The New Great Game

In the tradition of The Prize, a contemporary look at the history, passion, and politics of oil and gas resources, and the struggle to control them. Using the concept of the “Great Game” that Rudyard Kipling immortalized in his novel Kim, Kleveman argues that there is now a new Great Game in the region, a modern variant of the nineteenth-century clash of imperial ambitions of Great Britain and Tsarist Russia. Traveling thousands of miles, from Turkmenistan (where statues of the country’s leader are made of gold and line the thoroughfares) to the Afghan Hindu Kush, Kleveman met with the principal Great Game actors between Kabul and Moscow: oil barons, generals, diplomats, and warlords. Based on extensive research and travel in the Caucasus, the Caspian, and Central Asia, The New Great Game is a thrilling travel narrative through one of the world’s last unexplored frontiers, and a savvy and incisive analysis of the power struggle for the world’s remaining energy resources. “[Kleveman] can take credit for a book that is essential for those seeking as many views as possible on this complicated moment in history.” —The Seattle Times

The struggle between Russia and Great Britain over Central Asia in the nineteenth century was the original "great game." But in the past quarter century, a new "great game" has emerged, pitting America against a newly aggressive Russia and a resource-hungry China, all struggling for influence over one of the volatile areas in the world: the long border region stretching from Iran through Pakistan to Kashmir. In Great Games, Local Rules, Alexander Cooley, one of America's most respected Central Asia experts, explores the dynamics of the new competition over the region since 9/11. All three great powers are pursuing important goals: basing rights for the US, access to natural resources for the Chinese, and increased political influence for the Russians. But Central Asian governments have proven themselves powerful forces in their own right, establishing local rules that serve to fend off foreign involvement, enrich themselves and reinforce their sovereign authority. Cooley's careful and surprising explanation of how small states interact with great powers in this vital region greatly advances our understanding of how world politics actually works in this contemporary era.

This book looks at how China and India's growing interests in Central Asia disrupt the traditional Russia-U.S. 'Great Game' at the heart of the old continent. In the years to come, both Asian powers are looking to redeploy their rivalry on the Central Asian and Afghan theatres on a geopolitical, but also political and economic level.

In the tradition of The Prize, Lutz Kleveman gives us the twenty-first-century chapter on the history, passion, and politics of oil and gas resources, and the struggle to control them in a critical part of the world. Using the concept of the "Great Game" that Rudyard Kipling immortalized in his novel Kim, Kleveman argues that there is now a new Great Game in the region, a modern variant of the nineteenth-century clash of imperial ambitions of Great Britain and Tsarist Russia. Traveling thousands of miles, from Turkmenistan (where statues of the country's leader are made of gold and line the thoroughfares) to the Afghan Hindu Kush, Kleveman met with the principal Great Game actors between Kabul and Moscow: oil barons, generals, diplomats, and warlords. Based on extensive research and travel in the Caucasus, the Caspian, and Central Asia, The New Great Game is a thrilling travel narrative through one of the world's last unexplored frontiers, and a savvy and incisive analysis of the power struggle for the world's remaining energy resources.

This book looks at the emerging power dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region and locates India and its interests within the overarching geostrategic framework. With US and China emerging as leading players within the region, the book analyses the challenges to India’s foreign policy in the face of new alliances, counter-alliances, and great power equations that have formed after the Cold War. It discusses important issues such as China’s strategic forays in the Indian Ocean, the balance of power between countries, India’s Act East opportunities, Russia’s re-engagement in the region, the South China Sea dispute, India’s maritime strategy, and the conundrum of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue facing India. A comprehensive study of the changing geopolitical and geostrategic environment of the Indo-Pacific region, the book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of international relations, global politics, foreign policy, maritime studies, Chinese studies, South Asian studies, geopolitics, and strategic studies.

The Great Game in West Asia examines the strategic competition between Iran and Turkey for power and influence in the South Caucasus. These neighbouring Middle East powers have vied for supremacy and influence throughout the region and especially in their immediate vicinity, while bothcontending with ethnic heterogeneity within their own territories and across their borders. Turkey has long conceived of itself as not just a bridge between Asia and Europe but in more substantive terms as a central player in regional and global affairs. If somewhat more modest in its publicstatements, Iran's parallel ambitions for strategic centrality and influence have only been masked by its own inarticulate foreign policy agendas and the repeated missteps of its revolutionary leaders. But both have sought to deepen their regional influence and power, and in the South Caucasus eachhas achieved a modicum of success. In fact, as the contributions to this volume demonstrate, as much of the world's attention has been diverted to conflicts and flashpoints near and far, a new great game has been unravelling between Iran and Turkey in the South Caucasus.

For nearly a century the two most powerful nations on earth - Victorian Britain and Tsarist Russia - fought a secret war in the lonely passes and deserts of Central Asia. Those engaged in this shadowy struggle called it 'The Great Game', a phrase immortalized in Kipling's Kim. When play firstbegan the two rival empires lay nearly 2,000 miles apart. By the end, some Russian outposts were within 20 miles of India.This book tells the story of the Great Game through the exploits of the young officers, both British and Russian, who risked their lives playing it. Disguised as holy men or native horsetraders, they mapped secret passes, gathered intelligence, and sought the allegiance of powerful khans. Some neverreturned.