New Great Game
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Today as the world continues its search for petroleum reserves, Central Asia once again is set to play a major role in international politics. As China's economy continues to grow it also continues to secure strategic oil reserves and has sought fields throughout Kazakhstan but particularly in the Northern Caspian Sea. Besides China, Russia hopes to still retain influence in the region but is continually being countered by US military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as well as Persian defiance to rid its northern neighbors of foreign influence. In 2001 Colin Powell visited Astana, the newly founded capital of Kazakhstan, and while speaking at a conference before Nursaltan Nazarbayev (President), and petroleum executives of the state oil company, decided that a long disputed pipeline could be built without exclusion from US investments (which originally stalled the construction).
China
Xinjiang, the largest and most northwestern province in China, is home to the Uyghur people. Related to other Turkic peoples in Central Asia, they have in the past been associated with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda as well as their own terrorist group the EITM. Today Beijing quells the population and discriminates heavily against the ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Beijing has also provided billions in tax breaks and investments to encourage Han Chinese migration to Western China so that they could outnumber the "radical muslims"(Uyghurs). Despite quelling ethnic muslims, Beijing is attempting to secure strategic petroleum reserves throughout Central Asia. In the past China has done most of its oil business with Sudan and other Middle Eastern nations but has now begun purchasing fields mostly in Kazakhstan, where the largest oil bubble has been discovered in over a decade. For China however this is only the beginning of a much larger confrontation with the US, Russia, and Iran as those four renew The Great Game that once stifled colonial expansion during the 19th century.
The United States
Iran
Russia
Ashgabad for over 70 years retained the image of a worn-down, Stalinist city, and much of the architecture continues to display the tyranny exercised against the Turkmen people. However some of Ashgabad's Stalinist buildings have been replaced by white marble palaces and golden statues that glorify President Niyazov. Over the past decade this Turkic nation has not changed much except in its name. Today Niyazov reigns with an 'Iron fist' and maintains a weird and awkard police state. At almost every street corner throughout Ashgabad but also in Turkmenbashi, a port city on the Caspian, pictures and statues of Niyazov can be seen. With these public displays come street names, cities, towns, and attractions that remind the population of their heritage and leader. The economics and politics of Turkmenistan are almost all state-run, and as enormous gas reserves as well as significant oil supplies continue to be developed, it seems more likely that Ashgabad will not be capable of maintaining its strict stance of neutrality and isolation, especially in this volatile region of Central Asia but also in an ever-more globalized community.
Resources:
The New Great Game by Lutz Kleveman