The New Great Game in Asia is “all about pipelines”

The New Great Game is a geopolitical game with rivalry for pipeline routes to access energy resources in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea. It is widely reported in the Asian press but rarely commented upon in Canada.

“It began after the Soviet Union broke up and the five "Stans" of Central Asia became independent,” according to an article of John Foster who is an international energy economist and an expert on the world oil scene.

In the Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star: "Asia's new 'great game' is all about pipelines"
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/481731

Ahmed Rashid about “nation building” in Central Asia

The new book of the journalist Ahmed Rashid, “Descent Into Chaos”, is an investigation into the failure of nation building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia and the threat from radical Islam.

The BBC’s Soutik Biswas spoke with Rashid about this book and the situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia: “'Militancy will not run out of steam":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7530272.stm

In June, Jane Perlez wrote the article “A prophetic voice on Taliban calls out again”
for the International Herald Tribune about Rashid's book “Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia”:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/20/asia/profile.php

The website of Ahmed Rashid
http://www.ahmedrashid.com/