Posted on 06/16/2006 2:08:19 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil
By Michel Chossudovsky
July 26, 2006
Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World's largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more than a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets?
Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tblisi-Baku (BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, took place on the 13th of July, at the very outset of the Israeli sponsored bombings of Lebanon.
One day before the Israeli air strikes, the main partners and shareholders of the BTC pipeline project, including several heads of State and oil company executives were in attendance at the port of Ceyhan. They were then rushed off for an inauguration reception in Istanbul, hosted by Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the plush surroundings of the Çýraðan Palace.
Also in attendance was British Petroleum's (BP) CEO, Lord Browne together with senior government officials from Britain, the US and Israel. BP leads the BTC pipeline consortium. Other major Western shareholders include Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, France's Total and Italy's ENI. (see Annex)
Israel's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was present at the venue together with a delegation of top Israeli oil officials.
The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian Federation. It transits through the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US "protectorates", firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military cooperation agreements with Israel.
Israel has a stake in the Azeri oil fields, from which it imports some twenty percent of its oil. The opening of the pipeline will substantially enhance Israeli oil imports from the Caspian sea basin.
But there is another dimension which directly relates to the war on Lebanon. Whereas Russia has been weakened, Israel is slated to play a major strategic role in "protecting" the Eastern Mediterranean transport and pipeline corridors out of Ceyhan.
Militarization of the Eastern Mediterranean
The bombing of Lebanon is part of a carefully planned and coordinated military road map. The extension of the war into Syria and Iran has already been contemplated by US and Israeli military planners. This broader military agenda is intimately related to strategic oil and oil pipelines. It is supported by the Western oil giants which control the pipeline corridors. In the context of the war on Lebanon, it seeks Israeli territorial control over the East Mediterranean coastline.
In this context, the BTC pipeline dominated by British Petroleum, has dramatically changed the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean, which is now linked , through an energy corridor, to the Caspian sea basin:
"[The BTC pipeline] considerably changes the status of the region's countries and cements a new pro-West alliance. Having taken the pipeline to the Mediterranean, Washington has practically set up a new bloc with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Israel, " (Komerzant, Moscow, 14 July 2006)
Israel is now part of the Anglo-American military axis, which serves the interests of the Western oil giants in the Middle East and Central Asia.
While the official reports state that the BTC pipeline will "channel oil to Western markets", what is rarely acknowledged is that part of the oil from the Caspian sea would be directly channeled towards Israel. In this regard, an underwater Israeli-Turkish pipeline project has been envisaged which would link Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon and from there through Israel's main pipeline system, to the Red Sea.
The objective of Israel is not only to acquire Caspian sea oil for its own consumption needs but also to play a key role in re-exporting Caspian sea oil back to the Asian markets through the Red Sea port of Eilat. The strategic implications of this re-routing of Caspian sea oil are farreaching.
What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline, from Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon. In April 2006, Israel and Turkey announced plans for four underwater pipelines, which would bypass Syrian and Lebanese territory.
"Turkey and Israel are negotiating the construction of a multi-million-dollar energy and water project that will transport water, electricity, natural gas and oil by pipelines to Israel, with the oil to be sent onward from Israel to the Far East,
The new Turkish-Israeli proposal under discussion would see the transfer of water, electricity, natural gas and oil to Israel via four underwater pipelines.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961328841&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
“Baku oil can be transported to Ashkelon via this new pipeline and to India and the Far East.[via the Red sea]"
"Ceyhan and the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon are situated only 400 km apart. Oil can be transported to the city in tankers or via specially constructed under-water pipeline. From Ashkelon the oil can be pumped through already existing pipeline to the port of Eilat at the Red Sea; and from there it can be transported to India and other Asian countries in tankers. (REGNUM )
Water for Israel
Also involved in this project is a pipeline to bring water to Israel, pumping water from upstream resources of the Tigris and Euphrates river system in Anatolia. This has been a long-run strategic objective of Israel to the detriment of Syria and Iraq. Israel's agenda with regard to water is supported by the military cooperation agreement between Tel Aviv and Ankara.
