Russia, Iran tighten the energy noose

[bemildred]

Source: Asia Times

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In fact, how Moscow proceeds with the reconfiguration of Russo-Iranian relations could well form the centerpiece of the geopolitics of energy security in Eurasia during 2008. The dynamics on this front will doubtless play out on a vast theater stretching well beyond the Eurasian space, all the way to China and Japan in the east and to the very heart of Europe in the west where the Rhine River flows.

What places Russia in an early lead in the upcoming scramble is its fantastic win in the Eurasian energy sweepstakes in 2007. But 2007 as such began on an acrimonious note for Moscow when two minutes before the clock struck midnight on December 31, Russia signed a gas deal with Belarus whereby the latter would have to pay for Russian gas supplies at full market prices on a graduated scale stretched over the next five-year period. President Vladimir Putin's critics seized the moment with alacrity to portray him as a whimsical megalomaniac.

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What incensed Western critics was that combined with the state control of oil and gas (and indeed the pipelines), the Kremlin was also maneuvering its way to a commanding position on the energy map of Europe. From its own viewpoint, Russia could claim it was merely pursuing a coordinated strategy aimed at integrating itself with European economies.

But the United States viewed the implications of the Russian strategy to be very severe for trans-Atlantic relations on the whole, as it cast a shadow on the entire range of goals, strategic objectives and security policies that Washington has been pushing within the framework of the Euro-Atlantic alliance in the post-Cold War years. Plainly put, Washington fears that Europe's strategic drift may become a reality unless Russia is stopped in its tracks.


Read more: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/IL22Ag01.html

[msongs]

1. once again bush has betrayed the american people in yet ANOTHER important area

by treating everyone as an enemy bush has isolated our nation, with negative impact.

Msongs

[bemildred]

2. Putin Secures New Gas Pipeline, Undermining U.S. Plan (Update3)

Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a deal to start building a natural-gas pipeline to Central Asia, undermining a U.S.-backed plan to give the region an alternative route bypassing Russia.

The agreement to construct the new pipeline from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was signed at a Kremlin ceremony broadcast on Russian state television today.

``The creation of this new energy artery allows for long- term, large-scale gas deliveries to our partners and is a serious contribution by our countries to energy security in Europe,'' Putin said after officials from the three former Soviet republics signed the accord.

Putin reached a preliminary agreement to build the so- called Caspian pipeline, capable of raising Russian imports of Central Asian gas by 40 percent, in May. A follow-up deal to start construction was delayed after Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan considered a U.S. plan to build a link below the Caspian Sea, giving them a new route that would break OAO Gazprom's monopoly on their gas exports to Europe.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZAoqlSorbFA&refer=home

[Bandit]

3. That was our main reason for invading Afghanistan wasn't it?

Now the Russians outfoxed the Bush* Cabal and did it themselves without firing a shot...

[bemildred]

4. From the Asia Times piece:

Thus, through the past 12-month period, the Bush administration has been pressing for the development of new energy transit lines from the Caspian and Central Asia that bypass Russia. Washington has robustly worked for advancing its proposals for the construction of oil and gas pipelines linking Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Europe across the Caspian Sea; new pipelines that would connect the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline with the Baku-Erzurum gas pipeline (making Turkey an energy hub for Europe); and the so-called Nabucco pipeline that proposes to link Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries with southern European markets.

However, as the year draws to a close, it becomes clear that the Kremlin has either nipped in the bud or frustrated one way or another the various US attempts to bypass Russia's role as the key energy supplier for Europe. Indeed, Moscow's counter-strategy aims at augmenting even further Russia's profile and capacity to be Europe's dependable energy supplier and thereby forcing the European consumer countries to negotiate with Russia as a partner with shared or equal interests.

The month of May stood out as the watershed when the geopolitics of energy in Eurasia decisively turned in Russia's favor. At a tripartite summit meeting in the city of Turkemenbashi (Turkmenistan) on May 12, Putin and his Kazakh and Turkmen counterparts signed a declaration of intent for upgrading and expanding gas pipelines from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan along the Caspian Sea coast directly to Russia. The president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, also signed up separately on May 9 for a modernization of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-Russia pipeline. Both pipelines are components of the Soviet-era Central Asia-Center pipeline system bound for Russia. The quadripartite project essentially aims at the transportation of Turkmenistan's gas output, which almost in its entirety would be bought up by Russia for a 25-year period.

Pooty-poot not only ate their lunch, he took little time to do it.