Russia, China, America

Article: http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/22/china-russia-politics-tension-markets-economy-oil-gas.html

Russia and China are in a battle to take primary control over newly independent Central Asian states. The two countries were working to keep these countries under their eyes, but now they seem to have different views on the situation. This stems from the difference in China and Russia's economies. Chinese economy grew by 8.7% in 2009 while Russian economy fell by 7.9% in 2009. China has begun to take over. Russia had to even borrow money from China in order to complete the Central Asia Natural Gas Pipeline which runs from Russia to China through such countries as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Because of the tensions between China and Russia the U.S. has become the favorite of many Central Asian countries. America's main goal in this situation is to gain new insight into the war in Afghanistan. If there is stabilization in Central Asia then Afghanistan would improve.

The U.S. has always wanted to have control over other countries.America is especially known for its interest in Latin America. Because of this I am not surprised that the U.S. is taking advantage of Russia and China's differences. In order for the U.S. to fulfill its wish for control it must relieve Central Asia from its dependency on Russia. Next the U.S. must use its distance from Central Asia to its advantage and try to help resolve problems acting as a neutral power. Next the U.S. must opendly communicate with Central Asia about its most difficult problems such as, "the dearth of educational and economic opportunities."

I think that the U.S. will be able to take advantage of the tension between Russia and China in order to gain some kind of control over Central Asia. Because Central Asia is so important to the war in Afghanistan gaining some power in Central Asia could be beneficial. I personally do not think that the U.S. should get itself into any more trouble!

Terms:
GDP- Gross Domestic Product (A value measure of the flow of domestic goods and services produced by an economy over a period of time, such as a year.)

Central Asia- a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.

Gas Pipeline-a transmission system for natural gas or other gaseous material.