Wonderful Article!- The New Great Game by Lutz Kleveman

[Wetzelbill]

The New Great Game
By Lutz Kleveman
The Guardian

Monday 20 October 2003

The 'war on terror' is being used as an excuse to further US energy interests in the Caspian.

Nearly two years ago, I travelled to Kyrgyzstan, the mountainous ex-Soviet republic in Central Asia, to witness a historical event: the deployment of the first American combat troops on former Soviet soil.

As part of the Afghan campaign, the US air force set up a base near the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. Brawny pioneers in desert camouflages were erecting hundreds of tents for nearly 3,000 soldiers. I asked their commander, a wiry brigadier general, if and when the troops would leave Kyrgyzstan (and its neighbour Uzbekistan, where Washington set up a second airbase). "There is no time limit," he replied. "We will pull out only when all al-Qaeda cells have been eradicated."

Today, the Americans are still there and many of the tents have been replaced by concrete buildings. Bush has used his massive military build-up in Central Asia to seal the cold war victory against Russia, to contain Chinese influence and to tighten the noose around Iran. Most importantly, however, Washington - supported by the Blair government - is exploiting the "war on terror" to further American oil interests in the Caspian region. But this geopolitical gamble involving thuggish dictators and corrupt Saudi oil sheiks is only likely to produce more terrorists.

For much of the past two years, I have researched the links between conflict in Central Asia and US oil interests. I travelled thousands of kilometres, meeting with generals, oil bosses, warlords and diplomats. They are all players in a geostrategic struggle - the new Great Game.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/102103E.shtml

[mikehiggins]

1. Kim, Kim, Kim

and who is Kim?

Oh for the days when people were required to read books by writers like Rudyard Kipling.

"Kim" was one of Kipling's best works, using a fictional English orphan to examine India and the attraction of the mysterious East to the staid Westerners of his day. One of the best things about it is how he depicts the incredible arrogance of the English conquerors and their beleif in their God-given obligation to bring civilization to the uncivilised heathens of the East, running roughshod over peoples who had towering civilizations when Europeans lived in caves.

The struggle with Czarist Russia over control of the lands of the Afghans was part of what the imperialists saw as "the Great Game."

Not that Bush & Co. see things that way, of course.