How soon before **this** pipeline gets blown to bits??

[rainbow4321]

Iran and Russia left out of the loop w/ this US backed pipeline:

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=133380

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and senior officials from some 30 other countries gathered here Thursday to inaugurate the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, a major US-backed project to supply oil to Western markets.

The route bypasses Russia's energy web, as well as US foe Iran, and is seen as easing Western reliance on Middle East crude supplies. The Turkish authorities laid on heavy security for the ceremony, with 5,000 police and troops deployed at the venue and its environs, including snipers positioned on rooftops.

It is seen by the West as a project of geostrategic significance, loosening Russia's long-standing grip over oil exports from the Caspian and isolating Iran, also an oil producer.

The United States has staunchly backed the route, lobbying hard for the exclusion of Iran, whose participation would have made the conduit both shorter and more profittable.

[eleny]

1. I remember reading they couldn't go through Russian territory to the west

... so they opted for this eastern route. I first read about that in Dispatches From The Former Evil Empire by Richard Threlkeld. An interesting book. Azerbaijan got its oil sucked dry and the people of the country didn't get much for it. The usual story. So then the oil companies wanted to go after the oil in the Caspian.

[MisterP]

2. this way Russia can't cut off Ukraine with its brand-new U.S. bases

and troops in the breadbasket of Europe, pointed right at Volgograd

[dipsydoodle]

3. Hmmmmmm.

ref. Azerbaijan democratic elections - ha f*cking ha.

During the election period, the OSCE and its Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) deployed one of its largest-ever election observer missions. It joined with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to form an International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), consisting of twenty long-term observers (who were deployed about one month prior to the election) and some 600 short-term observers (who were deployed just days before the election). During the pre-election period the long-term OSCE/ODIHR observers often directly intervened to stop abuses, particularly arbitrary arrests and police beatings. Staff from many embassies also monitored the pre-election climate, attending opposition and government rallies and raising concern about abuses with government authorities.

This prominent role led many Azeris to see the international community—and the United States and OSCE in particular—as the “guarantors” of a free and fair election. Consequently, the mild responses by the United States, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe to the massive fraud left many Azeris bitterly disappointed

full text : http://hrw.org/reports/2004/azerbaijan0104/8.htm

As far a I'm aware the independant election observers were thrown out.

Now check this : http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/oil2.shtml and note :
"an American-trained force of new military recruits in Georgia." NB use the producer's diaries links for added detail. I remember that program well particularly the part which dealt with threats to Georgian villagers and threats to their safety if they dared mention the path of the pipleline most of which is underground.

[Dover]

4. Russia and Iran lead the new energy game

Dueling Pipes:

Jul 14, 2006



THE ROVING EYE
Russia and Iran lead the new energy game
By Pepe Escobar

Whatever the West may have thought about it, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spectacularly preempted this weekend's Group of Eight (G8) summit in St Petersburg with his own bit of Pipelineistan news. Putin announced in Shanghai on June 15 that "Gazprom is ready to support the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India with financial resources and technology".

He was referring to a fabled US$7 billion, 2,775-kilometer, 10-year old project - an Iranian idea - which should now be finished by 2009, developed by Gazexport, a Gazprom subsidiary. As a result, by 2015 both India and Pakistan should be receiving at least 70 million cubic meters of natural gas a year.

Thus the two top global gas producers - Russia and Iran - reached a strategic partnership abiding not only by their own interests but the interests of India, Pakistan, China and part of Central Asia, something that spells nothing less than an auspicious economic future for a great deal of Asia - independent from any American interference. Washington was not amused.

Not surprisingly, everyone else in the region begged to differ. For Iran this represents the coveted Pipelineistan way to the east. India will save at least $300 million a year. Pakistan will receive as much as $600 million a year in transit fees. The pipeline will inevitably be extended to Yunnan province in China. No wonder the announcement was made at the annual meeting of the Chinese-inspired Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)....cont'd

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/HG14Dj03.html