308 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 3 / 2014 these river basins from becoming the backbone of the regional economy and, probably, from becoming one of the geopolitical poles in the world. The fact that their lower courses are innavigable as they are covered with ice and flow into an ocean heretofore difficult to transit are the most notable of these characteristics. Crossing the “Heartland” Situated in the same centre dubbed by Sir Halford John Mackinder as the “Heartland”11, the Siberian rivers bear out the wisdom of the arguments commented on above. In 1904, the British geographer had already pointed towards the importance of the basins of the Volga and the Yenisei together with the great Central Asian rivers (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya), and the seas into which they drain, the Caspian and the Aral (which has almost disappeared through over-exploitation of the waters from its tributaries). Mackinder puts forward the argument that the pivot, as he dubs the “Heartland”, is “all but impregnable to attacks by sea powers, yet was able to sustain large populations itself ”, isolated as it is by the eternally frozen North. For the same reason, the nations “that arose from within it depended on horse and camel to negotiate its vast expanses, ,…”12. In fact, the author never once contemplated the viability of the use of these waterways as internal lines of communication and gateways towards international markets. If we take into account the fact that Mackinder’s theories had a decisive influence on the bulk of thinkers and leading political decision-makers of the last century (from Spykman to Brzezinski), a substantial change in the premises on which they were based would have meant a substantive alteration in the consequences that derive from them. Mackinder proclaimed the consequences of the domination of the “Heartland” over the rest of the world in his famous “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island controls the world.” The global importance of what happens in this region thus alters the focus when it comes to determining the consequences to be drawn from any alterations to its geography. 11 Mackinder, H.J. “The geographical pivot of history”. The Geographical Journal, 1904.available at : http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/eBooks/Articles/1904%20HEARTLAND%20THEORY%20 HALFORD%20MACKINDER.pdf 12 MEGORAN, Nick and SHARAPOVA, Sevara, “Mackinder’s ‘Heartland’: A help or hindrance in understanding Central Asia’s International Relations?”,page 12. http://www.ca-c.org/journal/2005- 04-eng/02.megprimen.shtml
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