The Strategic Re-routing of Central Asian Oil
Diverting Central Asian oil and gas to the Eastern Mediterranean (under Israeli military protection), for re-export back to Asia, serves to undermine the inter-Asian energy market, which is based on the development of direct pipeline corridors linking Central Asia and Russia to South Asia, China and the Far East.
Ultimately, this design is intended to weaken Russia's role in Central Asia and cut off China from Central Asian oil resources. It is also intended to isolate Iran.
Meanwhile, Israel has emerged as a new powerful player in the global energy market.
Russia's Military Presence in the Middle East
Meanwhile, Moscow has responded to the US-Israeli-Turkish design to militarize the East Mediterranean coastline with plans to establish a Russian naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus:
"Defense Ministry sources point out that a naval base in Tartus will enable Russia to solidify its positions in the Middle East and ensure security of Syria. Moscow intends to deploy an air defense system around the base - to provide air cover for the base itself and a substantial part of Syrian territory. (S-300PMU-2 Favorit systems will not be turned over to the Syrians. They will be manned and serviced by Russian personnel.)
(Kommerzant, 2 June 2006, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=IVA20060728&articleId=2847
Tartus is strategically located within 30 km. of the Lebanese border.
Moreover, Moscow and Damascus have reached an agreement on the modernization of Syria's air defenses as well as a program in support to its ground forces, the modernization of its MIG-29 fighters as well as its submarines. (Kommerzant, 2 June 2006). In the context of an escalating conflict, these developments have farreaching implications.
War and Oil Pipelines
Prior to the bombing of Lebanon, Israel and Turkey had announced the underwater pipeline routes, which bypassed Syria and Lebanon. These underwater pipeline routes do not overtly encroach on the territorial sovereignty of Lebanon and Syria.
On the other hand, the development of alternative land based corridors (for oil and water) through Lebanon and Syria would require Israeli-Turkish territorial control over the Eastern Mediterranean coastline through Lebanon and Syria.
The implementation of a land-based corridor, as opposed to the underwater pipeline project, would require the militarisation of the East Mediterranean coastline, extending from the port of Ceyhan across Syria and Lebanon to the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Is this not one of the hidden objectives of the war on Lebanon? Open up a space which enables Israel to control a vast territory extending from the Lebanese border through Syria to Turkey.
"The Long War"
Israeli Prime minister Ehud Olmert has stated that the Israeli offensive against Lebanon would "last a very long time". Meanwhile, the US has speeded up weapons shipments to Israel.
There are strategic objectives underlying the "Long War" which are tied to oil and oil pipelines.
The air campaign against Lebanon is inextricably related to US-Israeli strategic objectives in the broader Middle East including Syria and Iran. In recent developments, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice stated that the main purpose of her mission to the Middle East was not to push for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather to isolate Syria and Iran. (Daily Telegraph, 22 July 2006)
At this particular juncture, the replenishing of Israeli stockpiles of US produced WMDs points to an escalation of the war both within and beyond the borders of Lebanon.
Michel Chossudovsky is the author of the international best seller "The Globalization of Poverty " published in eleven languages. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization, at www.globalresearch.ca . He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His most recent book is entitled: America’s "War on Terrorism", Global Research, 2005. To order Chossudovsky's book America's "War on Terrorism", click here.
Revised, 28 July 2006.
Annex
The BTC Co. shareholders are: BP (30.1%); AzBTC (25.00%); Chevron (8.90%); Statoil (8.71%); TPAO (6.53%); Eni (5.00%); Total (5.00%), Itochu (3.40%); INPEX (2.50%), ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Amerada Hess (2.36%). (source BP)
Route of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
© Map by Eric Waddell, Global Research, 2003. (click to enlarge)
For details on th Campaign against the pipeline see http://www.bakuceyhan.org.uk/more_info/bp_pipeline.htm
See related articles:
The Militarisation of the Eastern Mediterranean: Israel's Stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
- by Michel Chossudovsky
Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran, by Michel Chossudovsky
Is Israel running out of Bombs? New Deliveries of WMD "Made in America" The Replenishing of Israeli WMD stockpiles points to escalation both within and beyond the borders of Lebanon, by Michel Chossudovsky
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http://www.eapc.co.il/pipelines.html
Pipelines
There are three separate pipelines for crude oil and one for distillates:
See Pipelines Map
1. A 42" crude oil pipeline of 254 km linking the Red Sea port of Eilat with the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon. Three booster stations pump the crude at a maximum capacity of 60 million tons per annum.
