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{{Short description|Journalistic term for predicted conflict over central Asian resources}} | |||
The '''New Great Game''' is the competition between ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], and the ] to secure reliable long-term sources of ] and ] through the construction of ]s in the post-] nations of ].<ref name=POWERS> The Japan Times</ref> | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} | |||
In the late 1990s, some journalists used the expression "'''New Great Game'''" to describe what they proposed was a renewed ] interest in ] based on the mineral wealth of the region. | |||
The name is a reference to the original ], the term used by historians to describe the 19th-century political and diplomatic competition between the ] and ] empires for territory and influence among Central Asian states.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Detsch|first=Robbie Gramer, Jack|title=Foreign Powers Jockey for Influence in Afghanistan After Withdrawal.|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/24/afghanistan-withdrawal-foreign-power-vacuum/|access-date=2021-08-14|website=Foreign Policy|language=en-US}}</ref> The term "Great Game" itself had entered into more widespread use following the ].<ref name="Seymour Becker 2012">Seymour Becker, "The ‘great game’: The history of an evocative phrase." ''Asian Affairs'' 43.1 (2012): 61-80.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rezun |first=Miron |date=1986 |title=The Great Game Revisited |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40202372 |url-status=live |journal=International Journal |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=324–341 |doi=10.2307/40202372 |issn=0020-7020 |jstor=40202372 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820205223/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40202372 |archive-date=20 August 2022 |access-date=14 August 2021}}</ref> | |||
The situation is complicated by the mutual desire of the major powers, most of all the United States, to establish military bases in Central Asia for ]. The ], a security organization headed by China and Russia, issued a statement in 2005 calling on the U.S. to establish a timetable for withdrawal of the U.S. military presence in Central Asia.<ref name=RUSSIABASES> Kyiv Post</ref> The new administration in ], in power since long time leader ] ] died in late 2006, has the power to greatly influence the direction the Great Game goes. The ], strongly opposed by three of the major powers, the U.S., the UK, and Germany, could result in a major regional war. It has largely been allowed to continue through the cooperation and encouragement of Russia, China, ] and ]. | |||
==History== | |||
=== Continuation of Great Game or Second Great Game === | |||
==Lesser powers== | |||
The "original" Great Game is traditionally seen as ending with the ] of 1907, when the British and Russian Empires had formally defined their frontiers and ended their rivalry over ], ], and ].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Meyer |first1=Karl E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FPBn2KZWNuMC |title=Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia |last2=Brysac |first2=Shareen Blair |date=2009-03-17 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-7867-3678-2 |language=en}}</ref> In 1987, ] wrote that the Great Game continued after 1907, citing the ]; Russia was supported by Britain in this endeavour.<ref name=":103">{{Cite news |last=Meyer |first=Karl E. |date=10 August 1987 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Editorial Notebook; Persia: The Great Game Goes On |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/10/opinion/the-editorial-notebook-persia-the-great-game-goes-on.html |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818165819/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/10/opinion/the-editorial-notebook-persia-the-great-game-goes-on.html |archive-date=18 August 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> | |||
While the ]s try to exert their influence over Central Asia to gain a foothold over each other, lesser powers, ], ], ], ] are all playing the great game to further their own interests. The governments of all four have funded the ], an ] affiliated with ]. Kazakhstan itself has also tried to to establish regional hegemony, as demonstrated through the Kazakh government's ] $100 million donation to ] in earthquake aid in December 2006.<ref name=EARTHQUAKE> RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty</ref> Indo-Pakistani rivalry also plays a role. | |||
Some historians view events from the ] and ] wars in Asia in the ] period, and categorize them as a continuation of the original Great Game, or as a second Great Game up to the mid-20th century.<ref name=":103" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":42" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":3" /> According to Morris, in a review of a history book by Meyer and Brysac,<ref name=":4" /><blockquote>the Raj more or less bows out, the Tsar is removed and the Great Game is diffused into a miasmic free-for-all among the states. Now Americans, Germans, Chinese and Soviet Russians throw themselves into the power vacuum of Central Asia, to many theorists the heartland of the world, and riddled with symbolism.</blockquote>Historian David Noack writes that the Great Game resumed from 1919 to 1933 as a conflict between Britain and the Soviet Union, with the ] and ] as additional players. Noack calls it a "Second Tournament of Shadows" over the territory composing the border of ], ], the ] and ]. To Britain, the Germans appeared to be a secret Soviet ally. In 1933–1934, it "ended with Mongolia, ], ] and ] isolated from non-Soviet influence."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Noack |first=David |date=14 December 2020 |title=The Second Tournament of Shadows and British Invasion Scares in Central Asia, 1919–1933 |url=https://oxussociety.org/the-second-tournament-of-shadows-and-british-invasion-scares-in-central-asia-1919-1933/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914022752/https://oxussociety.org/the-second-tournament-of-shadows-and-british-invasion-scares-in-central-asia-1919-1933/ |archive-date=14 September 2021 |access-date=2021-09-14 |website=The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
==Phases== | |||
The new great game has gone through three phases. The first phase began at the end of ] and lasted until the end of the ] with the ]. The second phase began with the independence of the Central Asian nations until the ]s of the early ] opened ], ], and ] to democratization and foreign investment. The third and current phase began in May 2005 when the Central Asian governments first openly questioned whether they could trust the British and American governments and three distinct foreign policies emerged among the Central Asian states. ] in Uzbekistan ], but were violently put down by the ]. | |||
