Georgia - References

• Hydrocarbons and a New Strategic Region: The Caspian Sea and Central Asia by Mr. Lester W. Grau, Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS. Military Review May-June 2001 -- Now that the Soviet Union has dissolved, Caspian Sea oil draws international attention once again. Caspian region oil reserves might be the third largest in the world (following Western Siberia and the Persian Gulf) and, within the next 15 to 20 years, may be large enough to offset Persian Gulf oil. As oil companies build oil pipelines from the Caucasus and Central Asia to supply Japan and the West, these strategic concerns gain military implications.
• INTERNATIONAL GAME '99 - GENEVA An Occasional Paper of The Center for Naval Warfare Studies by Captain James T. Harrington, U. S. Navy Strategic Research Department Research Report 12-99 United States Naval War College - The scenario posited Georgia as an important transit route for Caspian oil, which was assumed to be important to Europe. Further assumptions included robust Partnership for Peace interactions in the Caspian/Black Sea region, good relations between Russia and the West and a mature European Security and Defense Identity. General game observations included a reluctance of most Europeans to place their forces in harm's way without an international mandate, NATO's continued primacy as a European military actor, Russian pragmatism as it attempted to limit the influence of the West while avoiding the appearance of being the "spoiler",
• INTERNATIONAL GAME '99 - GARMISCH An Occasional Paper of The Center for Naval Warfare Studies by Captain James T. Harrington, U. S. Navy Strategic Research Department Research Report 13-99 United States Naval War College Based in 2009, the scenario premised a large humanitarian disaster in the Republic of Georgia compounded by a need to protect the delivery of humanitarian aid and, later, to respond to requests from a new Georgian President to help stabilize his government. Russia, understandably concerned about NATO and Western involvement in its near abroad, sought to exert influence by impeding, when it thought necessary, the attempts of regional organizations to decide and act.
  
  
  
• Ghost Recon Russia has fallen under the control of ultra-nationalistic leaders intent on rebuilding the Iron Curtain. This leads to conflict with NATO as Russia attempts to reclaim the breakaway republic of Georgia, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As the war escalates, casualties mount, hostages are taken and the Ghosts are sent in."