Two additional booster stations pump the crude in the opposite direction, namely from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, at a maximum capacity of 20 million tons per annum.
See "The Reverse Flow Project"
2. A 16"/18" crude oil pipeline of 197 km connecting Ashkelon with the Haifa refinery. Three pumping stations along the line enable an annual throughput capacity of 5.5 million tons.
3. A 18"/16" crude oil pipeline of 36 km connecting Ashkelon with the Ashdod refinery with a maximum throughput capacity of 7 million tons.
4. Part of a 16" pipeline from Eilat to Haifa that was used in the past for pumping crude oil, has been cleaned and now transports distillates southwards.
In 2003 EAPC rehabilitated the non active part of the 16" pipeline, which enables EAPC to transport distillates (gasoline, jet fuel and gasoil) from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and vice versa.
The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
Israel and Turkey plan energy pipeline
Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 11, 2006
Turkey and Israel are negotiating the construction of a multi-million-dollar energy and water project that will transport water, electricity, natural gas and oil by pipelines to Israel, with the oil to be sent onward from Israel to the Far East, Antalya Mayor Menderes Turel said this week.
The proposal was confirmed by senior officials in the National Infrastructure Ministry.
"We are talking about a global energy project, which would be a very important engine of peace in the region," Turel said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
Turel, who was here to take part in an International Conference of Mayors held in Jerusalem, said that the grandiose project had received tentative approval from both Turkey and Israel and would greatly enhance an abrogated landmark 2004 proposal to export water to Israel using large tankers, which proved to be prohibitively expensive.
The new Turkish-Israeli proposal under discussion would see the transfer of water, electricity, natural gas and oil to Israel via four underwater pipelines.
"The whole premise is based on the assumption that Turkey is becoming a major hub for energy in the region," said Gabby Levy, the Director of International Relations at the National Infrastructure Ministry.
The water would be earmarked for Israel as well as for the Palestinian territories and Jordan, who are all suffering from chronic water shortages.
The natural gas and electricity would be geared for Israeli use, at a time when Israel hopes that 40 percent of its energy needs by the end of the decade will be met by natural gas, Levy said.
According to the most elaborate part of the proposal, the oil sent to Israel from Turkey would then be transferred by tankers to the Far East, including to India, China and South Korea, he added.
"The future of emerging energy markets is in the East," the Antalya mayor said.
Delivering the Turkish oil to the Far East with Israel acting as a way station is considered to be more practical than other overland routes.
The project, which would likely receive foreign economic backing, is currently undergoing a feasibility study sponsored by the Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank.
The proposal comes at a time when accession negotiations are under way for Turkey's future, but still undated, entry into the European Union, and at a period of burgeoning Israeli-Turkish relations.
Over the last decade and a half, nearly 100 smaller bilateral agreements were signed between the two countries, including in the fields of arms, tourism, and agriculture, Turkish officials said.
Indeed, Turkey has over the last decade become a top vacation spot for Israelis, with 380,000 visiting Turkey last year and almost half of them going to Antalya, the mayor said in the interview.
"Antalya is the home of Israelis in Turkey," he quipped.
In the interview, he played down a failed al-Qaida plan to attack an Israeli cruise ship in the Mediterranean resort last year as "a one-time occurrence." The assailants in the planned attack were captured after an accidental explosion forced them to flee their Antalya safe house.
The would-be attackers are among 73 al-Qaida suspects currently on trial in Turkey for a series of back-to-back suicide bombings in Istanbul in 2003 that killed 58 people.
A Turkish television station reported earlier this year that Taliban chief Mullah Omar financed the failed plot to attack the Israeli cruise ship, transferring $50,000 for the attack.
But the mayor stressed that his city was one of the safest tourist spots in the world. "The figures speak for themselves," he said, noting that 7.2 million tourists visited the Mediterranean inlet last year, which he said was the second biggest tourist destination in the Mediterranean crescent after the Spanish island of Majorca.
