Great Game

The Great Game is a term originally coined by Arthur Connolly of the British East India Company used to describe the rivalry and strategic conflict between the British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game

The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk (1994) ISBN:1568360223

The John Company/East India Company was the archtypal naughty BigCo/Big Government hybrid.

Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia by Karl Meyer, Shareen Brysac, (2001) ISBN:0349113661

2002: Global Energy - The Great Game: The 2020 Edition In the 1990s, competition between the United States and Russia over the direction of oil transportation routes from the Caspian Basin to European and world markets grabbed international attention.