According to scholars Andrei Znamenski and {{Interlanguage link|Alexandre Andreev|lt=Alexandre Andreev|ru|Андреев, Александр Иванович}} the Soviet Union continued elements of the Great Game into the 1930s, focused on secret diplomacy and espionage in Tibet and ]. Agents in the new Soviet version included figures such as ], who had supported the Russian Empire previously.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Znamenski |first=Andrei |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J6T2uz1KSoC |title=Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia |date=1 July 2011 |publisher=Quest Books |isbn=978-0-8356-0891-6 |pages=19–20, 232–233 |language=en |quote=No less tragic was the fate of those romantic Bolsheviks who... rushed into Mongolia, western China, and farther to Tibet to build the Red Shambhala paradise by stirring indigenous prophecies and instigating lamas to revolution. Agvan Dorzhiev, another player in the great Bolshevik game in Inner Asia, ended his Shambhala quest in a secret police prison morgue. By the 1930s, futile compromises with the Bolshevik regime morally broke down this former Dalai Lama ambassador to Russia. |access-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202719/https://books.google.com/books?id=6J6T2uz1KSoC |archive-date=24 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Andreev |first=A. I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51330174 |title=Soviet Russia and Tibet : the debacle of secret diplomacy, 1918-1930s |date=2003 |publisher=Brill |isbn=90-04-12952-9 |location=Leiden |pages=13–15, 18–20 |oclc=51330174 |access-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202650/https://www.worldcat.org/title/51330174 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Historian Heather Campbell describes the continuation of elements of the Great Game by the British as well; ], a former viceroy of India who was concerned heavily with Russia strategy, would heavily influence policy in supporting the ] against the Soviet Union, as well as participating in the ] negotiations dividing the Middle East between Britain and France with the diplomatic support of Russia.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Heather A. |date=3 July 2021 |title=Great Game Thinking: The British Foreign Office and Revolutionary Russia |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09546545.2021.1978638 |url-status=live |journal=Revolutionary Russia |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=239–258 |doi=10.1080/09546545.2021.1978638 |issn=0954-6545 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202715/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09546545.2021.1978638?cookieSet=1 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |access-date=6 June 2022 |s2cid=242884810}}</ref> Andreyev highlights that one of the original issues of the Great Game, a projected Russian invasion of India, was also revived by ] with the planned ].<ref name=":422">{{Cite book |last=Andreev |first=A. I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51330174 |title=Soviet Russia and Tibet : the debacle of secret diplomacy, 1918–1930s |date=2003 |publisher=Brill |isbn=90-04-12952-9 |location=Leiden |pages=13–15, 18–20 |oclc=51330174 |access-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202650/https://www.worldcat.org/title/51330174 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=83–97}} | |||
==Second phase== | |||
===Allying with the East=== | |||
====Kyrgyzstan (1991-2005)==== | |||
{{main|Politics of Kyrgyzstan}} | |||
] ] sought assistance from the United States in 2002 as domestic dissent increased, but received little as his administration failed to demonstrate progress in democratization or ]. Akayev made ] an official language, gave Russia a military base in ], and increased trade with Russia by 49% in 2002.<ref name=SCRAMBLEBASES> Asia Times</ref> The Kyrgyz people overthrew President Askar Akayev in the ] in 2005. Kyrgyzstan has since shifted to balancing the interests of Russia and the United States by allowing both of them to have air bases.<ref name=RUSSIABASES/> | |||
Znamenski wrote that Soviet Communists of the 1920s aimed to extend their influence over Mongolia and Tibet, using the mythical Buddhist kingdom of ] as a form of propaganda to further this mission, in a sort of "great Bolshevik game".<ref name=":11" /> The expedition of Russian ] ] has been put in context of the Great Game due to his interest in Tibet,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nikolaidou |first=Dimitra |date=15 September 2016 |title=Why the Soviets Sponsored a Doomed Expedition to a Hollow Earth Kingdom |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-the-soviets-sponsored-a-doomed-expedition-to-a-hollow-earth-kingdom |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820052717/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-the-soviets-sponsored-a-doomed-expedition-to-a-hollow-earth-kingdom |archive-date=20 August 2021 |access-date=2021-09-01 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andreyev |first=Alexandre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TI6fAwAAQBAJ |title=The Myth of the Masters Revived: The Occult Lives of Nikolai and Elena Roerich |date=8 May 2014 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-27043-5 |pages=199 |language=en |access-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202715/https://books.google.com/books?id=TI6fAwAAQBAJ |archive-date=24 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Although Roerich did not like the Communists, he agreed to help Soviet intelligence and influence operations due to a shared paranoia towards Britain, as well as his goal to form a "Sacred Union of the East".<ref name=":112">{{Cite book |last=Znamenski |first=Andrei |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J6T2uz1KSoC |title=Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia |date=1 July 2011 |publisher=Quest Books |isbn=978-0-8356-0891-6 |pages=19–20, 232–233 |language=en |quote=No less tragic was the fate of those romantic Bolsheviks who... rushed into Mongolia, western China, and farther to Tibet to build the Red Shambhala paradise by stirring indigenous prophecies and instigating lamas to revolution. Agvan Dorzhiev, another player in the great Bolshevik game in Inner Asia, ended his Shambhala quest in a secret police prison morgue. By the 1930s, futile compromises with the Bolshevik regime morally broke down this former Dalai Lama ambassador to Russia. |access-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124202719/https://books.google.com/books?id=6J6T2uz1KSoC |archive-date=24 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=181–182}} ] states that "Roerich brought the bewilderments of the later Great Game to America" through ]<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=7 January 2001 |title=Observer review: Tournament of Shadows by Karl Meyer and Shareen Brysac |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jan/07/historybooks1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901143912/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jan/07/historybooks1 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |access-date=2021-09-01 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> called Roerichism. | |||
==Third phase== | |||
===Allying with the East=== | |||
====Uzbekistan after May 2005==== | |||
{{main|Politics of Uzbekistan}} | |||
While the ] condemned what it initially perceived as an excessive use of force by the Uzbek government in quelling the uprising in ], the Karimov administration received verbal and financial support from China, India, and Russia. The ] imposed trade and travel sanctions against Uzbekistan on ] 2005, almost five months after the initial incident. Karimov ordered U.S. troops to leave the ] airbase on ] 2005 within six months. The ], Winrock International, Central Asian Free Exchange, Global Involvement through Education, Ecumenical Charity Service, ], ], ], the International Research and Exchanges Board, ], '']'', the American Council for Collaboration in Education and Language Study, and ACDI/VOCA all left Uzbekistan after they were convicted of various obscure or questionable violations of Uzbek law.<ref name=NGOEXODUS> Institute for Global Engagement</ref><ref name=ACDIVOCA> Interfax</ref> On ] 2006 Russia gained the right to use the ] in Uzbekistan in the event of an emergency.<ref name=RUSSIABASES/> China is actively trying to obtain a base in Uzbekistan.<ref name=MEGAPROJECTS> Transitions Online</ref> | |||