"Tourism in itself is a sector of peace," he concluded.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961328841&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[ Back to the Article ]
Copyright 1995-2006 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/
18:19 05.08.2006
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Americans treat us as rivals at the arms market — Rosoboronexport
“To all appearances, Americans regard us as a most serious rival on the market of arms and military equipment. First of all, in the countries that we have entered and that had earlier been an exclusive US patrimony.
The countries in question are, of course, Latin America,” Dmitriy Shugayev, Rosoboronexport official, commented on the US-imposed sanctions against the Russian companies Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi, NTV informed.
As REGNUM reported earlier, the sanctions of the US State Department against the Russian companies Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi caused negative reaction both in Russia and the United States. The companies were accused of delivering to Iran materials and equipment that could be used for production of the weapons of mass destruction.
The offense is a violation of the law on non-proliferation adopted in the USA in 2000. The sanctions came into force on July 28 and to remain effective for two years.
Only US Secretary of State can reduce the term of sanctions. The US authorities are prohibited to provide Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi companies with all kinds of assistance, sell military-related goods and technologies. Threatened also are international projects.
© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency
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Iran to continue relations with Russia despite UN resolution
06/08/2006 13:34 TEHRAN, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Sunday the Islamic Republic will continue developing relations with Russia and China, despite a UN Security Council resolution.
The five permanent UN Security Council members, including Russia and China, voted July 31 in favor of a resolution to set August 31 as a deadline for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities. If Iran fails to fulfill the UN's demands, economic and diplomatic sanctions may be imposed on the Islamic Republic.
Ali Larijani said Iran had long-term relations with Russia and China and friends could not be judged on the basis of one action only.
Iran's nuclear program has been a source of major controversy since the beginning of the year, as many countries suspect the Islamic Republic of pursuing a covert weapons program under the pretext of civilian research, despite its claims to the contrary.
Larijani also said Iran had not violated any of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
other articles
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060806/52312416-print.html
Iran, Russia exchange views in Mideast crisis
06/08/2006 17:47 MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Iranian ambassador to Moscow transferred Sunday an oral message of Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki to Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov on the situation in Lebanon.
Heavy fighting continues in southern Lebanon after three weeks of bloodshed, in which more than 900 Lebanese civilians, largely civilians, have lost their lives. More than 70 Israelis have been killed, mainly servicemen.
The parties exchanged opinions on the crisis in the Middle East and the international community's efforts to stop the bloody Lebanese-Israeli conflict, the press office of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The Russian side stressed the need to unite the efforts of all the states capable of exerting constructive influence on the parties involved in the conflict to stop fire immediately and achieve a political settlement of the Lebanese-Israeli conflict that would rule out such conflicts in the future," the press office said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060806/52314804-print.html
Good to see you are truly enjoying Free Republic,
nw_arizona_granny.
I put a long post(Post number 2) in this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678573/posts
I misspelled a couple of words but not drastically so.
Hope you enjoy my post,
D2
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060805/52295389-print.html
U.S. sanctions related to Russia arms deals with Venezuela
05/08/2006 12:29 MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Defense Ministry said Saturday U.S. sanctions against two Russian state-owned companies were linked with their contracts with Venezuela.
The U.S. State Department announced Friday the introduction of sanctions against Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and state-owned aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi over their cooperation with Iran.
A high-ranking official in the Defense Ministry said, "Obviously, this decision is a reaction to recent successes of our companies in concluding beneficial contracts on arms supplies to Venezuela."
Russia signed $1-billion contracts on supplies of 30 Su-30 Flanker air-superiority fighters and 30 helicopters to Venezuela in July prior to the visit to Russia by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has moved to curb American influence in the region and consolidate ties with other South American nations since he came to power in 1998.
The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed the U.S. sanctions Friday saying, "Our companies stand accused of violating the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000. We consider these actions by the U.S. State Department unacceptable."
"Russian companies cooperating with other countries in the military-technical sphere are acting in strict compliance with the rules of international law, as well as Russian law, including Russia's obligations on nuclear nonproliferation and export control," the ministry said.
The source in the Defense Ministry also said the U.S. accusations that the Russian companies were supplying technologies, which Iran could use to produce weapons of mass destruction, were groundless.
"They [the companies] have violated no international obligations and the U.S. is well aware of this," he said.
