Let me begin with three news items. Xinhua put out a brief story confirming that a crude oil pipeline between Russia and China was now operational. It originates from the Russian town of Skovorodino, runs for 72 kms in Russia reaches Mohe in China and continues for 927 kms in China before ending at Daqing in northeast China. Years of speculation that the terrain would make it very difficult to connect eastern Siberia to the Chinese system are put paid to as this new pipeline (ESPO pipeline) carries 42000 metric tons of crude within a day of its inauguration. Industry analysts quickly note that it “overturns decades of Russian dependence on European markets”.
In pursuit or protection of power, wealth, identity and order, states adjust and re-adjust their policies to achieve maximum benefits from the prevalent international order. The pursuit of wealth or economic power, as Kaufman suggests, can lead to the emergence of new economic systems and how these systems drive political changes (regional and international) remain imperative; and sometimes, beyond analysts’ capacity to forecast an outcome of a certain partnership or an alliance, particularly when it is between/among belligerent states.
The Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) organized a bilateral dialogue with the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), Tehran at its premises on December 21-22, 2010 in what was the 9th in a series of such regular meetings between the two institutes.
The end game and the regional states
Already in its ninth year, the US/NATO led war in Afghanistan has reached a critical stage. In the last nine months of 2010, the failure of the Troop surge and the COIN strategy to show any tangible success; the bitter policy debates in the within the Obama administration; and.......
