The New Great Game

The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia
by Lutz Kleveman

Main Points:

  • Oil/natural gas production in the Middle East and Central Asia is unresolved due to political tensions and the power struggle between the United States and Russia.
  • Russia- would like oil from the Caspian Sea to be diverted north to their borders or to the Black Sea at their port at Novorossisk. 
  • Iran- would like oil to be transported to the southern port and enter the Strait of Hormuz, while they receive oil in the north where their population is concentrated.
  • United States- would like to have oil transported west from Baku (Azerbaijan) to Poti (Chechnya/Georgia) to Ceyhan (Turkey). So that they can ultimately be accessed at the Mediterranean Sea.
  • The Caspian Sea: Is it a sea or is it a lake? Why does it matter?
    • Five Littoral States: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan have not come to an agreement on the territorial division of the Caspian Sea.
    • Lake: "If the Caspian Sea is a lake, each nation would merely control a strip of several nautical miles stretching out from its respective coastline. The largest central part of the lake would be international waters whose shipping routes, fish stocks, and natural resources would have to be used communally in condominium."
    • Sea: "If the Caspian Sea is defined as a sea, however, the entire seabed and surface would then be divided among the countries like a pie." 
Read this great review in The Guardian on Kleveman's tour through Central Asia!

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