The source called the U.S. sanctions "dishonest competition on the arms market."
Some countries, led by the United States, suspect Tehran of pursuing a secret weapons program. Iran has consistently stated that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
other articles
11:52 03.08.2006
Permanent news address: http://www.regnum.ru/english/683351.html
Irkutsk catastrophe – new version: Airbus A310 engine mistook landing for take-off
Experts of the Interstate Aviation Committee have reconstructed details of the Airbus A310 (Sibir Airlines) catching fire in Irkutsk Airport on July 9.
They learned that while landing the jet skidded of the runway, crashed into buildings and caught fire, because the left engine switched to a take-off regime while braking.
The reason for such functioning of the engine is unknown, Kommersant notes. Specialists guess it can be in the engine control unit.
The crash killed 125 persons, 79 were rescued.
© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency
20:39 04.08.2006
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Iranian FM: Imposing western values on Islamic world is doomed to failure
The press secretary of Iranian Foreign Ministry Hamid Reza Asefi stated that as long as the “support of Zionist terrorists on the part of Bush and Blair is continued, reaching peace and stability in the region will be impossible,” the state radio of Iran reported. Asefi contends that “instead of supporting Zionists and creating the military triangle in the region, the US and Great Britain should use their influence to realize justice and observe the rights of Muslims and the oppressed peoples of Lebanon and Palestine.”
Asefi pointed to the positive and immediate measures that IRI undertook for establishing security and restoring peace in Afghanistan and Iraq and said that stability and peace in Iraq and Afghanistan are an inalienable part of the regional security, whereas the “presence of occupants in these countries serves as a factor of breaking and impeding the process of establishing peace and stability in the Middle East, in particular, in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
In Asefi words, Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair in concert with the US renders “unconditional cooperation to the crimes of the Zionist regime of Israel and the state terrorism of this regime, thus encouraging the military actions of the Israeli regime for killing women and children, and for violating basic human rights in Lebanon and Palestine.” “We hope that political elite of the West, especially of Great Britain and the US, will use their influence to check the dissemination of the extremist views of neocons and the Great Britain’s Prime Minister and make Blair revise his militarist policy. The one-sided imposing of western values on the Islamic world in order to change the appearance of the Middle East will undoubtedly meet resistance of the Muslim world and is doomed to failure,” the Iranian FM Spokesman underlined.
© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency
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[I did not know venezuela bordered Israel....]
13:52 06.08.2006
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http://www.regnum.ru/english/684635.html
Venezuelan president: Israeli attack is unjustified Hitler-style aggression
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has compared Israeli air strikes upon Lebanon with Hitler attacks. As Gazeta.ru reports, he announced it in an interview to Al Jazeera.
The Venezuelan president also criticized the USA for supporting Israel, saying that “Dracula is always searching for oil and blood.”
Chavez is quoted as saying in the interview: “The Israeli offensive against the Palestinians and Lebanon is an aggression that we feel targets us also. It is an unjustified aggression that is being carried out in the style of (Adolf) Hitler, in a Fascist fashion.” “They (Israelis) are doing what Hitler did against the Jews. They are killing innocent children and whole families,” the Venezuelan president added.
© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency
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18:39 05.08.2006
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http://www.regnum.ru/english/684549.html
Armenia is cut off Internet again: cable breakages in Georgia become permanent
For the last 48 hours, the population of Armenia has twice been cut off the internet, REGNUM correspondent reported from Yerevan on the telephone. On August 4 and 5, the reason of the breakdowns in the work of Armenian internet providers became cable failures on the territory of Georgia.
According to the national ArmenTel Company information holding exclusive rights on maintaining international telecommunications in Armenia, the current situation is caused by cable failure in the Kutaisi region, which resulted in the absence of internet connection in Armenia for 6 hours. Today, on August 5, cable was also broken on the Black Sea seabed. No information on when the damage would be fixed is available so far.
The government of Armenia regards information technologies development the main priority of the country’s national economy. Meanwhile, the republic remains in an utterly vulnerable position since the internet connection is established through the only cable connecting Armenia via Georgia on the Black Sea seabed to Ukraine. In the south of Armenia the cable is connected to Iranian communication network. The current internet connection breakdown is the third large-scale cable failure that happened lately in Georgia.
© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency
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[Is this related to the cut cables for Armenia's internet service???]
17:39 04.08.2006
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Head of Caucasus Muslims to visit Iran
Head of Spiritual Department of Muslims of Caucasus (DUMK) Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade will visit Iran to attend an international conference on the Middle East situation, Trend informs referring to DUMK.
In his address to the conference, the Sheikh-ul-Islam is going to introduce his position on the current events. He will draw the attention of the conference attendants to the Armenian aggression that Azerbaijan has had to face, and the fact that the word community including some Muslim states in due time did not take a decisive stand on the issue. Pashazade is to visit Tebriz and to meet with local population. On his way home, he will stop at Nakhichevan, visit mosques and pilgrimage places.
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Russia to defend its principal Middle East ally: Moscow takes Syria under its protection
By Ivan Safronov
July 28, 2006
Kommerzant, Moscow (original Russian) - 2006-06-02
The following report was published in the Russian daily Kommerzant in early June. It points to Russian military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as support in the modernization of Syria's air defense system, the modernization of Syrian tanks and ground forces. The question is whether in the current context, this military build-up of Syrian capabilities, supported by Russia, will act as a deterrent to an attack on Syria by Israel.
Global Research, 28 July 2006
According to our sources, Russia is deepening the port of Tartus ( Syria) where it has a naval materiel and technical supplies center. This may be regarded as evidence of Russia's determination to make Syria a bridgehead for boosting its influence with Middle East.
Russia has had a naval materiel and technical supplies center in Tartus since the 1970s. Vladimir Zimin, advisor on the staff of the Russian Embassy in Syria, says that the port is being made deeper at present. Similar work is under way in the port of Latakia. All this may be regarded as evidence of Russia's determination to make Syria a bridgehead for boosting its influence with Middle East. The materiel and technical supplies center may eventually gain the status of a base of the Black Sea Fleet.
Defense Ministry sources, speaking anonymously, hint that Moscow has some far-reaching plans indeed. A group of ships under the missile cruiser Moskva (Black Sea Fleet flagship) is to be formed within the next three years. The group will be stationed in the Mediterranean Sea on the permanent basis. Among other tasks, it will participate in counter-terrorism operation Active Endeavor with NATO forces. Hence the necessity to make the Tartus and Latakia facilities ready for the Russian surface warships - ships of the Black Sea Fleet and eventually the Northern Fleet as well. (The latter will be used to reinforce the Russian Mediterranean naval group whenever necessary.)
But a source in the Naval Main Command said that establishment of a fully-fledged base in Tartus could help Russia with warships and tenders withdrawn from Sevastopol in the Crimea. In fact, once the bottom of the Tartus port is deepened, the port will be able to receive all ships of the Black Sea Fleet without exception.
Defense Ministry sources point out that a naval base in Tartus will enable Russia to solidify its positions in the Middle East and ensure security of Syria. Moscow intends to deploy an air defense system around the base - to provide air cover for the base itself and a substantial part of Syrian territory. (S-300PMU-2 Favorit systems will not be turned over to the Syrians. They will be manned and serviced by Russian personnel.)
According to our sources, Russia and Damascus reached an agreement on modernizing Syria's air defenses. Its medium-range S-125 air defense systems will be upgraded to the Pechora-2A level. The upgrade will certainly improve Syrian air defense, which uses hardware supplied to Syria back in the 1980s. Moscow is prepared to offer Syria more sophisticated medium-range Buk-M1s as well. Close-range Strelets systems sold to Damascus last year are all the Syrian air defense system has to show by way of sophisticated gear at this point (these systems use Igla SAMs).
Syria wants more than that. A contract for modernization of 1,000 T-72 tanks was drawn and signed. Yesterday, Arms-TASS news agency reported successful tests of T-90C tanks "in a certain Middle East country" and Rosoboroneksport's negotiations over their sale. Other Russian-Syrian arms talks under way concern two Amurs (Project 1650 diesel submarines), some SU-30MKI fighters along with YAK-130s, and modernization of MIG-29 frontal fighters. Damascus also aspires for a consignment of the latest Pantsir-C1 air defense systems designed in Tula.
