This report in the World Politics Review suggests that the U.S. and our allies have lost a contest you may not have realized we were engaged in. The contest was over energy resources in Central Asia and those of you who believe that much of what happens in world affairs is linked to the competition for energy will be interested to know that it’s over and Russia and China won.
Last month, the West officially lost the new “Great Game.” The 20-year competition for natural resources and influence in Central Asia between the United States (supported by the European Union), Russia and China has, for now, come to an end, with the outcome in favor of the latter two. Western defeat was already becoming clear with the slow progress of the Nabucco pipeline and the strategic reorientation of some Central Asian republics toward Russia and China. Two recent events, however, confirmed it.
One could argue that geographic proximity to Central Asia gave Russia and China a natural advantage in this particular “game” though I have to admit it would have been nice for the home team to mount a more robust challenge. Although this is but one of many ongoing contests that the U.S. is participating in, and certainly not the most important, it does raise an important issue about how the U.S. strategic focus has been dominated by Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photo Credit: Wall Street Journal/ITAR-TASS
