New Great Game

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In the late 1990s, some journalists used the expression "New Great Game" to describe what they proposed was a renewed geopolitical interest in Central Asia based on the mineral wealth of the region.

Contents

The name is a reference to the original Great Game, the term used by historians to describe the 19th-century political and diplomatic competition between the British and Russian empires for territory and influence among Central Asian states. [1] The term "Great Game" itself had entered into more widespread use following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. [2] [3]

History

Continuation of Great Game or Second Great Game

The "original" Great Game is traditionally seen as ending with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, when the British and Russian Empires had formally defined their frontiers and ended their rivalry over Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. [4] In 1987, Karl E. Meyer wrote that the Great Game continued after 1907, citing the Russian involvement against the Persian Constitutional Revolution; Russia was supported by Britain in this endeavour. [5]

Some historians view events from the Russian Civil War and Soviet wars in Asia in the Interwar period, and categorize them as a continuation of the original Great Game, or as a second Great Game up to the mid-20th century. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] According to Morris, in a review of a history book by Meyer and Brysac, [10]

the Raj more or less bows out, the Tsar is removed and the Great Game is diffused into a miasmic free-for-all among the states. Now Americans, Germans, Chinese and Soviet Russians throw themselves into the power vacuum of Central Asia, to many theorists the heartland of the world, and riddled with symbolism.

Historian David Noack writes that the Great Game resumed from 1919 to 1933 as a conflict between Britain and the Soviet Union, with the Weimar Republic and Japan as additional players. Noack calls it a "Second Tournament of Shadows" over the territory composing the border of British India, China, the Soviet Union and Japanese Manchuria. To Britain, the Germans appeared to be a secret Soviet ally. In 1933–1934 it "ended with Mongolia, Soviet Central Asia, Tannu-Tuva and Xinjiang isolated from non-Soviet influence." [6]

According to scholars Andrei Znamenski and Alexandre Andreev  [ ru ] the Soviet Union continued elements of the Great Game into the 1930s, focused on secret diplomacy and espionage in Tibet and Mongolia. Agents in the new Soviet version included figures such as Agvan Dorzhiev, who had supported the Russian Empire previously. [8] [7] Historian Heather Campbell describes the continuation of elements of the Great Game by the British as well; Lord Curzon, a former viceroy of India who was concerned heavily with Russia strategy, would heavily influence policy in supporting the Tsarist Whites against the Soviet Union, as well as participating in the Sykes–Picot negotiations dividing the Middle East between Britain and France with the diplomatic support of Russia. [9] Andreyev highlights that one of the original issues of the Great Game, a projected Russian invasion of India, was also revived by Trotsky with the planned Kalmyk Project. [11] : 83–97 

Znamenski wrote that Soviet Communists of the 1920s aimed to extend their influence over Mongolia and Tibet, using the mythical Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala as a form of propaganda to further this mission, in a sort of "great Bolshevik game". [8] The expedition of Russian symbolist Nicholas Roerich has been put in context of the Great Game due to his interest in Tibet, [12] [13] Although Roerich did not like the Communists, he agreed to help Soviet intelligence and influence operations due to a shared paranoia towards Britain, as well as his goal to form a "Sacred Union of the East" [14] : 181–182  Jan Morris states that "Roerich brought the bewilderments of the later Great Game to America" through mysticism movements [10] called Roerichism.

New Great Game

In 1996, The New York Times published an opinion piece titled "The New Great Game in Asia" in which was written:

While few have noticed, Central Asia has again emerged as a murky battleground among big powers engaged in an old and rough geopolitical game. Western experts believe that the largely untapped oil and natural gas riches of the Caspian Sea countries could make that region the Persian Gulf of the next century. The object of the revived game is to befriend leaders of the former Soviet republics controlling the oil, while neutralizing Russian suspicions and devising secure alternative pipeline routes to world markets. [15]

In 2004, journalist Lutz Kleveman wrote a book that linked the expression to the exploration of mineral wealth in the region. [16] While the direct American military involvement in the area was part of fighting the "War on Terror" rather than an indirect Western governmental interest in the mineral wealth, another journalist Eric Walberg suggests in his book that access to the region's minerals and oil pipeline routes is still an important factor. [17] [18] The interest in oil and gas includes pipelines that transmit energy to China's east coast. One view of the New Great Game is a shift to geoeconomic compared to geopolitical competition. Xiangming Chen believes that China's role is more like Britain's than Russia's in the New Great Game, where Russia plays the role that the Russian Empire originally did. "China and Russia are the two dominant power players vs. the weaker independent Central Asian states". [19]