Establishment of a base in Tartus and rapid advancement of military technology cooperation with Damascus make Syria Russia's instrumental bridgehead and bulwark in the Middle East. Damascus is an important ally of Iran and irreconcilable enemy of Israel. It goes without saying that appearance of the Russian military base in the region will certainly introduce corrections into the existing correlation of forces. Russia is taking the Syrian regime under its protection. It will almost certainly sour Moscow's relations with Israel. It may even encourage the Iranian regime nearby and make it even less tractable in the nuclear program talks.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
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http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/2006/08/india-pakistan-offer-half-irans-gas.html
Thursday, August 03, 2006
India, Pakistan offer half Iran's gas asking price
Reuters:
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said on Thursday India and Pakistan were offering to pay only half the amount for Iranian gas that Tehran was seeking as part of efforts to agree a pipeline deal. READ MORE
"The price of the seller is about twice (that which) the buyer is asking for," he said. The gas would be delivered through a proposed $7-billion pipeline to run through Pakistan.
In India for a two-day meeting with officials from the South Asian neighbours and rivals, Nejad-Hosseinian said Iran's price tag would benefit all.
"The price we are asking is fair and just. We have a report saying that it is a good price for India and Pakistan."
Iran has the second-largest natural gas reserves in the world behind Russia - about 940 trillion cubic feet - while growing Asian economies, including India and Pakistan, are scrambling to find energy sources to feed industrial expansion.
India has to tread a tightrope in the pipeline talks, trying to satisfy its appetite for hydrocarbons while not upsetting Washington. It faces a natural gas deficit of 200 million cubic metres a day in 20 years.
India has reached a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States that is intended to boost the country's nuclear power capacity as a way to meet soaring energy needs.
The deal is currently being reviewed by U.S. legislators amid criticism it would reward India with nuclear technology and fuel while the country refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has conducted nuclear tests.
Experts say the agreement would allow India to produce nuclear weapons easily because it frees up domestic supplies for military use.
posted by DoctorZin @ 2:47 AM
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8172
Iran warns sanctions will get "painful" riposte
Sun. 06 Aug 2006
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Any countries that impose sanctions on Iran's atomic work will get a painful riposte from the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Sunday.
"If they do, we will react in a way that would be painful for them," he told a news conference when asked about what would happen if the U.N. Security Council passed sanctions.
"They should not think that they can hurt us and that we would stand still without reaction," he added.
[Iran and N. Korea, why the threat to England and not the US?]
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8167
Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa
Sun. 06 Aug 2006
The Sunday Times
Jon Swain, David Leppard and Brian Johnson-Thomas
IRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, an investigation has revealed.
A United Nations report, dated July 18, said there was “no doubt” that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.
Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.
The disclosure will heighten western fears about the extent of Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons programme and the strategic implications of Iran’s continuing support for Hezbollah during the war with Israel.
It has also emerged that terror cells backed by Iran may be prepared to mount attacks against nuclear power plants in Britain. Intelligence circulating in Whitehall suggests that sleeper cells linked to Tehran have been conducting reconnaissance at some nuclear sites in preparation for a possible attack.
The parliamentary intelligence and security committee has reported that Iran represented one of the three biggest security threats to Britain. The UN security council has given Iran until the end of this month to halt its uranium enrichment activities. The UN has threatened sanctions if Tehran fails to do so.
A senior Tanzanian customs official said the illicit uranium shipment was found hidden in a consignment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones. The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port.
“There were several containers due to be shipped and they were all routinely scanned with a Geiger counter,” the official said.
“This one was very radioactive. When we opened the container it was full of drums of coltan. Each drum contains about 50kg of ore. When the first and second rows were removed,the ones after that were found to be drums of uranium.”
In a nuclear reactor, uranium 238 can be used to breed plutonium used in nuclear weapons.
The customs officer, who spoke to The Sunday Times on condition he was not named, added: “The container was put in a secure part of the port and it was later taken away, by the Americans, I think, or at least with their help. We have all been told not to talk to anyone about this.”
The report by the UN investigation team was submitted to the chairman of the UN sanctions committee, Oswaldo de Rivero, at the end of July and will be considered soon by the security council.