=== |
=== New Great Game === | ||
In 1996, '']'' published an ] titled "The New Great Game in Asia" in which was written: | |||
After the unrest in ], ] ] and ] ] chose to balance their relationships with the West and the East by remaining in the ] while pushing for greater political ties with ] and ]. '']'' reported that when the Soviet Union collapsed President Rakhmonov "survived a ] and kept his post by learning to maneuver between centers of power." President Nazarbayev "quickly carried out the necessary reforms, but retained the continuity of personal power," maintaining ] economic policy only nominally.<ref name=BALANCINGACT> RIA Novosti</ref> Stephen Blank, a professor at the ] and a regular contributor for ''Eurasia Net'', summed up the Nazarbayev administration's foreign policy as preventing Kazakhstan from becoming "dependent on any single suppler, customer, or investor." <ref name=INVESTORNATION> EurasiaNet</ref> | |||
{{quote|While few have noticed, Central Asia has again emerged as a murky battleground among big powers engaged in an old and rough geopolitical game. Western experts believe that the largely untapped oil and natural gas riches of the ] countries could make that region the ] of the next century. The object of the revived game is to befriend leaders of the ] controlling the oil, while neutralizing Russian suspicions and devising secure alternative pipeline routes to world markets.{{sfn|''The New York Times''|1996}}}} | |||
====Kazakhstan==== | |||
{{main|Politics of Kazakhstan}} | |||
Since independence Kazakhstan has greatly improved ties with ], ], Japan, and South Korea. | |||
In 2004, journalist ] wrote a book that linked the expression to the exploration of mineral wealth in the region.{{sfn|Kleveman|2004}} While the direct American military involvement in the area was part of fighting the "]" rather than an indirect Western governmental interest in the mineral wealth, another journalist Eric Walberg suggests in his book that access to the region's minerals and oil ] is still an important factor.{{sfn|Golshanpazhooh|2011}}{{sfn|Gratale|2012}} The interest in oil and gas includes pipelines that transmit energy to China's east coast. One view of the New Great Game is a shift to geoeconomic compared to geopolitical competition. ] believes that China's role is more like Britain's than Russia's in the New Great Game, where Russia plays the role that the Russian Empire originally did. "China and Russia are the two dominant power players vs. the weaker independent Central Asian states".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chen|first1=Xiangming|last2=Fazilov|first2=Fakhmiddin|date=2018-06-19|title=Re-centering Central Asia: China's "New Great Game" in the old Eurasian Heartland|journal=Palgrave Communications|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=1–12|doi=10.1057/s41599-018-0125-5|s2cid=49311952|issn=2055-1045|doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
Israeli microsatellites used for reconaissance and Kazakh telecommunications are launched from the ].<ref name=INVESTORNATION/> Deputy Prime Minister ] met with ] ] in late October. On ] 2006 the ministers announced from ] that the state-owned National Innovation Fund of Kazakhstan would begin investing in the ] and other projects in the ]. Masimov said, "I came to ] with a clear message to the nation in ] from the president, that Kazakhstan is a moderate ] which is interested in being involved in the Middle East. Kazakhstan intends to found political and economic ties with Israel and its neighbors." Masimov mentioned the ] and expressed desire to create a ]. Vice Premier Peres and Masimov agreed to establish an agriculture-school in each country. The NIF has given USD $10 million to Israeli VC fund Vertex.<ref name=PVP> Globes</ref> Masmov also met with ] ], who praised Kazakhstan for showing a "beautiful face of ]. Contemporary, ever-developing Kazakhstan is a perfect example of both economic development and interethnic accord that should be followed by more Muslim states."<ref name=BEAUTIFULFACE> Jerusalem Post</ref> The '']'' reported on ] 2006 that earlier that week Masimov noted interest in the infrastructure corridor project between ] and Israel and buying the oil refinery in ], Israel which the ] plans to privatize in 2007.<ref name=HAIFA> Middle East Times</ref> | |||
Other authors have criticized the reuse of the term "Great Game".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kennan Cable No. 56: No Great Game: Central Asia's Public Opinions on Russia, China, and the U.S. {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/kennan-cable-no-56-no-great-game-central-asias-public-opinions-russia-china-and-us |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}}</ref> According to strategic analyst Ajay Patnaik, the "New Great Game" is a misnomer, because rather than two empires focused on the region as in the past, there are now many global and regional powers active with the rise of China and India as major economic powers. Central Asian states have diversified their political, economic, and security relationships.<ref name=":02">{{cite book|author=Ajay Patnaik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQneCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|title=Central Asia: Geopolitics, Security and Stability|publisher=Taylor & Francis Group|year=2016|isbn=9781317266402|pages=28–31}}</ref> ] of ] Shanghai states "the ] (SCO) established in 2001 is showing that Central Asia’s actors have gained some real degree of independence. But fundamentally, the China factor introduces a level of predictability " In the 2015 international relations book ''Globalizing Central Asia'', the authors state that Central Asian states have pursued a multivectored approach in balancing out the political and economic interests of larger powers, but it has had mixed success due to strategic reversals of administrations regarding the West, China, and Russia. They suppose that China could counterbalance Russia. However, Russia and China have a ]. According to Ajay Patnaik, "China has advanced carefully in the region, using the SCO as the main regional mechanism, but never challenging Russian interests in Central Asia."<ref name=":02" /> In the ], Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng wrote in 2018 that China has not fundamentally challenged any Russian interests in Central Asia. They suggested that China, Russia, and the West could have mutual interests in regional stability in Central Asia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last1=Stronski|first1=Paul|last2=Ng|first2=Nicole|date=2018-02-28|title=Cooperation and Competition: Russia and China in Central Asia, the Russian Far East, and the Arctic|url=https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/02/28/cooperation-and-competition-russia-and-china-in-central-asia-russian-far-east-and-arctic-pub-75673|access-date=2021-07-26|website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace|language=en}}</ref> According to Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng, China uses its policy in Central Asia to "manage" Russia's concerns, satisfying Russia by showing China's economic aims do not threaten Russian political-military interests in the Russian Far East and elsewhere besides Central Asia, and assuaging Russia's demographic fears about Chinese immigration.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
