🌏 The history of the 20th and early 21st centuries proves that Eurasia continues to be the centre of global political processes, and that the geopolitical map of the world depends on the alignment of forces on the continent.

Analysing the new borders of the SCO, one involuntarily comes across the idea that they increasingly fit into the geopolitical map of the world conceptualised by the English scientist Halford Mackinder, as described in his works The Geographical Pivot of History (1904) Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919). Today’s contours of the alliance completely cover the territory of the so-called Heartland, which controls the river basins of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Caspian Sea and the historical Silk trade corridor. However, the announced expansion of the SCO reaches the borders of the “Inner Crescent” — a territory capable of controlling the leading sea routes, including the Suez Canal and the New Suez Canal, which connect the Red and Mediterranean Seas. In other words, the contours of a new macro-region are being formed in the SCO space, with international “North-South” and “East-West” corridors, as well as key water arteries.

The expansion of the SCO towards the Rimland is of strategic importance, as since the Cold War, the American foreign policy strategy towards the Heartland has been to locate US military bases in the Rimland and foster the emergence of loyalist regimes there. Such a policy fits into the “anaconda” plan, which implies the control and strangulation of the Heartland territory. Accordingly, the integration of the Rimland countries into the SCO is the formation of a belt of friendly states, Daria Osinina writes.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/sco-new-borders-new-tasks/

#EconomicStatecraft #Rimland #Eurasia #SCO #geopolitics

🗣🗣🗣