From Russia With Love: The Geopolitics of Oil

Our buddy Vladimir Putin stomped into Georgia today, tanks and jets blazing. He's ticked off-- them Georgians wanted to join Nato. That is, they wanna hang wif' the Europeans and the Americans. Why ya' ask? heh...


Of course, the Georgians sit on the BlackSea--a "transit" nation for oil pipelines: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan(BTC) pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum (BTE) pipeline. Next door is Azerbaijan on the landlocked Caspian Sea. So the BTC takes crude out to the Mediterranean--uh huh.



About 6 years ago new analysis by BP showed a huge reserve under the Caspian basin, nearly 220 billion barrels by some estimtes, probably "only" 100billion. Now, that oil will go out over one of the the longest pipeline ever built--800 miles (+ -), an' underground to prevent sabotage . The BTC line can transport about 1 million barrels a day. What this does, Sweet Pets, is to untie the geopolitical Gordian Knot that Russia done tied over the basin. Now Georgia an Azerbaijan got theyselves some political and economic security. And-heh heh--it sends grandstandin' Iran to the penalty box: no longer necessary to go out via Iran and the Persian Gulf. Egypt reports that Iran will launch a missle attack on the BTC if Ahmadinejad catches cold.


The BTC Pipeline necessarily focuses Georgia and Azerbaijan toward Europe. (In the 1990s Russia tightly controlled transport and distribution of the oil. They made a good buck on transportin' oil to Euros--now the Georgians will get a hunk of that profit.) This pretty pipeline (loans granted by World Bank and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Devlopment) gives them nations jobs and cash. The Georgians need it and Europe needs the oil & gas. An' since it comes out over Turkey, ya sees why the Eurocrats want Turkey in the EU...oh yeah...Oh, an eventually the BTC will give Turkmenistan a route out for their natural gas on the world market, which --landlocked--they had been stuck wif sellin' cheap to the Rooskies.

AN', not to put too fine a point on thangs, the BTC is a key to US move away from so much mid-east oil.

So this thang will be a bellyache fer the USA on account of the Western/Euro focus of Georgian pipelines means we have a keen interest in the SECURITY of the pipelines. Heh heh.


Stories here , here, and here.

RULE the World

On January 5, 2005, Ahmadinejad said, "We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups and nations. It's a universal ideology that leads the world to justice. We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world. We must prepare ourselves to rule the world."


Iran, a nation that feverishly works toward nuclear capability, has plans for you. Warms ya' heart doan it?





Concurrent wif' the recent NATO and G-7 meetin's, I'se read a heap of ink that say the USA dominance is over, decline is inevitable an' good riddance. Some even swoon to learn about China's semi-secret submarine base (Well, NOT India of course).

Okay, world. Let's see how ya' likes the other guys.

Ya''ll knows they ain't never been a time when power din't seek to rule. The only real question we need to answer is whose rule and what kind of rule can we live wif'?

When it is Over it's Over