The Danube Power Game

Johann Strauss got it wrong. The Danube isn't blue. It is grey - and a killer. Fairytale villages, pinnacled castles, three capital cities - all carry the scars of past battles against the river's cataracts and massive floods. Now everything is changing. ROBERT SYMES , who grew up on the banks of the Danube, returns to uncover the amazing master plan for taming the river from Germany to Russia. It is also a plan that makes the Danube the centre of a new power struggle, one which could threaten the security of all of western Europe.