sky perhaps, but China, like the US, is already building coalitions of the willing within its own sphere of influence, and Beijing has a tendency to thrash around violently when confronted with the sort of internal uprising that occurs during famines and droughts."