Revival of the Great Silk Road

[Alik Bahshi]

Alik Bakhshi

In connection with the problem of navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, due to its blockage by the Houthis, the importance of the “one road - one belt” project is increasing.


Revival of the Great Silk Road

   The "Great Silk Road", connecting the countries of the Mediterranean, with China is known from 121 BC. With the opening of the sea route from Europe to China and the development of shipping, which had a greater advantage over camel caravans, the value of the land route fell.

      
    With the transformation of China into a world factory of various goods, and as a result of the colossal growth of freight turnover, the idea of the revival of the Great Silk Road has again acquired relevance. China launched the initiative "One belt - one way", which means creating the shortest way of the railway that connects the Middle Kingdom with Europe. And this way was created. The route includes a ferry crossing in the Caspian Sea and the Marmaray Tunnel under the Bosphorus.

  
  
     October 30, 2017 in Baku, a significant historic event took place - the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, as the final stage of the revival of the Great Silk Road. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of Azerbaijan Aliyev, the President of Turkey Erdogan, the Prime Ministers of Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the delegation of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan. Aliyev noted that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is the shortest and most reliable route connecting Europe with Asia.
    
                                
  
    Erdogan, in turn, said: "We are declaring a direct rail service from London to Beijing. I want this project to benefit the region and our peoples. " In continuation, stressing the importance of the event on a global scale, he said: "The new Silk Way project, in which over 60 countries of the world participate with a population of 4.5 billion people, passes through an area of 40 million square kilometers. This initiative is based on bilateral and regional cooperation between countries based on mutually beneficial relations, which is an important distinctive feature of the project. "

   In fact, the more countries will be on the route route, the more profitable the economic value of the project, not to mention the significant reduction in the delivery time of cargo, the volume of which can reach up to 17 million tons per year. This overland route alternative to sea transport will reduce the time of delivery of containers from China to the UK more than twice and will be 12-15 days.

   Very significant for the countries of the Caspian region is the fact that it became possible to supply liquefied gas to Turkey and Europe by rail, which naturally causes Moscow's discontent. Realizing the threat of the emergence of a hydrocarbon competitor in the European market to Russia's economy, it is vehemently opposed to laying a gas pipe along the Caspian seabed from Turkmenistan to Baku, citing the ecological danger of this project, while forgetting about the "Northern Stream" and the South Stream. " However, Moscow has no arguments, to oppose the supply of liquefied gas to Europe by rail. By the way, if Russia continues to persist in obstructing the construction of a gas pipeline in the Caspian Sea, Turkey will not cost anything in retaliation to block the "South Stream". So in any case, Russia can not avoid the appearance of a gas competitor.
  
   It is interesting to note that after the opening of the final section of the Silk Road of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars in the Russian media, articles appeared that the route, unlike the Russian project, passes through a potentially troubled region. The thing is that Russia actively pedaled in the issue of implementing the Silk Road route through its territory, doing nothing real, and eventually ended up outside the game. Hence, the Kremlin's silent resentment towards the official opening of the new "Silk Road" is understandable.

     The Kremlin has been discussing the far-fetched question of a threat from Islamic terrorists since the time of the Chechen war, which, according to the Kremlin, are sleeping and see how to seize the Turkic countries and further expand into Russia. In order to protect the post-Soviet space from the allegedly unavoidable invasion of Islamic terrorism, the Kremlin plans to introduce troops, after which, as already well-known traditional pattern, hold referendums on reunification with Russia. In short, if anyone threatens the well-being of the post-Soviet space, this is the Russian Empire, which the Fuhrer Putin wants to restore in its former borders (1). In this case, Russia will again gain a monopoly on the European hydrocarbon market (2), and the new "Silk Road" will be in its hands. To protect free trade from the Evil Empire, the world community must take care of the safety of the revived Silk Road in advance.

   In conclusion, I want to note an important point - the revival of the Great Silk Road will create conditions for the consolidation of the Turkic countries and Baku will inevitably become the strategically important geopolitical center of the Turkic world. Only the union of the Turkic countries is the guarantee of their future and protects from encroachments of the northern neighbor (3).
    
 1. The state-forming people and its Fuhrer, - or Ukraine and further on the list. https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/21133.html
 2. The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline or the Third World War. https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/18362.html
 3. One language, - one homeland. https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/16879.html

  26.11.17

   Original with maps: https://alikbahshi.livejournal.com/36842.html

[Hispo]

I have read about the modern Silk Road, as a project being developed in Asía, it is supposed to positively boost the exchange of goods and services in the region, for obvious reasons. I would have assumed the Kremlin would have not liked the ideas of such a project. I always thought he was against the pursue of globalization.
Anyways, I wonder who the optics of this project could change because the context of the war in Ukraine and the reclamations of China over the Island of Taiwan. Honestly, even thought this is a project which does not have such a direct involvement like the Nordstream pipeline did, I still could expect the United States and her allies to denounce the new Silk Road to be a project which puts democracy and the west in danger, because of the boost it could also mean to the Chinese and Russian influence on the region where those projects re being developed. Time will tell, but I am almodt sure this is thing is not going to look good in the eyes of the presidency of USA and the CIA.

[Ucy]

It's quite a gamble since it involves passing through a potentially troubled region to a potentially "Meddling Europe"... And the regoin doesn't seem to have strong relationship with Europe nor is it under its control. But even if Europe tries the latter, the Islamists would likely be awoken and use the route as bargaining chip unless maybe the region is transformed into some sort of modern Islamic empire ruled by Islamic puppets to confuse the real Islamists and keep them asleep.
 I assume the route will be mostly for transportation of goods rather than humans because using it mostly for human transportation could make things worse for the Europeans as the last thing they would want to consider is allowing easy/free flow of people who are hostile to their values.