The New Great Game- The Long War Across Europe and Asia

[Orwellian_Ghost]

The New Great Game or the Long War Across Europe and Asia
Posted on March 25, 2009 by Nima Maleki

A growing network of energy pipelines are criss-crossing Eurasia, giving form to the political instability, military tension, and wars erupting in the large expanse of territory touching eastern Europe to eastern regions of Asia. The war in Afghanistan, the brewing civil war in Pakistan, and international intervention in these and neighbouring countries are increasingly being viewed as outbursts and maneuvers in what is called the New Great Game over the existing and developing arteries — oil and natural gas pipelines — that will transit much of the world’s energy.

The largest players in this battle have been the USA, with its Western allies increasingly under the instrument of NATO, and a China-Russia entente primarily under the auspice of an economic and increasingly security cooperative called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Iran and India are also emerging as significant players in this Great Game that has very concrete material, economic, and security implications for Eurasia and for the globe in terms of the alignment of political powers and destination of economic wealth determined by the flow of the great part of the world’s energy reserves.

The existing and proposed pipelines will tap into the vast energy reserves in Central Asia, Iran, and Iraq. Their destination will be the major consumers and distributors in India, Europe, Turkey, China, Russia, and Pakistan. The cheapest pipelines cost billions of US dollars to construct, the sometimes ad-hoc network as a whole costs hundreds of billions simply to construct along sometimes competing pipelines and short sea routes with varying capacity, each tied to a general NATO or SCO alliance of interests.

The point is not simply to deliver energy to an end point, but rather by a dominant political alliance to directly control or at least overwhelming influence the access to energy. This determination will provide economic advantage to the carriers, permit them to exert political pressure by controlling access to energy and even threatening to or actually cutting off supply.

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http://positivity.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/the-new-great-game-or-the-long-war-across-europe-and-asia/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Yes !!! and too little discussed.

Good post.

[blindpig]

2. Gee, I thought we were there to save the women from the Taliban

Or to save America from Osama.

But this makes a lot more sense.

k&r

[TBF]

3. It begins with "the path to success in Afghanistan" ...

http://www.thecherrycreeknews.com/content/view/4320/2/

[leftstreet]

4. ugh - we need to kill the Military Industrial Congressional Complex

...Duss replied. He added that "the way it works in Washington, if you're arguing for more military intervention which necessitates more military expenditures, you're always going to find someone to fund your think-tank."

:banghead:

[TBF]

5. PNAC 2.0 - coming to a theatre near you. Well, if there's oil nearby at any rate.