Introduction to Geopolitics

CASPIAN SEA OILFIELDS
C A S P I A N
S E A
  1  Kashagan
  2  Kurmangazy
  3  Khvalynskaya
  4  Tsentralnoye
  5  Apsheron Island
  6  Apsheron Bank
  7  Darvina Bank
  8  Artem Island
 Pirallkhi
  9  Gyurghang-
 Deniz
10 Zhiloy 
Island
11 Gryazevaya 
Sopka
 Palchyg 
Pilpilas
 Neft 
Dashlary
 
Neftian ye Kamni
12 Azi-Aslanova
13 27th 
May
 Guneshli
14 Chirag
 Kaverochkin
 Dostlug
15 Azeri
 26th 
Baku
16 Pricheleken
17 Zhdanov
18 Lam 
Bank
19 Gubkin 
Bank
20 Livanov
21 Kapaz
 Promezhutoch
 October 
Revolution
22 Yuzhnaya 
1&2
23 Shah-Deniz
24 Bakhar
25 Kurdashi
26 Khamandag
27 Araz
28 Lerik
29 Garasu
30 Shirvan
31 Bulla-Deniz
32 Alyaty-Deniz
33 Bulla 
Island
 Duvanny-Deniz
 Sangachaly-Deniz
34 7th 
March
35 Lokbatan-More
36 Gum-Deniz
37 Peschanyy 
More
1
2
4
3
5
6
7
8 9
10
12
11
13
14
20
16
18
17
19
21
15
22
23
24
31
27
28
30
38
35
34
33
25
26
29
I R A N
G
E
O
R
G
I A
ARMENIA
AZER.
A Z E R B A I J A N
T U
R
K
M
E
N
I
S
T
A
N
K
A
Z
A
K
H
S
T
A
N
R
U
S
S
I
A
Bandar-e Anzali
Turkmenbashi
Baku
Aktau
Astrakhan
Figure 3.3
The Caspian Sea.
Sources: US CIA; O’Lear (2004).

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Extract 1
August 16, 2004, President George W. Bush introduced a radical plan to re-
deploy 60,000–70,000 US troops from European and Asian bases staffed 
for the Cold War to countries in Central Asia. A “senior defense official” was
quoted as saying: “In the case of Uzbekistan, we have cooperation with them
today on the war on terrorism. And we have believed that the war on terrorism
will be with us for a period of time. And the kind of cooperation that develops
further with Uzbekistan and others in Central Asia really depends on those
countries to the extent they want to work with us.”
There were both positive and negative reactions to this announcement.
According to some it would inflame anti-American sentiment in the region, for
others the potential redeployment was linked positively to the possibility of
economic and political reform.
(“US Redeployment Plan Sends Ripples through Central Asia,”
CDI Russia Weekly
, August 24, 2004.
www.cdi.org/russia/320–16.cfm—accessed January 14, 2005)
Extract 2
Central Asia and the Caucasus are emerging as the new focal point of rivalry
between Russia and the United States in the wake of the Iraqi crisis. At the
heart of the new standoff are rich oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea
basin, which may hold 100 billion barrels of oil alone. Washington has already
a firm foothold in the local hydrocarbon industry, with US and joint US-British
companies controlling 27 per cent of the Caspian’s oil reserves and 40 per cent
of its gas reserves.
In the post-Iraq scenario, the US has moved to put a bigger foot in the South
Caucasus and Central Asia. It has mounted a titanic effort to revive GUUAM,
a moribund economic and security group of five former Soviet states, Georgia,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, set up as a counterweight to
Russian influence.
In Central Asia, the Pentagon has recently assumed talks with Tajikistan on
the lease of three military bases in addition to the two the US established in
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Last year [2002],
Tajikistan received $109 million in economic aid from the US and accepted its
offer to renovate a runway at Dushanbe airport.
(“A new Big Game in Central Asia” by Vladimir Radyuhin