It states that Tanzania provided “limited data” on three other shipments of radioactive materials seized in Dar es Salaam over the past 10 years.
The experts said: “In reference to the last shipment from October 2005, the Tanzanian government left no doubt that the uranium was transported from Lubumbashi by road through Zambia to the united republic of Tanzania.”
Lubumbashi is the capital of mineral-rich Katanga province, home of the Shinkolobwe uranium mine that produced material for the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
The mine has officially been closed since 1961, before the country’s independence from Belgium, but the UN investigators have told the security council that they found evidence of illegal mining still going on at the site.
In 1999 there were reports that the Congolese authorities had tried to re-open the mine with the help of North Korea. In recent years miners are said to have broken open the lids and extracted ore from the shafts, while police and local authorities turned a blind eye.
In June a parliamentary committee warned that Britain could be attacked by Iranian terrorists if tensions increased.
A source with access to current MI5 assessments said: “There is great concern about Iranian sleeper cells inside this country. The intelligence services are taking this threat very seriously.”
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8171
Iran could play oil card if forced on atomic issue
Sun. 06 Aug 2006
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran does not want to cut oil exports in a dispute over its atomic work but it may have to do so if it feels badly treated by the international community, a senior official said on Sunday.
"We do not want to use the oil weapon, it is them who would impose it upon us. Iran should be allowed to defend its rights in proportion to their stance," chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told a news conference.
Iran is the world's fourth biggest oil exporter.
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8138
Iran working with N.Korea on missiles: Institute
Thu. 03 Aug 2006
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has been working closely with Iran to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, possibly using Chinese technology, and is building large bases to prepare for their deployment, a South Korean state-run think tank said.
Communist North Korea is also building new sites near the Demilitarized Zone border for short-range missiles and is deploying missiles with improved precision that can strike most of Japan, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) said in a report.
"The development of Taepodong-2 is conducted jointly with Iran, and it is possible China's technology is used in the development of the Taepodong-2 engine," said the IFANS report, which Reuters obtained on Thursday.
The collaboration is part of an international network, including Pakistan, that made it possible for the impoverished North to develop and deploy missiles despite scarce resources and limited testing, the study said.
North Korea fired seven missiles on July 5, including the long-range Taepodong-2, which U.S. officials said failed seconds into its flight and fell into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula.
Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy to talks on the North's nuclear program, said last month one or more Iranians watched the North's missile launch, deepening concerns about the ties between two countries with troubling nuclear capabilities.
The Taepodong-2 is the product of joint efforts with Tehran, coinciding with Iran's development of the Shehab-5 and 6, and "it is highly possible that design and technology from China, which has an arms trade with Iran, were used", the report said.
The North is building a missile command base 50 km (30 miles) north of the Demilitarized Zone for as many as 30 mobile launch pads for the short-range Scud-type Hwasong missiles that can hit military and industrial targets deep in the South, IFANS said.
"With the deployment of Rodong and SSN-6 missiles and the pursuit to deploy the Taepodong-2, the North is pushing ahead with the construction of new sites and silos" on the east coast and on the border with China, the IFANS report said.
Syria 'ready for possible regional war'
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 6, 2006
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem crossed into Lebanon Sunday for the first visit by a top Syrian official in more than a year, Lebanon's state news agency said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Fawzi Salloukh, Moallem said "Syria is ready for the possibility of a regional war if the Israeli aggression continues."
He added that a US-French draft resolution to end the war "adopted Israel's point of view only." Underlining his support for Hizbullah, Moallem said, "as Syria's foreign minister I hope to be a soldier in the resistance."
Salloukh said that "Israel cannot take in peace what it had failed to take in war."
"If Israel attacks Syria by any mean, on the ground, by air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately," he said after emerging from a meeting with Lebanese President Emil Lahoud.
Israel has issued several pledges not to attack Syria.
According to Moallem, the US-French cease-fire plan was "a recipe for the continuation of the war."
Moallem's visit comes amid strained relations between Lebanon and Syria as a result of the Feb. 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A UN investigation has implicated several Syrian officials in the murder.
Syria denied any involvement in the Hariri assassination that led to an international isolation of Damascus.
Prompted by the crisis that followed Hariri's assassination, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005, ending a 29-year military presence.
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