Other authors have criticized the reuse of the term "Great Game". [20] According to strategic analyst Ajay Patnaik, the "New Great Game" is a misnomer, because rather than two empires focused on the region as in the past, there are now many global and regional powers active with the rise of China and India as major economic powers. Central Asian states have diversified their political, economic, and security relationships. [21] David Gosset of CEIBS Shanghai states "the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) established in 2001 is showing that Central Asia’s actors have gained some real degree of independence. But fundamentally, the China factor introduces a level of predictability " In the 2015 international relations book Globalizing Central Asia, the authors state that Central Asian states have pursued a multivectored approach in balancing out the political and economic interests of larger powers, but it has had mixed success due to strategic reversals of administrations regarding the West, China, and Russia. They suppose that China could counterbalance Russia. However, Russia and China have a strategic partnership since 2001. According to Ajay Patnaik, "China has advanced carefully in the region, using the SCO as the main regional mechanism, but never challenging Russian interests in Central Asia." [21] In the Carnegie Endowment, Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng wrote in 2018 that China has not fundamentally challenged any Russian interests in Central Asia. They suggested that China, Russia, and the West could have mutual interests in regional stability in Central Asia. [22] According to Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng, China uses its policy in Central Asia to "manage" Russia's concerns, satisfying Russia by showing China's economic aims do not threaten Russian political-military interests in the Russian Far East and elsewhere besides Central Asia, and assuaging Russia's demographic fears about Chinese immigration. [22]

The historian James Reardon-Anderson stated in 2014, during the first withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, that, "There may be a new Great Game in Central Asia, but it is going to have a lot less importance to the United States than the new Great Game in the Western Pacific and East Asian waters." [23] [24] In August 2021, Reuters reported that following the Taliban takeover, the "new Great Game has Pakistan in control" of Afghanistan and also involves India and China. [25] In Nikkei , writer and retired Admiral James Stavridis stated that the "new Great Game" involves Russia's interest in the regulation of opium production, China's interest in rare earth minerals, a growing role for India, while the West will be reluctant to enter. [26] Following the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, RFE/RL reported that "Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran could come together in the next chapter of the Great Game," or "Moscow, Beijing, Islamabad, and Tehran are each merely looking to advance their own interests in the new geopolitical order." [24]

In a 2020 study, the New Great Game was described as a form of "Civilizational Colonialism" in border regions and areas of territorial disputes, united by their location in High Asia or "The Roof of the World". Kashmir, Hazara, Nuristan, Laghman, Azad Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, Western Tibet, Western Xinjiang, Badakhshan, Gorno Badakhshan, Fergana, Osh and Turkistan Region. These rich resource areas are surrounded by the five major mountainous systems of Tien Shan, Pamirs, Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Western Himalayas and the three main river systems of Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Indus. [27]

The "Great Game" as a term has been described as a cliché-metaphor, [28] and there are authors who have now written on the topics of "The Great Game" in Antarctica, [29] the world's far north, [30] and in outer space. [31]

