Just consider it the 21st century version of the "Great Game," the superpower struggle to wrest control of South Asia. While it used to be a contest between Russia and Britain, today the players are Washington and Beijing. The latest round goes to China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which seems to be evolving into something akin to our side's NATO.
India and Pakistan have began accession to a regional security group led by China and Russia after two days of summits which Russian President Vladimir Putin held up as evidence Moscow is not isolated in the world.
The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, meeting in the Russian city of Ufa on Friday, a day after the BRICS emerging economies held a summit there, said the invitation to the two Asian nations showed a "multipolar" world was now emerging.
Those words will have pleased Mr Putin, who says the United States has an outdated vision of a "uni-polar" world dominated by Washington and wants to show Russia has not been weakened by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis.
The potential ramifications of this are as fascinating as they are worrying. China is acquiring a land bridge that connects it via Pakistan to Iran and, from Iran, to Iraq. Iran, at the moment, could really use a powerful benefactor. Two would be even better. Look at the map above. Go from Iran to Pakistan, India and China, then on to Russia and south to the Caspian and the "Stans." Now do you see what they're locking up?
Then look at the neighbouring waters. China is already muscling into control of the South China Sea. With India and Pakistan aboard, that could spread to the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and, if Iran runs for cover, the Persian Gulf.
Next up, take a look at what this new geopolitical reality would mean to Southeast Asia - Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal. They're sort of sewn up.
Then consider what this means in the context of the American position in the arc extending from Japan to Saudi Arabia, an area the US has been struggling to dominate. This is not good news for Washington although it's not much of a surprise either. This deal has been in the works for a couple of years.
One other thing. If I were the Saudis or Israel, I'd be shitting bricks at the prospect of Iran backed by the muscle of Moscow and Beijing and, worse still, the "other side" being able to manipulate oil markets through control of the reserves of Iraq, Iran and the Caspian Basin.
My, my, my. It's hard to say how much of this is America's own doing from marching NATO to Russia's doorstep to trying to contain China, primarily from contesting Chinese domination of the South China Sea, trying to recruit India to leave China's sea lane access to the Middle East vulnerable in the Indian Ocean and aligning the nations of the Asia Pacific toward Washington and away from Beijing. None of those gambits seems particularly bright right now.
One other thing. If I were the Saudis or Israel, I'd be shitting bricks at the prospect of Iran backed by the muscle of Moscow and Beijing and, worse still, the "other side" being able to manipulate oil markets through control of the reserves of Iraq, Iran and the Caspian Basin.
My, my, my. It's hard to say how much of this is America's own doing from marching NATO to Russia's doorstep to trying to contain China, primarily from contesting Chinese domination of the South China Sea, trying to recruit India to leave China's sea lane access to the Middle East vulnerable in the Indian Ocean and aligning the nations of the Asia Pacific toward Washington and away from Beijing. None of those gambits seems particularly bright right now.