The Kazakh government launched a campaign to gain support from European countries to allow Kazakhstan to head the OSCE in 2009. Kazakh ] ] visited ], ] from ]-], 2006 and addressed the ]'s Foreign Affairs Committee on 3 October in an attempt to gain support among members of the ] for Kazakhstan's bid to head the organization in 2009. In his address he discussed the "fierce" competition between the ], China, and India to secure energy sources, saying that Kazakhstan is "one of the very few countries capable of boosting its ] production and thus becoming an important alternative energy supplier to global and European markets." He expressed interest in the Burgas-Alexandropoulos and Odesa-Brody-Gdansk pipeline projects, asking the EU for $80 billion in investment from 2006-2021. He also reaffirmed Kazakhstan's desire to join the ].<ref name=GERMANY> RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty</ref> President Nazarbayev met with ] ], King ], and ], the ], Secretary General of the EU Council ], President of the European Commission ], EC Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy ], President of the European Parliament ] and NATO Secretary General ] during a visit to Brussels that began on ] 2006. ], Kazakhstan's Ambassador to ], met with Camille Paulus, the Governor of ], Belgium. They discussed Kazakhstan's potential sales of energy and natural gas to Belgium.<ref name=BELGIUM> Gazetakz</ref><ref name=EUATOMDEAL> Gazetakz</ref> | |||
The historian ] stated in 2014, during the ] of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, that, "There may be a new Great Game in Central Asia, but it is going to have a lot less importance to the United States than the new Great Game in the Western Pacific and East Asian waters."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Interview: The SCO, Security, And A New 'Great Game'|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/sco-russia-china-central-asia/25103028.html|access-date=2021-12-29|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=12 September 2013 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|title=Regional Powers Seek To Fill Vacuum Left By West's Retreat From Afghanistan|url=https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-power-vacuum-russia-iran-china-pakistan/31625835.html|access-date=2021-12-29|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty|language=en|last1=Synovitz |first1=Ron }}</ref> In August 2021, '']'' reported that following the Taliban takeover, the "new Great Game has Pakistan in control" of Afghanistan and also involves India and China.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Miglani|first1=Sanjeev|last2=Shahzad|first2=Asif|last3=Tian|first3=Yew Lun|date=2021-08-23|title=Analysis: China, Pakistan, India jockey for position in Afghanistan's new Great Game|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/china-pakistan-india-jockey-position-afghanistans-new-great-game-2021-08-23/|access-date=2021-12-29}}</ref> In '']'', writer and retired Admiral ] stated that the "new Great Game" involves Russia's interest in the regulation of opium production, China's interest in rare earth minerals, a growing role for India, while the West will be reluctant to enter.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rare earth trillions lure China to Afghanistan's new Great Game|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Rare-earth-trillions-lure-China-to-Afghanistan-s-new-Great-Game|access-date=2021-12-29|website=Nikkei Asia|language=en-GB}}</ref> Following the 2021 ], ] reported that "Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran could come together in the next chapter of the Great Game," or "Moscow, Beijing, Islamabad, and Tehran are each merely looking to advance their own interests in the new geopolitical order."<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|title=Regional Powers Seek To Fill Vacuum Left By West's Retreat From Afghanistan|url=https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-power-vacuum-russia-iran-china-pakistan/31625835.html|access-date=2021-12-29|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty|language=en|last1=Synovitz |first1=Ron }}</ref> | |||
] ] met with ] ] on ], 2006 in ] and signed several bilateral agreements enhancing economic ties. The ] agreed to invest an additional $2 billion in joint projects in the energy, uranium-extraction, construction, transportation, and banking sectors. Akhmetov offered South Korea the option of participating in developing a new type of nuclear reactor. South Korean investors have stakes in more than 300 Kazakhstan-based companies. Han invited President Nazarbayev to visit ] in 2007. Han was in Kazakhstan until 24 September. She then traveled to ].<ref name=SK> BakuTODAY</ref> | |||
In a 2020 study, the New Great Game was described as a form of "Civilizational Colonialism" in border regions and areas of territorial disputes, united by their location in ] or "The Roof of the World". ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], Western ], ], ], ], ] and ]. These rich resource areas are surrounded by the five major mountainous systems of ], ], ], ] and ] and the three main river systems of ], ] and ].<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Sharma|first=Vishal|year=2020|title=Civilizational Colonialism and the Ongoing New Great Game in the Sensitive Areas of High Asia: Exploring Pan-High Asianism as the potential way forward for the Western Pahari, Greater Dardic, Trans-Himalayan, Badakhshan and Sogdiana Belts possibly leading to High Asian Approaches to International Law (HAAIL)|place=Cardiff|publisher=Cardiff University|url=https://www.academia.edu/51136938|access-date=2021-09-27|website=Academia}}</ref> | |||
====Kyrgyzstan (2005- )==== | |||
The ] of the ] appointed ] the acting ] on ] ] following the ousting, during the ], of President Akayev. Bakiyev appointed ], who had greater political support in northern Kyrgyzstan among Christian Kyrgyz and ], ]. The Bakiyev-Kulov administration has since pursued a policy of counterbalancing Russian and U.S. interests, allowing Russia to maintain an airbase and the U.S. a military base with which it can conduct operations in ].<ref name=PRESPOWERs> Kyiv Post</ref> The Russian government has begun transferring military equipment to the Kyrgyz free-of-charge as part of the base deal. Two Mi-24 and two Mi-8 helicopters were given to the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry on ] 2006.<ref name=HELICOPTERS> Interfax</ref> | |||
The "Great Game" as a term has been described as a cliché-metaphor,<ref>{{cite book|last=Miller|first=Sam |author-link=Sam Miller (journalist) |title=A Strange Kind of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes |place=London |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2014 |page=286}}</ref> and there are authors who have now written on the topics of "The Great Game" in Antarctica,<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/03004430601065781|title=The Great Game in Antarctica: Britain and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty|journal=]|volume=22|issue=1 |pages=43–66|year=2008|last=Dodds|first=Klaus|author-link=Klaus Dodds|s2cid=144025621}}</ref> the world's far north,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Borgerson|first=Scott G. |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/commons/2009-03-25/great-game-moves-north|title=The Great Game Moves North |magazine=]|date=25 March 2009|access-date=2020-11-12|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and in outer space.<ref>{{cite web|last=Easton |first=Ian |url=https://project2049.net/2009/06/24/the-great-game-in-space-chinas-evolving-asat-weapons-programs-and-their-implications-for-future-u-s-strategy/|title=The Great Game in Space: China's Evolving ASAT Weapons Programs and Their Implications for Future U.S. Strategy|publisher=]|date=24 June 2009|access-date=2020-11-12}}</ref> | |||