"The New Great Game" is also the title of a 2021 paper written by J.A. Ritoe to refer to the increasing competition between great economic powers like the European Union, the United States and the People's Republic of China to secure access to the critical raw materials required for strategic industries such as the aerospace and defense industry, medical appliances and clean energy technology.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Detsch, Robbie Gramer, Jack. "Foreign Powers Jockey for Influence in Afghanistan After Withdrawal". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 14 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Seymour Becker, "The ‘great game’: The history of an evocative phrase." Asian Affairs 43.1 (2012): 61-80.
  3. ↑ Rezun, Miron (1986). "The Great Game Revisited". International Journal. 41 (2): 324–341. doi:10.2307/40202372. ISSN   0020-7020. JSTOR   40202372. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  4. ↑ Meyer, Karl E.; Brysac, Shareen Blair (17 March 2009). Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia. Basic Books. ISBN   978-0-7867-3678-2.
  5. 1 2 Meyer, Karl E. (10 August 1987). "Opinion | The Editorial Notebook; Persia: The Great Game Goes On". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  6. 1 2 Noack, David (14 December 2020). "The Second Tournament of Shadows and British Invasion Scares in Central Asia, 1919–1933". The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  7. 1 2 Andreev, A. I. (2003). Soviet Russia and Tibet : the debacle of secret diplomacy, 1918-1930s. Leiden: Brill. pp. 13–15, 18–20. ISBN   90-04-12952-9. OCLC   51330174. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Znamenski, Andrei (1 July 2011). Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia. Quest Books. pp. 19–20, 232–233. ISBN   978-0-8356-0891-6. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2022. No less tragic was the fate of those romantic Bolsheviks who... rushed into Mongolia, western China, and farther to Tibet to build the Red Shambhala paradise by stirring indigenous prophecies and instigating lamas to revolution. [...] Agvan Dorzhiev, another player in the great Bolshevik game in Inner Asia, ended his Shambhala quest in a secret police prison morgue. By the 1930s, futile compromises with the Bolshevik regime morally broke down this former Dalai Lama ambassador to Russia.
  9. 1 2 Campbell, Heather A. (3 July 2021). "Great Game Thinking: The British Foreign Office and Revolutionary Russia". Revolutionary Russia. 34 (2): 239–258. doi:10.1080/09546545.2021.1978638. ISSN   0954-6545. S2CID   242884810. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  10. 1 2 "Observer review: Tournament of Shadows by Karl Meyer and Shareen Brysac". The Guardian. 7 January 2001. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  11. ↑ Andreev, A. I. (2003). Soviet Russia and Tibet : the debacle of secret diplomacy, 1918–1930s. Leiden: Brill. pp. 13–15, 18–20. ISBN   90-04-12952-9. OCLC   51330174. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  12. ↑ Nikolaidou, Dimitra (15 September 2016). "Why the Soviets Sponsored a Doomed Expedition to a Hollow Earth Kingdom". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  13. ↑ Andreyev, Alexandre (8 May 2014). The Myth of the Masters Revived: The Occult Lives of Nikolai and Elena Roerich. BRILL. p. 199. ISBN   978-90-04-27043-5. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  14. ↑ Znamenski, Andrei (1 July 2011). Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia. Quest Books. pp. 19–20, 232–233. ISBN   978-0-8356-0891-6. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2022. No less tragic was the fate of those romantic Bolsheviks who... rushed into Mongolia, western China, and farther to Tibet to build the Red Shambhala paradise by stirring indigenous prophecies and instigating lamas to revolution. [...] Agvan Dorzhiev, another player in the great Bolshevik game in Inner Asia, ended his Shambhala quest in a secret police prison morgue. By the 1930s, futile compromises with the Bolshevik regime morally broke down this former Dalai Lama ambassador to Russia.
  15. ↑ The New York Times 1996.
  16. ↑ Kleveman 2004.
  17. ↑ Golshanpazhooh 2011.
  18. ↑ Gratale 2012.
  19. ↑ Chen, Xiangming; Fazilov, Fakhmiddin (19 June 2018). "Re-centering Central Asia: China's "New Great Game" in the old Eurasian Heartland". Palgrave Communications. 4 (1): 1–12. doi: 10.1057/s41599-018-0125-5 . ISSN   2055-1045. S2CID   49311952.
  20. ↑ "Kennan Cable No. 56: No Great Game: Central Asia's Public Opinions on Russia, China, and the U.S. | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  21. 1 2 Ajay Patnaik (2016). Central Asia: Geopolitics, Security and Stability. Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 28–31. ISBN   9781317266402.
  22. 1 2 Stronski, Paul; Ng, Nicole (28 February 2018). "Cooperation and Competition: Russia and China in Central Asia, the Russian Far East, and the Arctic". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  23. ↑ "Interview: The SCO, Security, And A New 'Great Game'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  24. 1 2 Synovitz, Ron. "Regional Powers Seek To Fill Vacuum Left By West's Retreat From Afghanistan". Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  25. ↑ Miglani, Sanjeev; Shahzad, Asif; Tian, Yew Lun (23 August 2021). "Analysis: China, Pakistan, India jockey for position in Afghanistan's new Great Game". Reuters. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  26. ↑ "Rare earth trillions lure China to Afghanistan's new Great Game". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  27. ↑ Sharma, Vishal (2020). Civilizational Colonialism and the Ongoing New Great Game in the Sensitive Areas of High Asia: Exploring Pan-High Asianism as the potential way forward for the Western Pahari, Greater Dardic, Trans-Himalayan, Badakhshan and Sogdiana Belts possibly leading to High Asian Approaches to International Law (HAAIL). Academia (Thesis). Cardiff: Cardiff University. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  28. ↑ Miller, Sam (2014). A Strange Kind of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes. London: Vintage Books. p. 286.
  29. ↑ Dodds, Klaus (2008). "The Great Game in Antarctica: Britain and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty". Contemporary British History . 22 (1): 43–66. doi:10.1080/03004430601065781. S2CID   144025621.
  30. ↑ Borgerson, Scott G. (25 March 2009). "The Great Game Moves North" . Foreign Affairs . Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  31. ↑ Easton, Ian (24 June 2009). "The Great Game in Space: China's Evolving ASAT Weapons Programs and Their Implications for Future U.S. Strategy". Project 2049 Institute . Retrieved 12 November 2020.

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