By Peter Chamberlin
October 10, 2010The flexibility of Western pipeline plans makes it difficult to pin-down exactly where the lines are drawn between the US and the former USSR, especially since the so-called “reset” in relations has supposedly taken effect. The merger of American and Russian development plans for the Central Asian region should mean that the lines of division have all been erased. But that is impossible, simply because the differences between systems that have been made prominent by human rights concerns, makes it necessary to maintain at least the illusion that the authoritarian and democratic positions are not identical.
On the surface, the problems associated with such a “reset” would seem to explain the remaining divisions between East and West, but there are hidden considerations. The sinking of the American economic position, in contrast to the rising Russian status, brews strong temptations for the Russian side to seek permanent advantage over their former nemesis and for the American side, strong impetus to deny the “Russkies” their moment of schadenfreude [I always swore that I would never use that word]. The merger of the two sides’ interests probably accounts for the sudden threat of “Islamists” all over the former Soviet territory. The unknown factor is whether America’s “Islamists” are still serving America’s anti-Russian agenda, or whether their mission has been compromised so that their violence serves both American and Russian plans.
Continued. . .
October 10, 2010
Deflating the Strategy of Tension
Deflating the Strategy of Tension