====Tajikistan==== | |||
{{main|Politics of Tajikistan}} | |||
Rakhmonov has allowed Russia to maintain a base in ]<ref name=RUSSIABASES/> while allowing China to invest in Tajiktelecom, the state-run telephone company<ref name=PHONE> International War and Peace Reporting</ref>, doubling sales of aluminum to ]<ref name=ALUMINUM> RIA Novosti</ref>, and selling gold, diamonds, and copper to Britain.<ref name=MINERALS> Interactive Investor</ref> In return for the base the Russian government has begun to give Tajikistan military equipment free-of-charge, as it is doing in Kyrgyzstan in return for its base there. In November 2006 the Tajik Defense Ministry received two Mi-24 and two Mi-8 helicopters.<ref name=HELICOPTERS/> The Tajik government granted Zarubezhneftegaz, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned oil company ], two licenses to conduct geological surveys in Tajikistan, a move that usually precedes oil and gas exploration deals, on ] 2006.<ref name=ZARUB> RosBusinessConsulting</ref> At the same time, the Tajik government agreed to pay nearly twice the 2006 price for natural gas imported from Uzbekistan in 2007,<ref name=GASMAIL> The Daily Star</ref> The 2007 price, USD $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, is still significantly lower than international gas prices. | |||
"" is also the title of a 2021 paper written by J.A. Ritoe to refer to the increasing ] between great ] like the ], the ] and the ] to secure access to the critical ] required for strategic industries such as the ] and ], ] and ] technology. | |||
Indian ] ] visited Tajikistan in 2002, meeting with members of the Tajik government. The Rahmonov administration agreed to allow the Indian government to establish its first military base outside of India. ] in ], Tajikistan became operational in 2004.<ref name=FARKHOR> Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies</ref> The base has been used for counter-terrorism operations against Islamic terrorists in in Central Asia and opening the option of targeted strikes against sites in ]. Professor Stephen Blank has said the base is representative of India's determination in acquiring Central Asian energy through the use of "mega-projects," such as pipelines that would connect ], ], Pakistan, and India and another linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The U.S. has been supportive of these efforts because they hope growing Indian power will counter that of China and Russia.<ref name=MEGAPROJECTS/> | |||
==See also== | |||
] ] and ] ] signed several agreements, including a Good Neighborly Friendship and Cooperation Treaty and six agreements outlining economic cooperation, in ], China on ]. President Rakhmonov reaffirmed the Tajik government's support for the ] policy and security initiatives aimed at fighting the ]. He plans to stay in China until ] while he meets with other officials from the Chinese government.<ref name=FRICOOP> RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty</ref><ref name=SIXECONOMIC> RIA Novosti</ref><ref name=GOODNEIGHBOR> China Daily</ref> | |||
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{{div col end}} | |||
== |
==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | |||
====Turkmenistan==== | |||
{{main|Politics of Turkmenistan}} | |||
] ] pursued a third type of foreign policy closely tied to his domestic policies of ]. Niyazov, who wished to further his ] but feared Russian interference in Turkmenistan's economy and ] of ], officially declared Turkmenistan a neutral nation. Turkmenistan is the only Central Asian country not to have joined the ], the only one not to join the ], and effectively left the ] when Niyazov downgraded Turkmenistan's status in the CIS to associate membership on ] 2005.<ref name=NOORG> RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty</ref> Niyazov's support for the U.S.-led ], specifically lending Turkmen airspace to ] airplanes completing missions in ] in the ], extended only to the degree that it helped him maintain his personality cult and suppress political dissent.<ref name=NIYAZOVCULT> Nasdaq</ref> | |||
==Sources== | |||
While Turkmenistan did export petroleum to Russia during Niyazov's rule, Niyazov worried about Turkmenistan's economic dependence on Russia. The ], when construction is completed, will transfer natural gas from Turkmenistan to the ], which will then send it to Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey.<ref name=DEPENDENCE> RIA Novosti</ref> Turkish company ] and Japanese companies Chyoda and Nichimen (now part of ]) built a petroleum ] in Turkmenistan in 2000. Japanese companies JGC Corporation, ], and Nissho Iwai Corporation (now part of Sojitz), and Italian company Basell Technologies built a ] production unit that connected to the processor. Polypropylene has since been sold primarily to Russia, Turkey, Iran, and China. JGC and ITOCHU have offered to expand the plant's production from 90,000 tons to 240,000 tons annually. ITOCHU has also offered to modernize the Seydi petroleum refinery.<ref name=POLYPROPYLENE> Turkmenistan: Gaz A Complex</ref> | |||
{{refbegin|35em}} | |||
*{{cite web|last=Aberkane |first=Idriss J. |date=31 March 2011 |title=Brzezinski on a U.S. Berezina: anticipating a new, New World Order |website=] |url=http://www.e-ir.info/2011/03/31/brzezinski-on-a-u-s-berezina-anticipating-a-new-new-world-order/|access-date=2020-11-12}} | |||
==Etymology== | |||
*{{cite news|date=30 November 2010 |title=Wikileaks files: US ambassador criticised Prince Andrew |department=] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11870581 |access-date=2020-11-12}} | |||
Pakistani journalist ] coined the term the "New Great Game," noting parallels between the original ] between the ] and the ] for strategic supremacy in Central Asia in the 19th and early 20th century, and the new friction in the same region between Russia and the United States.<ref name=COIN> AlterNet</ref> | |||
*{{cite magazine |last=Bearden |first=Milton |author-link=Milton Bearden |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2001-11-01/afghanistan-graveyard-empires|title=Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires |magazine=Foreign Affairs |date=November–December 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503005341/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2001-11-01/afghanistan-graveyard-empires|archive-date=2015-05-03}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Coll |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Coll |year=2004 |title=] |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-59420-007-6 |page=}} | |||
