why do you think obama and crew want TPP/TTIP so badly
This article is crap. "Silk road" talk is based entirely around the oil deals between China and Kazakhstan, and China and Kazakhstan are talking exclusively about oil. China is entirely ocean-facing otherwise. The "Eurasia" they're talking about is historically a nomadic wasteland ruled by loose confederations of tribes with zero interest in holding territory. Obama and crew want the TPP so they can enforce American trade law on developing Asian markets.
So you think the Valdai Club are just idealistic optimists and that China wouldn't be interested in land trade? Maybe the (reaching) equivolent of Idaho writing a report that says, if Nevada connected to California's high speed rail, and then Nevada was economically developed, and then the rail line were pushed up to Idaho, everything would be awesome?
I think that I'm probably on a Rationalist kick because after 30-plus books on international relations being largely driven by coincidence and personality, having Kaplan say "Afghanistan is a pigfuck now because it's always been a pigfuck because it's all isolated mountain regions and choke points, same reason the druglords in northern Mexico are unstoppable" really changed my perspective. The region under discussion has always been loosely controlled by nomadic tribes with no interest in holdings. From the Parthians to the Tatars it's been a place you get through as quickly as possible so that you don't get raided by land pirates. Lasting empires generally settle on a language - Latin, Mandarin, English - but the polyglot that covers Eurasia doesn't even have a common root. The great Eurasian "empires" discussed in history class didn't last a generation - Alexander's empire crumbled upon his death and the Mongol empire fractured into the Golden Horde on their way back. I think Czarist Russia was a backwards kleptocracy incapable of holding anything without constant raids and pogroms. I think the USSR was a backwards kleptocracy incapable of holding anything without constant raids and pogroms. I think Putin's Russia is all that with half the resources. Trains will run, yeah. The Silk Road is a massive trade route and always will be. Trying to turn the land sea of central Asia into some sort of new hegemony is the sort of thing think tanks come up with when they've been hitting the pipe too hard.
Always do the opposite of what George Soros says! I'd like to see this idea gain more support among European countries, but it doesn't seem very likely that they'll shake American influence off any time soon.Whether their marriage of convenience will lead to an enduring union – or, as George Soros predicts, a threat to world peace – remains to be seen.