ENERGY DIMENSIONS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND SECURITY IN EAST ASIA. Edited by A. V. Torkunov, scientific editor. - Comp. A.D. Voskresensky, Moscow: MGIMO, 2007, 1040 p.

A large team of historians, economists, political scientists, and journalists (47 people) has written a book, the genre of which is difficult to determine: this is not a collective monograph, since each chapter has an author, and not a collection of articles, since the logic of the content is strictly maintained for all sections and chapters. The authors themselves have defined it as a "MGIMO-BiPi project", and this is probably correct. The book is a report on the results of the joint work of a large group of specialists on a complex and urgent task-how energy supply and security are connected in East Asia. Among the participants are well-known experts and scientists from Russia, as well as from China, Japan, South Korea, Great Britain and the United States. Sections and chapters are written differently by these authors, but there are no weak or unsuccessful works in the book. There is a lot of concrete information in all parts, and the conclusions are justified. The book is interesting in three aspects.

First, it deals in detail with a large and important issue for Russia and international relations: energy supply and its peculiarities in a region as important for the world economy and our country as East Asia. The authors show that difficulties in importing fuel can undermine economic growth in the region. One of the reasons for the difficulties may be instability caused by international terrorism. At the same time, to ensure the safety of transport flows, interested countries are ready to adjust their security policies. The full range of these complex problems is discussed in detail.

with a detailed description of various scenarios of economic development, a description of threats, extremist organizations and movements, the military potential of countries and the political interests of possible participants in conflicts.

Secondly, the content of the book is much broader than the topic announced in its title. In fact, we are talking about the problems of almost all countries that are related to the energy market of East Asian countries and the reliability of fuel supplies to this market, or affect security in the region. This list includes the Caspian littoral states, India, the United States, and all East Asian partners in the energy market, as well as potential participants in conflicts that could undermine this market. The authors understand security broadly, including in addition to the military component, terrorist threats and economic aspects from macroeconomics to the state of fuel and energy supply.

Third, the productive work of a large team of specialists from Russia, East Asian countries and employees of British Petroleum under the leadership of the project organizers helped to create an intelligent product of great value.

The book consists of three parts: "Geo-economic and geostrategic factors", "Natural-geographical and military-political factors and risks", "Energy dimensions of foreign policy and Security in Greater East Asia: regional and country aspects". Probably, in the most concise form, the problems and conclusions of the study are reflected by A. D. Voskresensky: "Today in Eurasia, a consensus understanding of the concept of interregional security of an integration type is gradually beginning to develop, which should have a positive impact on the implementation of large-scale long-term investment projects, including energy ones" (p.47). It also emphasizes that in the global context of the 21st century, there should be no confrontation between the United States, Russia and China in East and Central Asia. In fact, all the materials in the book discuss whether this is true or not, what hinders and what contributes to solving the economic and political problems of energy supply in East Asia.

The book contains a fairly thorough economic part, which describes the balance of fuel and energy resources in the countries of the region, the situation in the oil industry, and the prospects for the development of nuclear energy. The problems of the PRC are considered in more detail, the energy complex of Japan, South Korea and the DPRK is characterized to a lesser extent, but in general a unified picture of the fuel and energy complex of the region is drawn.

The authors clearly formulate the situation in Russia in the analyzed block of problems. Thus, A.D. Bogaturov correctly formulated that it is the Siberian regions that are currently the source of Russia's wealth (p. 79), and that the Russian Far East in modern conditions is becoming part of the integration economic space of the PRC (p.103). Thus, the prospects of Russia's broad participation in the energy supply of East Asian countries are contradictory: it can develop Siberia, but the fruits of this development will go to its neighbors. The authors do not hide the fact that there is concern about this in the political circles of the Russian Federation and there is a group of supporters of the "strategy of containing China" (p. 490). S. G. Luzyanin considers the specific risks and benefits of Russia's participation in the energy supply of the PRC (p. 486-487).

The opportunity for our country to both win and lose by participating in international energy projects in East Asia once again underlines the need for a thorough analysis of the situation in this region in order to work out the economic and political aspects of Russia's position.