==See also== | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Contessi |first=Nicola |year=2013 |title=Central Eurasia and the New Great Game: Players, Moves, Outcomes, and Scholarship |journal=Asian Security |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=231–241 |doi=10.1080/14799855.2013.832214 |s2cid=144592857 }} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite book|last=Cooley |first=Alexander |year=2012 |title=Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-992982-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DaBSfhi0wUC&pg=PA53}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Edwards |first=Matthew |date=March 2003 |title=The New Great Game and the new great gamers: disciples of Kipling and Mackinder |journal=] |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=83–102 |doi =10.1080/0263493032000108644|s2cid=53963541 }} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite news|last=Farndale |first=Nigel |author-link=Nigel Farndale|date=30 May 2012 |title=Afghanistan: the Great Game, BBC Two, review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9299771/Afghanistan-the-Great-Game-BBC-Two-review.html |work=] |access-date=22 August 2012}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Gfoeller |first=Tatiana |author-link=Tatiana C. Gfoeller |date=29 October 2008 |url=http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/10/08BISHKEK1095.html |title=Candid discussion with Prince Andrew on the Kyrgyz economy and the "great game" |journal=Public Library of US Diplomacy |publisher=]|access-date=2020-11-12}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite web |last=Golshanpazhooh |first=Mahmoud Reza |date=22 October 2011 |title=Review: Post Modern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games by Eric Walberg |website=Iran Review |url=http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Post_Modern_Imperialism_Geopolitics_and_the_Great_Games.htm|access-date=22 August 2012}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Gratale |first=Joseph Michael |date=26 March 2012 |title=Walberg, Eric. Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games |series=Reviews 2012-1, document 9|journal=European Journal of American Studies |doi=10.4000/ejas.9709 |s2cid=159050841 |url=http://ejas.revues.org/9709 |issn=1991-9336 |access-date=22 August 2012|doi-access=free }} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Peake |first=Hayden B. |date=2004|title=The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no3/article08.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613113250/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no3/article08.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2007 |journal=] |department=Intelligence in Recent Public Literature|volume=48|number=3 |pages=83–86|access-date=22 August 2012}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite book|last=Hopkirk |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Hopkirk|year=1992 |title=The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia |publisher=Kodansha International |isbn=978-1-56836-022-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatgame00pete }} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite news|last=Kaylan |first=Melik |date=13 August 2008 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121858681748935101 |title=Welcome Back To the Great Game |work=]|access-date=2020-11-12|url-access=subscription}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite book|last=Kleveman |first=Lutz |author-link=Lutz Kleveman|year=2004 |title=The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |isbn=978-0-87113-906-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGo7tbt79hAC |access-date=27 August 2012}} | |||
*] | |||
*{{cite news|last=Latifi |first=Ali M |date=22 June 2012 |title=Executed Afghan president stages 'comeback' |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/2012618134838393817.html |publisher=] |access-date=23 August 2012}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Lloyd |first=Trevor Owen |year=2001 |title=Empire: The History of the British Empire |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-85285-259-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSnWWv5nr2gC&pg=PA142}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Mahajan |first=Sneh |year=2001 |title=British Foreign Policy 1874–1914: The Role of India |volume=4 |series=Routledge Studies in Modern European History |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-26010-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGVUcJ74gpUC&pg=PA53}} | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Menon |first=Rajan |author-link=Rajan Menon|year=2003 |title=The New Great Game in Central Asia |journal=] |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=187–204 |doi=10.1080/00396338.2003.9688581 |s2cid=154442487 }} | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Morgan |first=Gerald |year=1973 |title=Myth and Reality in the Great Game |journal=] |volume=4 |number=1 |pages=55–65 |doi=10.1080/03068377308729652 }} | |||
*{{cite news|date=2 January 1996 |title=The New Great Game in Asia |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E4D61539F931A35752C0A960958260|access-date=2020-11-12|ref={{harvid|''The New York Times''|1996}}}} | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Penzev |first=Konstantin |date=12 November 2010 |title=When Will the Great Game End? |url=http://www.journal-neo.com/?q=node/2768 |journal=New Eastern Outlook |access-date=22 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210163642/http://www.journal-neo.com/?q=node/2768|archive-date=2010-12-10|url-status=dead}}{{better source|date=March 2015}} | |||
*{{cite news|last=Piper |first=David |date=9 June 2012 |title=The 'Great Game' of influence in Afghanistan continues but with different players |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-great-game-of-influence-in-afghanistan-continues-but-with-different-players |publisher=] |access-date=22 August 2012}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=] |place= London |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-86064-830-4 }} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Tamm |first=Eric Enno |year=2011 |title=The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China |publisher=Counterpoint |isbn=978-1-58243-734-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/horsethatleapsth00tamm }} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Yapp |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Yapp|year=2001 |chapter=The Legend of the Great Game |title=] |series=2000 Lectures and Memoirs|volume=111 |pages=179–198 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-726259-7|chapter-url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/2491/111p179.pdf |access-date=2020-11-12}} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
{{refbegin|35em}} | |||
*Lutz Kleveman. '''', Grove Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8021-4172-2 | |||
*The timeline of the Great Game {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924062911/http://www.oxuscom.com/greatgame.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}. | |||
*]. ''Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia'', Yale University, 2002, ISBN 0-300-09345-4 | |||
*{{cite book|ref=none |last=Walberg |first=Eric |title=Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games |publisher=Clarity Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-9833539-3-5 }} | |||
*Jatin Kumar. ''Terrorism and Militancy in Central Asia'', Gyan Books, 2004, ISBN 8-178-35322-9 | |||
*{{cite book|ref=none |last=Brobst |first=Peter John |title=The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia |series=Series on International, Political, and Economic History |publisher=University of Akron Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-931968-10-2 }} | |||
