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The ‘Great Game’ Is Back: Are Americans Ready for Great Power Competition?
Great power competition requires visionary spirits, courageous persons who venture into unknown lands on behalf of their country, with confidence in the civilization that produced them. It is simply a different age in American history, a soft age, and it may be that the costs of that competition require a price we are unprepared to pay.
The phrase “the great game” was coined by the British spy-soldier-diplomat Arthur Conolly and later immortalized by Rudyard Kipling. Peter Hopkirk’s 1992 book bears the same name and tells the story of the great power competition for Central Asia in the nineteenth century, mainly between the British and Russian empires.
APEX LONG READ: Afghanization of Nepal: Our mistakes
In October 1961, Mao Zedong met with King Mahendra and his Queen Ratna at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China. Photo courtesy: Chinese Embassy, Kathmandu published on 2020-12-31 15:12:00
The first part of this series looked at some foreign powers and their interests in the Afghanization of Nepal. While it s tempting to blame foreigners for the mess we are today (and for our chaotic future ahead), it does not help us understand why the foreign actors are doing what they are doing in Nepal. Therefore, we also need to be aware of the mistakes on our part. Here are a few of them: