By Jeffrey S. Payne
‘Analysts should not allow geopolitical possibility to overshadow the divisive conflicts that exist throughout Eurasia.’
China’s push west, India’s look north, and Russia’s more aggressive foreign policy – each of these countries is looking with greater interest towards Central Asia and the Middle East. Greater attention towards continental Asia by rising powers could represent a challenge to the global status quo. The area from the Himalayas to the Mediterranean and from Russia to India may well help to define the international order of the 21st century, but analysts should not allow geopolitical possibility to overshadow the divisive conflicts that exist throughout Eurasia. Any type of Eurasian system of partnerships will have to overcome fragile economies, a history of shifting friendships, and deep-seated hostilities between nations. Instead of imagining alternative scenarios like a Russo-Sino alliance or a new pole of global power based in continental Asia, analysts should be focused on how a reliance on Eurasia is as likely to sap the strength of a state as to empower it. Thus, Eurasia will prove itself not to be a springboard for increased partnership throughout Asia, but rather a zone of competition for emerging powers.
Read the full story at The Diplomat