Download Free Faultlines Of Conflict In Central Asia And The South Caucasus Implications For The Us Army Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Faultlines Of Conflict In Central Asia And The South Caucasus Implications For The Us Army and write the review.

In the region of Central Asia and South Caucasus, what is the potential for armed conflict, and how might such outbreaks escalate to a level that could involve U.S. forces? The authors evaluate the key political, economic, and societal faultlines underlying the likelihood of conflict in the region, assessing their implications for regional stability and for U.S. interests and potential involvement over the next 10 to 15 years.
In this volume, the authors identify and evaluate key faultlines in Central Asia and the South Caucasus and how they affect the likelihood and possible evolution of armed conflict in these regions. The analysis examines the ways in which the emergence of conflict could draw the US into the strife.
This report is the final product of a project entitled "Sources of Conflict in the South Caucasus and Central Asia". The project was intended to help Army intelligence analysts improve their understanding of the potential for armed conflict in the region of Central Asia and South Caucasus and how such outbreaks might escalate to a level that could involve US forces. This report identifies and evaluates the key conflict-producing fault-lines in Central Asia and South Caucasus. The faultlines include the role of state political and economic weakness; the impact of crime and the drug trade; the effects of ethnic tensions and foreign interests and influence; and the impact of competition for natural resources. The analysis then examines the ways in which the emergence of conflict could draw the United States into the strife. The report also examines the operational challenges the region poses for possible Army deployments in the 10- to 15-year time frame This research was completed largely prior to the September 11 attacks on the United States The report has been updated to take into account the changed security environment and the US military presence on the ground in the Central Asian and South Caucasus region The operations in Afghanistan have not altered the faultlines. They are long-term and structural in nature The current US presence on the ground means that they need to be taken into account even more than previously.
This timely study is the first to examine the relationship between competition for energy resources and the propensity for conflict in the Caspian region. Taking the discussion well beyond issues of pipeline politics and the significance of Caspian oil and gas to the global market, the book offers significant new findings concerning the impact of energy wealth on the political life and economies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. The contributors, a leading group of scholars and policymakers, explore the differing interests of ruling elites, the political opposition, and minority ethnic and religious groups region-wide. Placing Caspian development in the broader international relations context, the book assesses the ways in which Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey are fighting to protect their interests in the newly independent states and how competition for production contracts and pipeline routes influences regional security. Specific chapters also link regional issues to central questions of international politics and to theoretical debates over the role of energy wealth in political and economic development worldwide. Woven throughout the implications for U.S. policy, giving the book wide appeal to policymakers, corporate executives, energy analysts, and scholars alike.
Since September 11, 2001, the United States has fought two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In these wars, the United States has accomplished or more precisely revealed a strategic revolution. Most notably, U.S.-led coalitions sustained forces in Central Asia and the Caucasus over an extended period by sea and air for the rst time in history. Thus, American leaders and commanders revealed that the new military capabilities hitherto associated with the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) could be deployed anywhere in the world, that U.S. forces would and could be optimized for global power projection capabilities, and that new theaters like Central Asia were of considerable strategic importance to Washington. Their actions rejected a parallel to the ongoing Revolution in Strategic Affairs (RSA) that reaformed the importance of that area as a potential theater of strategic operations (a term taken originally from Soviet military thought).
The Clinton administration has proclaimed a strategy to engage and enlarge the democratic community of states. By virtue of their strategic location adjacent to Russia, the Middle East, and Europe s periphery, and their large-scale oil and natural gas deposits, Transcaucasia and Central Asia have become important testing grounds of this strategy. The U.S. goal of irrevocably integrating these states into the Western state system economically, politically, and militarily has made them an intensifying focus of international rivalry with Russia. Moscow still perceives these areas as part of its sphere of interest and deeply resents U.S. engagement there. Furthermore, Moscow's current war with the breakaway province of Chechnya demonstrates its willingness to contest expanding U.S. interests forcefully. Moreover, in this region many factors exist that could cause other conflicts. Accordingly, it is a sensitive place to test the strategic rationale of the engagement strategy and its military corollary, a strategy whose goal is to shape the emerging environment in directions that we wish to see. This monograph contributes to the debate that has just begun and which undoubtedly will last for a long time over what our strategy for the new states should be and how it should be carried out.
This is the only book since the fall of the Soviet Union to analyze the security of the newly emerged independent states in the strategically vital region of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This insightful work maps out the possibilities and dangers that lie ahead for the nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The book analyzes the current security situation and clarifies its historical context, identifying the factors that have shaped the security of these young nations since their independence. It also examines the parameters—political, economic, ethnic, energy, and military—that will decide the security of the region in the future. The book's author tells the whole story behind the headlines when he discusses, for example, the real reason for the "wine war" of 2006, when Russia banned imports of Georgian wine for "health reasons," or when explaining the impact of the expanding American presence—both political and military—after September 11. Conflict and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus is a primer for those who want to know more about this strategic region and essential reading for all students of world affairs.
The Caucasus region and Central Asia covers a large part of the Eurasian. Both regions, where Russia and China have a serious influence and visibility, also have a location that reflects the hegemonic expectations of both these actors. In this context, domestic political developments and even internal conflicts in the region can be linked to the policies of Russia and China to a certain extent and have the potential to affect the motives of these two powers. Although Central Asia is rich in natural resources, it is landlocked and has lagged other nations in terms of agricultural production and industrial development. Although the Caucasus is divided into the North, the territory of Russia, and the South, where three independent states are located, it is insufficient in terms of production and development. The Caucasus stands out especially with energy projects and its feature of being a commercial corridor.
The world's second largest reserves of petroleum lie beneath the land-locked Caspian Sea, making the Caucasus of vital importance to both regional and global economic and security interests. This book brings together experts from the US, Russia and the Caucasus to examine the issues of conflict, foreign policy tradeoffs, and security in the region. It takes into account the geopolitical factors, Western and Russian involvement, and the interaction between domestic and external pressures. Crossroads and Conflict looks at the challenges faced by these countries and examines the possibilities for future peace and prosperity in the region.