In the
past month, two seemingly unrelated events have turned Central Asia
into a potential flashpoint: an aggressively expanding North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and a nascent strategic alliance between
Russia and China.
At stake is nothing less than who holds the future high ground in the competition for the world's energy resources.
As Barack Obama heads into his second hundred days in office, let's
head for the big picture ourselves, the ultimate global plot line, the
tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order. In its first
hundred days, the Obama presidency introduced us to a brand new
acronym, OCO for Overseas Contingency Operations, formerly known as
GWOT (as in Global War on Terror). Use either name, or anything else
you want, and what you're really talking about is what's happening on
the immense energy battlefield that extends from Iran to the Pacific
Ocean.
