Imperial Power and Central Asian Infrastructure

https://eurasianet.org/china-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-railway-project-gets-off-the-ground

The key statement this article is the reference to the Trans-Afghan corridor. This railroad and its relationship to the larger question of Central Asian infrastructure represents a strategic defeat for the US Empire.

During the 1990's, the USSR had collapsed and China was not yet a regional (let alone a global) player. The US needed a justification to enter the region and secure it - and it found its answer in the 9/11 attacks. By the end of 2001, the US had set up shop in Afghanistan and had acquired bases in Central Asia.

And here's the key - here's where historians and geopolitical analysts will say the massive mistake was made. Because of the Neo-Conservative faction and its dominance within the Bush II administration, the decision was made for regime change in Iraq. The US subsequently shattered the fragile Middle-Eastern order - handing Iran a significant win in the process. By the time the US was starting to disentangle itself from the mess, the Arab Spring happened and then ISIS. By then US politics were in a state of turmoil and to the horror of US strategists - Russia was back on its feet and as a second tier power was able to project itself and China was well on its way to parity with the United States. There was a twenty year window and George Bush ruined the possibility of a US-dominated 21st century with his feckless and myopic policies.

I shed no tears for the US Empire but it's interesting and today we live with the economic and political results - and a growing geopolitical crisis. All of these factors are playing out in the Church.

Twenty years after the Iraq invasion, the Atlantic Bloc is in a de facto state of war with Russia and China is more or less master of Central Asia. The weakening of Russia has also strengthened the hand of Beijing. Unlike the United States, the Chinese state acted and a ruler came to the fore that took the situation in hand. China had become a global player by 2008 (signified by the Beijing Olympics) but there was a great deal of instability, uncertainty, and in-fighting. That all ended with Xi Jinping in 2012.

And now the dream of US-dominated railroads and pipelines coming out of Central Asia via Afghanistan is becoming a reality - but instead of America it is China that is in control.

The strategic importance of this area and trade corridor also explain why Beijing has taken such a hard line on the Uighur population of Xinjiang. That region is critical to the project and unlike the US public and the for-profit media, China is very familiar with the pattern. The US will fund and arm paramilitaries which in this region will be Salafists in the Central Asian 'stan' republics, Xinjiang, and Afghanistan. Their job will be to sabotage and promote instability. This is why the Uighur al Qaeda affiliate is more or less sheltered by Washington. This is why at some point the US will want to make peace with the Taliban or one of the groups within its orbit - or maybe a 'moderate' offshoot of Islamic State (ISIS-K). This is why the US will facilitate the transfer of militants from places like Libya and Syria into Central Asia. This is also why the US is so upset with Erdogan's Türkiye. His nation could play such an important role in this project but at present Ankara is alienated from Washington.

I look for trouble on the horizon. The only thing that will stop it is if the American political system falls into chaos and US energy and efforts are turned inward.