What's Eurasia? What potential Iranian ascension into Russia's economic union could mean

in #politics7 years ago (edited)

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Russia is looking for a way to reassert itself on the world's stage, and it would be logical to assume that better ties with Central Asia and the surrounding countries is their only possible avenue to follow. Modeled after the success of the European Union, Russia has spent the years after the 1991 collapse consolidating it's power bloc into a loosely aligned political organization known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. The CIS, as it's known, is not a strong political entity but it does serve the purpose of keeping many former soviet states under the Russian umbrella and through suborganizations under it, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization "CSTO" for defense and the Eurasian Economic Union "EEU" for economic cooperation, Russia has managed to come out of the 1990's and 2000's in a moderately strong position.

Recent developments have pointed to Russian attempts to expand the EEU, and possibly the entire CIS, by adding both Turkey and Iran. Such additions, especially with the economic power Turkey has in Istanbul and the access to the Indian Ocean which Iran's ports would give, may create a geopolitical atmosphere in Central Asia which is increasingly devoid of American influence. This new economic and potentially political power bloc, often times referred to as "Eurasia", would lie directly between both China and the EU, to the north of Eastern Africa and most of the Middle East, and just over the pole from the United States and Canada.

What do I think?

I believe that the creation and expansion of a Eurasian power bloc could pose a massive threat to US global hegemony, as it would provide China with a close and powerful ally capable of asserting it's influence over much of the geographical Euro-Asian-African area. A more unified Eurasia could nearly eliminate the need for US naval power in the Indian ocean by providing a safe and cheap alternative via land trade across Central Asia, but at the cost of American dominance over these trade routes. Additionally, while this could lead to a new untapped prosperity in the area - "Eurasia" would have the largest access to natural and raw materials on earth - it would be at the cost of giving many of the cruelest, most inhumane regimes on earth a large amount of power over international trade.

Overall, I believe it is in the US' strategic interest to continue pushing it's influence in Central Asia in more Russo-neutral countries such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while continuing to support Afghanistan and taking all possible steps to prevent a Turkish pivot from West to East.

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