It's too cool outside to listen to the radio on the verandah, and so I retired to the bedroom with a cup of tea to listen to Geoff Raby "Why was the US Afghanistan withdrawal a history-changing moment for China?" Interesting stuff. Make yourself a cuppa and listen to it here.
Geoff Raby's book "Great Game" is the story of the remaking of the world order. Historically, China has sought its security by building dominant relationships with pliant states that accept its pre-eminence. Its expanding role and influence in Central Asia has been as incremental and piecemeal as it has been deliberate. Without firing a shot, China could potentially end the United States' international primacy to become the most consequential global power. With its emergence as the leading power in Eurasia based on its inexorable economic rise and Putin's folly in Ukraine, China has been released from its past existential anxieties about land-based threats from Eurasia. It now has the chance to project its power globally, as the US did from the early twentieth century when it became the dominant power in the western hemisphere. What threats and risks must China address? And what happens when China becomes the established, stable, dominant power in Eurasia? Australia's former ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, takes the reader on a journey across Eurasia to understand the forces shaping its geopolitics. Raby enriches this analysis by weaving his own travel stories, experiences and adventures into the fabric of his narrative.
This book is geopolitics on a grand canvas, written from the ground up. Published only two days ago, on 12 November 2024, it's not likely to be on the shelves at Vinnies. With my BHP shares having closed the day as low as $40.01 today, I may have to save up to afford the price of $34.99.