*{{cite book|ref=none |last=Johnson |first=Robert |title=Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757–1947 |year=2006 |publisher=Greenhill Books |isbn=978-1-85367-670-3}} | |||
==References== | |||
*{{cite book |ref=none |last=Naik |first=J. A. |title=Soviet Policy Towards India: From Stalin to Brezhnev |publisher=Vikas Publications |year=1970 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WaaAAAAAIAAJ |isbn=978-0-8426-0156-6 |access-date=27 August 2012 }} | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Nawid |first=Senzil |date=November 1997 |title=The State, the Clergy, and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan During the 19th and Early 20th Centuries |journal=]|volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=581–605 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800065211 |jstor=164403|s2cid=161516063 }} | |||
*{{cite encyclopedia |ref=none |last=Paksoy |first=H. B. |title="Basmachi": Turkistan National Liberation Movement 1916–1930s |encyclopedia=The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union |volume=4 |publisher=Academic International Press |year=1991 |pages=5–20 |url=http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/paksoy-6/cae12.html |isbn=978-0-87569-106-0 |access-date=27 August 2012 }} | |||
*{{cite book |last=Vogelsang |first=Willem |author-link=Willem Vogelsang |title=The Afghans |series=Peoples of Asia |publisher=] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-631-19841-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/afghans00voge |ref=refWillem2001 |access-date=27 August 2012 }} | |||
*{{cite book |ref=none |last=Tunzelmann |first=Alex von |author-link=Alex von Tunzelmann |title=Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire |place=New York |publisher=Henry Holt and Co. |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8050-8073-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/indiansummersecr00vont }} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
{{Pakistan–Russia relations}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{Russia–United States relations}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 08:56, 7 December 2024
Journalistic term for predicted conflict over central Asian resourcesIn the late 1990s, some journalists used the expression "New Great Game" to describe what they proposed was a renewed geopolitical interest in Central Asia based on the mineral wealth of the region.
The name is a reference to the original Great Game, the term used by historians to describe the 19th-century political and diplomatic competition between the British and Russian empires for territory and influence among Central Asian states. The term "Great Game" itself had entered into more widespread use following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
History
Continuation of Great Game or Second Great Game
The "original" Great Game is traditionally seen as ending with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, when the British and Russian Empires had formally defined their frontiers and ended their rivalry over Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. In 1987, Karl E. Meyer wrote that the Great Game continued after 1907, citing the Russian involvement against the Persian Constitutional Revolution; Russia was supported by Britain in this endeavour.
Some historians view events from the Russian Civil War and Soviet wars in Asia in the Interwar period, and categorize them as a continuation of the original Great Game, or as a second Great Game up to the mid-20th century. According to Morris, in a review of a history book by Meyer and Brysac,
the Raj more or less bows out, the Tsar is removed and the Great Game is diffused into a miasmic free-for-all among the states. Now Americans, Germans, Chinese and Soviet Russians throw themselves into the power vacuum of Central Asia, to many theorists the heartland of the world, and riddled with symbolism.
Historian David Noack writes that the Great Game resumed from 1919 to 1933 as a conflict between Britain and the Soviet Union, with the Weimar Republic and Japan as additional players. Noack calls it a "Second Tournament of Shadows" over the territory composing the border of British India, China, the Soviet Union and Japanese Manchuria. To Britain, the Germans appeared to be a secret Soviet ally. In 1933–1934, it "ended with Mongolia, Soviet Central Asia, Tannu-Tuva and Xinjiang isolated from non-Soviet influence."
According to scholars Andrei Znamenski and Alexandre Andreev [ru] the Soviet Union continued elements of the Great Game into the 1930s, focused on secret diplomacy and espionage in Tibet and Mongolia. Agents in the new Soviet version included figures such as Agvan Dorzhiev, who had supported the Russian Empire previously. Historian Heather Campbell describes the continuation of elements of the Great Game by the British as well; Lord Curzon, a former viceroy of India who was concerned heavily with Russia strategy, would heavily influence policy in supporting the Tsarist Whites against the Soviet Union, as well as participating in the Sykes–Picot negotiations dividing the Middle East between Britain and France with the diplomatic support of Russia. Andreyev highlights that one of the original issues of the Great Game, a projected Russian invasion of India, was also revived by Trotsky with the planned Kalmyk Project.
Znamenski wrote that Soviet Communists of the 1920s aimed to extend their influence over Mongolia and Tibet, using the mythical Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala as a form of propaganda to further this mission, in a sort of "great Bolshevik game". The expedition of Russian symbolist Nicholas Roerich has been put in context of the Great Game due to his interest in Tibet, Although Roerich did not like the Communists, he agreed to help Soviet intelligence and influence operations due to a shared paranoia towards Britain, as well as his goal to form a "Sacred Union of the East". Jan Morris states that "Roerich brought the bewilderments of the later Great Game to America" through mysticism movements called Roerichism.
New Great Game
In 1996, The New York Times published an opinion piece titled "The New Great Game in Asia" in which was written:
While few have noticed, Central Asia has again emerged as a murky battleground among big powers engaged in an old and rough geopolitical game. Western experts believe that the largely untapped oil and natural gas riches of the Caspian Sea countries could make that region the Persian Gulf of the next century. The object of the revived game is to befriend leaders of the former Soviet republics controlling the oil, while neutralizing Russian suspicions and devising secure alternative pipeline routes to world markets.
In 2004, journalist Lutz Kleveman wrote a book that linked the expression to the exploration of mineral wealth in the region. While the direct American military involvement in the area was part of fighting the "War on Terror" rather than an indirect Western governmental interest in the mineral wealth, another journalist Eric Walberg suggests in his book that access to the region's minerals and oil pipeline routes is still an important factor. The interest in oil and gas includes pipelines that transmit energy to China's east coast. One view of the New Great Game is a shift to geoeconomic compared to geopolitical competition. Xiangming Chen believes that China's role is more like Britain's than Russia's in the New Great Game, where Russia plays the role that the Russian Empire originally did. "China and Russia are the two dominant power players vs. the weaker independent Central Asian states".
Other authors have criticized the reuse of the term "Great Game". According to strategic analyst Ajay Patnaik, the "New Great Game" is a misnomer, because rather than two empires focused on the region as in the past, there are now many global and regional powers active with the rise of China and India as major economic powers. Central Asian states have diversified their political, economic, and security relationships. David Gosset of CEIBS Shanghai states "the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) established in 2001 is showing that Central Asia’s actors have gained some real degree of independence. But fundamentally, the China factor introduces a level of predictability " In the 2015 international relations book Globalizing Central Asia, the authors state that Central Asian states have pursued a multivectored approach in balancing out the political and economic interests of larger powers, but it has had mixed success due to strategic reversals of administrations regarding the West, China, and Russia. They suppose that China could counterbalance Russia. However, Russia and China have a strategic partnership since 2001. According to Ajay Patnaik, "China has advanced carefully in the region, using the SCO as the main regional mechanism, but never challenging Russian interests in Central Asia." In the Carnegie Endowment, Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng wrote in 2018 that China has not fundamentally challenged any Russian interests in Central Asia. They suggested that China, Russia, and the West could have mutual interests in regional stability in Central Asia. According to Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng, China uses its policy in Central Asia to "manage" Russia's concerns, satisfying Russia by showing China's economic aims do not threaten Russian political-military interests in the Russian Far East and elsewhere besides Central Asia, and assuaging Russia's demographic fears about Chinese immigration.
The historian James Reardon-Anderson stated in 2014, during the first withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, that, "There may be a new Great Game in Central Asia, but it is going to have a lot less importance to the United States than the new Great Game in the Western Pacific and East Asian waters." In August 2021, Reuters reported that following the Taliban takeover, the "new Great Game has Pakistan in control" of Afghanistan and also involves India and China. In Nikkei, writer and retired Admiral James Stavridis stated that the "new Great Game" involves Russia's interest in the regulation of opium production, China's interest in rare earth minerals, a growing role for India, while the West will be reluctant to enter. Following the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, RFE/RL reported that "Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran could come together in the next chapter of the Great Game," or "Moscow, Beijing, Islamabad, and Tehran are each merely looking to advance their own interests in the new geopolitical order."
In a 2020 study, the New Great Game was described as a form of "Civilizational Colonialism" in border regions and areas of territorial disputes, united by their location in High Asia or "The Roof of the World". Kashmir, Hazara, Nuristan, Laghman, Azad Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, Western Tibet, Western Xinjiang, Badakhshan, Gorno Badakhshan, Fergana, Osh and Turkistan Region. These rich resource areas are surrounded by the five major mountainous systems of Tien Shan, Pamirs, Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Western Himalayas and the three main river systems of Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Indus.
The "Great Game" as a term has been described as a cliché-metaphor, and there are authors who have now written on the topics of "The Great Game" in Antarctica, the world's far north, and in outer space.
"The New Great Game" is also the title of a 2021 paper written by J.A. Ritoe to refer to the increasing competition between great economic powers like the European Union, the United States and the People's Republic of China to secure access to the critical raw materials required for strategic industries such as the aerospace and defense industry, medical appliances and clean energy technology.
See also
- Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
- Cold War
- Geostrategy in Central Asia
- Great Game
- The Great Game (Hopkirk book)
- Iran–United Kingdom relations
- Russia–United Kingdom relations
- Strategic geography
- Western imperialism in Asia
References
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- Meyer, Karl E.; Brysac, Shareen Blair (17 March 2009). Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-3678-2.
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No less tragic was the fate of those romantic Bolsheviks who... rushed into Mongolia, western China, and farther to Tibet to build the Red Shambhala paradise by stirring indigenous prophecies and instigating lamas to revolution. Agvan Dorzhiev, another player in the great Bolshevik game in Inner Asia, ended his Shambhala quest in a secret police prison morgue. By the 1930s, futile compromises with the Bolshevik regime morally broke down this former Dalai Lama ambassador to Russia.
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No less tragic was the fate of those romantic Bolsheviks who... rushed into Mongolia, western China, and farther to Tibet to build the Red Shambhala paradise by stirring indigenous prophecies and instigating lamas to revolution. Agvan Dorzhiev, another player in the great Bolshevik game in Inner Asia, ended his Shambhala quest in a secret police prison morgue. By the 1930s, futile compromises with the Bolshevik regime morally broke down this former Dalai Lama ambassador to Russia.
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- "Kennan Cable No. 56: No Great Game: Central Asia's Public Opinions on Russia, China, and the U.S. | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ^ Ajay Patnaik (2016). Central Asia: Geopolitics, Security and Stability. Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 28–31. ISBN 9781317266402.
- ^ Stronski, Paul; Ng, Nicole (28 February 2018). "Cooperation and Competition: Russia and China in Central Asia, the Russian Far East, and the Arctic". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
- "Interview: The SCO, Security, And A New 'Great Game'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
- ^ Synovitz, Ron. "Regional Powers Seek To Fill Vacuum Left By West's Retreat From Afghanistan". Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
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Sources
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Further reading
- The timeline of the Great Game online Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
- Walberg, Eric (2011). Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games. Clarity Press. ISBN 978-0-9833539-3-5.
- Brobst, Peter John (2005). The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia. Series on International, Political, and Economic History. University of Akron Press. ISBN 978-1-931968-10-2.
- Johnson, Robert (2006). Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757–1947. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1-85367-670-3.
- Naik, J. A. (1970). Soviet Policy Towards India: From Stalin to Brezhnev. Vikas Publications. ISBN 978-0-8426-0156-6. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- Nawid, Senzil (November 1997). "The State, the Clergy, and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan During the 19th and Early 20th Centuries". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 29 (4): 581–605. doi:10.1017/S0020743800065211. JSTOR 164403. S2CID 161516063.
- Paksoy, H. B. (1991). ""Basmachi": Turkistan National Liberation Movement 1916–1930s". The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union. Vol. 4. Academic International Press. pp. 5–20. ISBN 978-0-87569-106-0. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- Vogelsang, Willem (2001). The Afghans. Peoples of Asia. Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-0-631-19841-3. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- Tunzelmann, Alex von (2007). Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0-8050-8073-5.
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