In a series of short stories that both inform and amuse, this book transports the reader across the windswept shores of the Caspian Sea and provides a provocative view of the wars, peace, intrigues, and betrayals that have shaped the political geography of this important and volatile region. The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the eclipsing of the old Iranian-Soviet regime of the sea have given rise to new challenges for the regional actors and unprecedented opportunities for international players to tap into the area's enormous oil and gas resources, third in size only behind Siberia and the Persian Gulf. This book explores the historical themes that inform and animate the more immediate and familiar discussions about petroleum, pipelines, and ethnic conflict in the Caspian region.

Autorentext

GUIVE MIRFENDERESKI is a corporate and business lawyer in private practice in Massachusetts. He has lectured at Brandeis University and Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has been a legal consultant to the World Bank.

Inhalt

Price of Survival (1721-1724) Persian Restoration (1724-1735) A Russian Lake (1735-1781) Catherine and Agha Mohammad (1781-1797) Creeping South to Astara-Chay (1797-1829) On to Ashuradeh! (1835-1841) Melgunov's Field Trip (1858-1860) The Royal Playground (1866-1870) The Voyager King (1873) Ballantine's Travels (1875) To Qizil Su and Beyond (1869-1876) The Shah's Second European Tour (1878) Taming of the Turkmens (1897-1881) Hemming of Persia at Gudri (1881-1893) Curzon's Complaint (1892) The Mortgaging of Persia (1872-1896) Savage-Landor's Lament (1901) Surf and Turf (1901-1902) Mozaffar ed-Din's Concessions (1898-1907) At the Water's Edge (1902) The Lords of Northern Persia (1907-1917) Seeing Red (1917) The Fisher of Troubled Waters (1917-1918) Baku or Bust! (1918-1920) The Persian Socialist Soviet Republic (1920) The League's Legalese (1920) Mending Fences (1921) The Sinclair Squeeze Play (1922-1924) Fish Stories (1927) Peripheral Developments (1923-1936) The Shah's Northern Navy (1924-1935) The Iranian and Soviet Sea (1931-1940) Making Virtue of Necessity (1939-1943) Lingering Imperialism (1943-1947) Good Neighborliness (1953-1971) Peace on Land, Peace at Sea (1952-1977) Imaginary Line, Real Limits (1962-1991) A Secret Covenant (1962) Death and Succession (1991) New Players, New Game, New Rules (1991-1997) Diplomacy and Betrayal (1997-1999) Our Sea, 2000