I won’t recount the many times I’ve written here about Turkmenistan’s gas games, and how the U.S. has simply given up and hunkered down in its chalky compound in Ashgabat, hoping Iran and Russia won’t out-maneuver us too terribly. To recap a few columns I’ve written: the U.S. did indeed blow this opportunity, and we very much missed the strategic opening Berdimuhamedov’s rise represented.
Along comes this handy little article on Russia’s push to secure Turkmenistan’s gas supplies.
As one Pentagon official said prior to the announcement of the Russian-Turkmen pipeline agreement: “If there is a new Great Game being played in Central Asia, the most important part is Turkmenistan.”
Western officials in Turkmenistan, however, deny that they have “lost” anything to Russia. “We don’t see it as a zero-sum game, as Russia and other countries in the region do,” said one Western diplomat.
But the diplomat acknowledges that Russia has an advantage in dealing with Turkmenistan; that Moscow doesn’t make the same demands on human rights and democratization as do Washington and Brussels. “We would love to know the real reason [that Russia was awarded the pipeline deal], but that seems to be the logical explanation,” the diplomat said.
Another Western diplomat said a major factor was connected to the fact that Russia devoted more high level attention to Turkmenistan than did the US or European countries. “When Berdymukhammedov calls the Kremlin, it’s [Russian President Vladimir] Putin who picks up the phone; when he calls Washington it’s a deputy assistant secretary of state. And the presidential level is where you get things done,” the diplomat said.
Right, that’s exactly what I’ve been saying all along. Steve LeVine casts some useful doubt on all this Great Game nonsense (and may more join the parade), noting the especially silly talk about zero-sum games. Let’s put this bluntly: Russia plays for keeps. We, apparently, do not. And that is why we are consistently outmaneuvered in the area.
Meanwhile, Russia hounds yet another of its billionaires into hiding in London, pulling some sort of legal shenanigans to seize the company of the oligarch who dared to disagree with Uncle Pootie-Poot. Mikhail Gutseriyev (interestingly enough an ethnic Ingush, born in Tselinograd, which renamed a decade ago by Uncle Nazzy to Astana, his new capital city), the owner of Russia’s seventh-largest oil company, is now wanted for “illegal business activity.” Natch. At least he’ll find good company with London’s other exiled Russian multibillionaires.
This post was written by...
Joshua Foust – author of 1801 posts on Registan.net.
Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust
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{ 1 comment }
Russia plays for keeps. We, apparently, do not. And that is why we are consistently outmaneuvered in the area.
Undoubtedly it is because Russia sees Central Asia as being of more importance than does the U.S. One country sees it as just a potential business deal, the other as a vital security interest.
I mean, really – what did you expect? Even with Bin Laden and the Taliban operating in Afghanistan, the U.S. interest in the region was barely piqued.
To be honest, Europe and China should probably have more interest in Central Asia than the U.S. I don’t feel that either of them are really players in the region either.