Shadow Play: US-Russia-China in The New Great Game, 2017-2020

The Pepe Escobar archives on Asia Times archives track a period of 20 years – starting with the columns and stories published under The Roving Eye sign in the previous Asia Times Online from 2001 all the way to early 2015.

The Roving Eye was all over the place – but mostly following the War on Terror, and digging deeper in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Greater Middle East, Central Asia, China, and the interplay of all these actors with the US. I was back with the new Asia Times in early 2017 – right at the start of the Trump administration.

The columns selected for the first e-book in this series start before the Trump inauguration and proceed, in chronological order, to July 2020. They focus on the complex interaction between Top Three geopolitical actors Russia, China and the US. You may read them as a thriller – as you will be reviving all the plot twists and cliffhangers involving the players.

The first column – conceived in Bali – lays out the chessboard: it’s all about sekala – what is visible – and niskala – what’s in the shade. Right afterward, you are thrown under the volcano of multiple, interlocking, main themes: the Trump doctrine; the Chinese dream; the New Great Game; the New Silk Roads; Eurasia integration; Hybrid War; and Cold War 2.0. So welcome to a unique geopolitical road trip.