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 Bharat Rakshak > Security Research Review > The All Seeing Eye


Central Asia: The Coming Storm

Central Asia is the diverse hinterland of Eurasia consisting of eight countries and two land locked seas. This core of Eurasia is circumscribed by Russia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Middle East. The region is the cradle of the many of the world’s great civilizations and religions. Over the past several millennia, migrations out of the steppes have shaped the course of neighboring civilizations. 

The remoteness of the region has always fired the imagination of the world’s explorers and conquerors under the banner of nationalism and economics. Trans-Oxania and Trans-Caucasia, lands of Rudyard Kipling’s Great Game, held prominence in imperial times. In modern times, Nazi Panzer Divisions rushed towards Baku, the largest oil producer of the 19th and turn of the 20th century. Most recently, the region has reemerged after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and much of the world still grapples with the strategic sea change.

The global economic boom in the wake of the post Cold War era ushers in a multi-polar world along the region’s periphery. Thus Central Asia forms the last largely untapped region of geopolitical competition and resource wealth for an increasingly power hungry world. The flux caused by the growing economies of India, Russia and China is echoed in the region. Additionally, the region has its own dynamics, pulled between internal political dissent, regional conflicts such as Ferghana Valley, Nagorno Karabakh, Caspian Sea basin, Abkhazia to name a few. Adding to the volatile mix are a global economic and political issues. 

The region’s control has passed from tribal warlords, imperialists, and ideologues to oligarchs. Today’s geopolitical maneuvers are more complex involving local politicians, international organizations, world leaders and multinational corporations. Despite this, the underlying principles of competition, dominance and one-upmanship have been the same since time immemorial. 

Articles by Mr. K. Gajendra Singh 

 

© 2005 Bharat-Rakshak