The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia [Hardcover]

Lutz Kleveman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

The Caspian Sea contains the world's largest amount of untapped oil and gas resources. It is estimated that there might be as much as 100 billion barrels of crude oil in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan alone. Using the concept of the "Great Game" that Rudyard Kipling immortalized in his novel Kim, Lutz Kleveman has discovered a New Great Game raging in the region, a modern variant of the 19th century clash of imperial ambitions of Great Britain and czarist Russia. Only this time the stakes are higher. Desperate to wean itself from dependence on the powerful OPEC cartel, the United States is now pitted in a struggle against Russia and China, as all three nations compete for dominance in the Caspian region and access to its resources and pipeline routes. Complicating the playing field are transnational energy corporations with their own agendas and brash new entrepreneurs who have taken control after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Based on extensive research and travel in the regions, The New Great Game is a gripping narrative and a savvy analysis of the power struggle for the world's remaining energy resources.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Conventional thinking on a possible confrontation between the U.S. and China assumes that the geography of conflict will be off of China's coast over the Taiwan issue or as competition for the Spratly Islands heats up. In his first book, veteran war correspondent Kleveman makes the intriguing argument that the challenge to U.S. primacy will in fact take place to the west of China's hinterland province Xingjiang over the resources of the energy-rich Caspian Sea and the surrounding Central Asian republics. The central thesis, that the U.S., China, Russia and Iran are now engaged in a New Great Game, a power struggle for control of the region's vast oil and gas reserves, is thinly woven through the narrative in what is largely a war zone travel diary. Kleveman, who readily admits his conviction that the recent war in Iraq was motivated by the interests of Houston oilmen, similarly treats the war on terrorism as little more than a pretext for the presence of U.S. troops in the region to secure oil interests and pipeline routes. Thus, the book gives the impression that Kleveman has selectively presented interviews with oil ministers and locals that lend his argument the most weight, while giving short shrift to those with opposing views. The work draws attention to a little understood and increasingly important part of the world where oil, Islam and terrorism converge to create havoc, but in the end, Kleveman fails to show that competition and not cooperation will mark the development of the region's resources.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Lutz Kleveman was born in Germany and studied at the London School of Economics. He has reported from war zones for the Daily Telegraph, Newsweek, CNN, The Independent, Der Spiegel, and Die Zeit. He lives in New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; 1 edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871139065
• ISBN-13: 978-0871139061
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,355,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What an amazing journey!, October 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia (Hardcover)

One may agree or disagree with the political arguments Lutz Kleveman makes about U.S. energy imperialism in Central Asia, but his evidence is certainly startling and compelling. This makes the book very timely, especially in light of another oil war being in full swing in Iraq, and it should be part of the public discourse.

But what I really loved about The New Great Game is the amazing journey the author took me on! He actually traveled to all the countries he writes about, often risking his neck, from Chechnya to Afghanistan. This is first-hand reporting at its best, really allowing the reader to see, hear, smell, and feel the places and people Kleveman encounters - be they warlords or oil tycoons. Some of them I will not forget in a long time. And all the while Kleveman keeps his sharp eye and clear mind for who and what is important for the oil story.

I seriously and whole-heartedly recommend this wonderful book!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old Game New Spoils, January 5, 2006

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia (Paperback)

The Central Asia region, symbolically centered on the vast raw material resources in and around the Caspian Sea, was the subject of the "Great Game" struggle of colonial times, during which Russia and England spent generations trying to extend their influence into this mysterious, inaccessible, and often lawless region. In recent years, Central Asia has again been thrown into a battle among far greater powers, due to the international drive for new supplies of fossil fuels and the war against terrorism. The United States has taken England's place in machinations with the Russians, while the emerging regional powers of Iran and China are becoming involved, with everyone trying to extend their political influence in the region and to secure energy supplies. In this book Lutz Kleveman utilizes the historical concept of a "New Great Game" to describe how Central Asia is again looming large in the world's strategic geopolitics (and petropolitics). Kleveman's conceptions of a "New Great Game" are reasonably effective, but this background argument operates only as a rather thin shell around a travel diary and short-term war reporting.

Kleveman definitely traveled to many intriguing and downright dangerous locations while researching the book. He met with opposition leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, dictators and demagogues in the former Central Asian Soviet Republics (including the bizarre personality cult in Turkmenistan and the shamefully overlooked human rights violators of U.S. ally Uzbekistan), and oil company plutocrats in Azerbaijan and Russia. Kleveman also took very intriguing forays into the not-so-axis-of-evil stability of Iran, and the obscure Uighur lands of Western China. Kleveman's politically-inclined travelogues to these dangerous or inaccessible trouble spots is highly reminiscent of the works of Robert D. Kaplan, though frankly Kaplan is better at it and has a keener eye for geopolitical realities. Overall, Kleveman misses many opportunities for larger informative insights, especially in the way he merely alludes to the true economic goals of the superpowers as they claim to be combating terrorism and stabilizing nations. Kleveman starts with some pretty believable arguments on these matters but fails to really support them with corroborating evidence. This is especially true in the book's problematic epilogue, in which Kleveman finally attempts to deliver the grand geopolitical and economic insights that he had been leading up to throughout his travel reporting, but unfortunately comes across as a rather opinionated second-guesser. [~doomsdayer520~]

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read! Eye-opener!, September 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia (Hardcover)

This is one of the most brilliant books I have read in years!
Ever feel that the Bush administration's is hijacking the War on Terror to pursue U.S. oil interests in Iraq and Central Asia? Well, the journalist Lutz Kleveman traveled to the frontlines and oil fields to find out. What he discovered on his fascinating journeys from the Caucasus all the way down to Afghanistan is eye-opening..
And what an adventure tale this book is, too! The author beautifully weaves his bold political analysis into gripping travel writing. His encounters with the power players in the region, be they Russian oil bosses or Afghan warlords, make for a great read. I enjoyed every page of it!