The term "The Great Game" was originally coined to denote the political rivalry that existed between the British Empire and the Russian Empire during the nineteenth century. The two great powers clashed over interests in Central Asia, with Afghanistan at the center. While the British sought a buffer to protect their crown colony, India, the Russians feared that the British might undermine their power in Central Asia by inciting rebellion among regional Muslim tribes. The threat of a unified Germany forced the two empires to broker the Anglo-Russian Agreement in 1907, which effectively marked the end of the traditional phase of the Great Game. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left several newly independent nations in the Caspian Sea region in a power vacuum where they were once dominated by Soviet control. Rich in both oil and natural gas, the Caspian Sea region has rapidly turned the gaze of foreign powers toward Central Asia, in what scholars call the “New Great Game.” As defined in this document, the New Great Game refers to the geopolitical game played between nations to control Central Asia's energy supply. Unlike the previous stage of the game, it should be noted that the current stage is not rooted in the territory, but something much more valuable. The prizes in the New Big Game are oil, pipelines, tanker routes, oil consortia and contracts. And the actors have multiplied to include the United States, Russia, and Iran as major powers, as well as regional powers such as Pakistan, India, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. Although the original projection of oil reserves in the 1990s was estimated at between 100 and 150 billion barrels (bb), the focus is on paper security, which I believe are the most pressing concerns of our time. When considering the fragile Caspian region, we tend to focus on the complicated geopolitical struggle that underlies the New Great Game. To focus on energy security. Energy security, which has been the cause of many of the most recent wars of our time, including the Iraq War. Yet global ecopolitics and environmental security have caused wars and may yet cause others. I tried to demonstrate the importance of environmental safety in our lives. An environmental safety crisis can leave a lake lifeless or turn a landscape into a wasteland. It can take a vibrant community and turn it into a hospice. My argument is that environmental security should be brought, together with energy security, to the forefront of our political agenda.
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