Yes, But Will An Obama Visit Put the U.S. Back in the Great Game?

Original: Yes, But Will An Obama Visit Put the U.S. Back in the Great Game?

President Obama has told a senior Kazakhstan official that he intends to visit the Central Asian nation, a senior American official has told me. The visit comes as Russia has rolled back U.S. power in the region after a decade in which Washington established military bases there and encouraged the construction of non-Russian energy pipelines to the West.

Yesterday, Reuters reported on a Kazakhstan statement about an invitation issued to Obama by Kazakhstan Senate Chairman Kasymzhumart Tokayev, who is second in the line of power to President military base in Uzbekistan until it was ejected in 2006, and another in Kyrgyzstan, which is scheduled for closure in July. The closure of the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan came in February after Russia promised the country more than $2 billion in loans.

For an excellent synthesis of the retrenchment of U.S. power, and its replacement by Russia, read this piece by the FT's Charles Clover and two colleagues.