Remote, forbidding, and volatile, the Caspian Sea long
tantalized the world with its vast oil reserves. But outsiders,
blocked by the closed Soviet system, couldn''t get to it. Then the
Soviet Union collapsed, and a wholesale rush into the region
erupted. Along with oilmen, representatives of the world''s leading
nations flocked to the Caspian for a share of the thirty billion
barrels of proven oil reserves at stake, and a tense geopolitical
struggle began. The main players were Moscow and Washington-the
former seeking to retain control of its satellite states, and the
latter intent on dislodging Russia to the benefit of the
West.
The Oil and the Glory is the gripping account of this latest
phase in the epochal struggle for control of the earth''s "black
gold." Steve LeVine, who was based in the region for The Wall
Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, weaves an
astonishing tale of high-stakes political gamesmanship, greed, and
scandal, set in one of the most opaque corners of the world. In
LeVine''s telling, the world''s energy giants jockey for position in
the rich Kazakh and Azeri oilfields, while superpowers seek to gain
a strategic foothold in the region and to keep each other in check.
At the heart of the story is the contest to build and operate
energy pipelines out of the landlocked region, the key to
controlling the Caspian and its oil. The oil pipeline that
resulted, the longest in the world, is among Washington''s greatest
foreign policy triumphs in at least a decade and a half.
Along the way, LeVine introduces such players as James Giffen, an
American moneyman who was also the political "fixer" for oil
companies eager to do business on the Caspian and the broker for
Kazakhstan''s president and ministers; John Deuss, the flamboyant
Dutch oil trader who won big but lost even bigger; Heydar Aliyev,
the oft-misunderstood Azeri president who transcended his past as a
Soviet Politburo member and masterminded a scheme to loosen Russian
control over its former colonies in the Caspian region; and all
manner of rogues, adventurers, and others drawn by the irresistible
pull of untold riches and the possible "final frontier" of the
fossil-fuel era. The broader story is of the geopolitical questions
of the Caspian oil bonanza, such as whether Russia can be a trusted
ally and trading partner with the West, and what Washington''s entry
into this important but chaotic region will mean for its long-term
stability.
In an intense and suspenseful narrative, The Oil and the Glory is
the definitive chronicle of events that are understood by few, but
whose political and economic impact will be both profound and
lasting.
關於作者：
Steve LeVine was based in Central Asia and the Caucasus for 11
years -- starting two weeks after the Soviet collapse through 2003.
He ran The Wall Street Journal bureau for the eight-nation region,
and before that covered it for The New York Times. From 1988-1992,
LeVine was Newsweek''s Pakistan-based correspondent for that country
and Afghanistan. Before that, he covered the Philippines for
Newsday from 1985-1988. He worked on The Wall Street Journal''s oil
staff through January 2007. He is currently writing a new book on
Russia that, among other things, will explain its string of
high-profile murders. LeVine actively blogs on Russian and Central
Asian affairs on his website.
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