Introduction “The Great Game”, a term used to describe the strategic rivalry and jostling for regional supremacy between nations, was thought to have gone into subsequent decline as a direct result of trends in globalization and regional cooperation (Lawton 2009, p 39 – 41). In the case of Kyrgyzstan it is apparent that the intersection of interests of regional and global superpowers has in effect landed the country in the middle of a new “Great Game” where each party involved has their own stake in ensuring a modicum of control and influence over this tiny and normally insignificant part of Central Asia. Despite the country being embroiled in an internal ethnic conflict from 2009 – 2010 (with some flare ups continuing even till the present day) countries such as Russia, China and the U.S. have expressed significant amounts of interest in the country due to its strategic position (Hanks 2011, p 177 – 182). From the perspective of Russia, Kyrgyzstan could act as an effective buffer between it and its continued encirclement by states that are members of NATO. While China on the other hand does want to expand its influence in the region especially with states that it shares borders with, its primary interest in Kyrgyzstan lies in the fact that the country is one of the largest consumers of products from the Xinjiang province and as such it has a certain degree of interest in maintaining its cooperative economic relationship with Kyrgyzstan. The U.S. on the other hand views Kyrgyzstan as an important strategic location in Central Asia as a “shipping out” point where it can effectively muster resources to be sent to its various military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc (Matthews 2010, p 12). Each nation has its own vested interest in the country yet such an intersection of interests is placed against the backdrop of a potentially explosive situation wherein the continued ethnic conflict within Kyrgyzstan presents numerous points of cooperation that all the parties involved seem to ignore. It is a well known fact that Kyrgyzstan within the past few years has been mired in ethnic conflict between its two native populations. Unfortunately this conflict interrupted into outright violence in 2009 to 2010 with several radical Muslim fundamentalists adding fuel to the fire (Crabtree 2010, p 3). In fact studies such as those by Yu (2010, p 10-12) indicate that while the situation in Kyrgyzstan will “somewhat” settle down by 2011 and 2012 it is still likely that the growing tensions within the region may erupt resulting in a spillover effect into other countries (i.e. Russia and China) as a direct result of the possible development of terrorist groups within the country (Yu 2010, p 10-12) (Wang 2003, p 568-584). The best way to prevent such an action from occurring is of course to work with Kyrgyzstan via a cooperative agreement in order to establish counterterrorism measures and activities however joint agreements in this regard have been largely absent (Foreign Relations 2010, p 41-47). It is in this regard that this paper will examine the points of contention in the case of Kyrgyzstan between the countries involved. As such what will be explored is the case of mutual distrust, lack of cooperation and through the use of the realist perspective this paper will attempt to examine that basis