Much attention is paid to the region that the UN defines as South Asia. These are India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, as well as the states of Central Asia. India is viewed more because of its competition with China in the global oil market, while Central Asian countries are seen as additional suppliers of oil and gas to China and at the same time as a place where there are terrorist threats to the security of energy supply. Such a broad regional coverage is very useful for showing the real interaction of political and economic processes in Asia and the global economy. The text also contains specific examples of the connection between security issues, including terrorism, and energy supply. Thus, V. Ya. Belokrenitsky points out Bin Laden's calls for like-minded people to attack energy facilities (pp. 524-525).

The book also discusses specific measures to ensure the safety of energy supply. This is the program "energy in exchange for industrial reconstruction" proposed by A. I. Salitsky and V. I. Fisyukov, in accordance with which partners from Eastern Europe and Central Asia are working together.

Asian countries invest in Russian industry, while Russia provides fuel and energy supplies (p.152). Daojun Zha, V. V. Ivanov, and Soichi Ito raise the question of forming a regional energy security regime in Northeast Asia (p. 184).S. G. Luzyanin considers the prospects for creating a regional financial structure - the collective Development Bank of Northeast Asia (p. 483).

In some cases, a simple enumeration of problems and their systematization is a very useful result. For example, A.V. Bolyatko gives a list of territorial disputes over the nationality of islands in the East China and South China Seas (p. 333-338), which is important under the existing legal regime of coastal economic zones.

Sometimes in a book you can meet several conflicting opinions of individual authors, but this does not confuse the reader, but rather shows that the views of specialists on the same issue may differ. This applies, for example, to assessing the prospects for energy intensity of economic growth in the PRC. A. I. Salitsky's opinion differs from that of other authors. According to the appendix "Energy Parameters of International Relations in East Asia: Expert Discussions" available in the book, it was discussed and included in the final text of the book. Thus, the objective uncertainty of this process, which is important for the problems of research, is reflected.

There are differences of opinion among authors and in historical estimates. This applies, in particular, to the situation of the republics of Central Asia within the USSR. Thus, Yu. M. Galenovich gives a very negative assessment on this issue: the" Central Asian " nations did not live a full-fledged life during the years of Soviet power, but existed (p.343), while the SI. Lunev claims, citing data from the International Monetary Fund, that all the Central Asian republics received large subsidies as part of the USSR, and their loss led to a crisis (p.392).

There are also differences in the authors ' positions on other issues discussed in the work, which makes it quite interesting to read in this regard. However, there are many repetitions of the same facts and statements in the book, for example, the characteristics of the fuel and energy complex of the PRC or the general situation in the countries of Central Asia, written by different authors. True, this can only be noticed when reading sequentially, but I think not everyone is ready to read a 1040-page book in a row, containing sections that are interesting to specialists of various profiles. In this case, repetitions are not a disadvantage of the work, as they make it easier to read it from anywhere.

There are also "fleas". For example, on page 278, in an interesting and original chapter on the history of East Asian political relations, the Japanese "Shogun Hoetomi Hideyoshi organizes invasions of the Korean Peninsula in 1952 and 1957." On page 714 is a geographical "Map of the location of the main oil fields in China", which in Russian are called "oil fields".

When reading it, one feels like reproaching the authors for the fact that the book deals with too many side issues that are not directly related to energy, international relations and security in East Asia, and also that if one takes their position and considers the problem comprehensively, then it is necessary to expand the content and analyze the state of affairs in Southeast Asia (Indonesia) and in the Middle East, as the region's oil and gas supply flows from there. Obviously, the authors chose the acceptable option, and the debate about the optimal option can continue indefinitely.

In general, despite the large volume and abundance of material, the book is written, edited and published in such a way that it is convenient for the reader to read it. At the end there is a list of all abbreviations used in the text. Chapters have insets where the main points are summarized in a summary, and the most significant parts of the text are marked in bold. All this makes it easy to navigate in a very large and informative text of the book, read it in a row or from a favorite place, view the results highlighted by the authors, and use the book as a reference. There are almost 1000 footnotes per 1000 pages of text, quite a lot of tables, and several maps. Thus, the scientific apparatus of the book is adequate to the tasks being solved.

Success of the team of authors under the leadership of a corresponding member. A.V. Torkunova shows that Russian international and Oriental scientists are quite successful in mastering project-based forms of work, when a team of specialists working in different places gathers to perform a research task. It is hoped that the organizational and creative experience gained by the team during the project implementation will continue to be in demand in the future.

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