Posted on 04/25/2002 5:05:35 PM PDT by Bronco Buster
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami left for the republic of Kazakhstan after the summit of the Caspian countries In Ashkhabad. Khatami and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed issues of economic cooperation between the two countries. Khatami paid attention to the serious subject of the presence of American troops in Central Asia: in Uzbekistan and in Kyrgyzstan.
Iran’s president said that the presence of the American army in the Central Asian republics was “humiliating for our countries, which have their own right to solve their problems independently and determine what is good and what is bad for them.”
President Khatami believes that such actions on the part of the USA infringe upon the sovereign rights of a nation and lead to drastic reactions in response, which sometimes takes the form of terrorism.
However, Kazakh president did not comment on the subject. Nazarbayev did not either condemn or support the statements from the president of Iran. No wonder: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled to arrive in the republic of Kazakhstan this weekend; therefore, it is needless to mention that Nursultan Nazarbayev would not like to overshadow the beginning of Rumsfeld's visit with the support of anti-American statements from the Iranian leader.
We should mention one more aspect. President Khatami is considered to be almost a "liberal" politician in the West, who is open for dialogue with politicians of all countries. However, it is not likely that the European countries will understand Khatami’s words that justified terrorism against the United States (not to mention the USA itself).
However, one should not wait for anything else from the president of Iran. Washington is not likely to achieve any kind of mutual understanding with Tehran after all those “axis of evil” statements. Khatami did not limit himself with the criticism of the US military presence in Central Asia. The Iranian leader called upon the government of Kazakhstan to support the project of building a pipeline that will reach the terminals of the Persian Gulf via the territory of Iran.
“I think that owing to the wise politics of esteemed President Nazarbayev, we will soon witness the construction of a new pipeline via the territory of Iran," – Khatami stated. "This is the most reliable, cheapest, and shortest way to transport oil.”
As it is known, there exists another oil project: the pipeline from Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan) to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Americans are very active lobbyists of this project, but its implementation has been delayed several times due to the unstable political situation in the Caucasian region. This project does not have a successful future of its realization in the nearest future, and Kazakhstan might not support Khatami’s offer, although Nazarbayev announced Kazakhstan’s interest in diversification with the help of oil deliveries to the international market. The Kazakh president added that Kazakhstan’s transporting abilities would be enough until 2010.
On the whole, it is too early to say that Iran and Kazakhstan will establish close economic and political cooperation. Kazakhstan really wants to develop relations with the USA. It is not hard to guess what reaction Washington will have if Kazakhstan and Iran start building an oil pipeline. This project will be possible to realize only after the USA and Iran find a common language, which is not likely in the nearest future.
Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
What? I thought that was against UN regulations.
humiliating for our countries, which have their own right to solve their problems independently and determine what is good and what is bad for them.”
Good. Pull out, stop the funding. Free the people ( us taxpayers!).
transport oil.”
I heard on the news today that our nations "spent" wells are actually filling back up. They said that it changes their view of how the oil is situated underground.
Good point. It was a Central Asian nation, whose government supported Al-Queda, which bears responsibility for killing 3000 Iranian civilians on a September morn last year.
We have no stake in that region whatsoever.
Locally, they just sabotaged a conference to finalize the division of the Caspian Sea (Putin said he'll make bilateral deals anyway.) Central Asia, in Iranian eyes, is part of its "sphere", and the American intrusion is an "incursion", although it really is a response to Iran (why shouldn't Central Asia export their products), and Russian meddling. Russia probably won't interfere with development even though its a competitor too, since they have products they can sell to Central Asia.
Uzbekistan is central in the area, and has much natural gas. Here's a recent interesting article:
Terrorists trained by Iran tracked from Uzbekistan 4/8
Iran is secretly training Islamic terrorists from Uzbekistan for future operations in Central Asia, according to U.S. intelligence officials.Military officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran's radical Islamic military units, have been training and supporting militants from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, known as IMU.
The IMU has close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, and the group used Afghanistan as a sanctuary in the past. Its relationship to al Qaeda and Afghanistan was a major factor in the decision by the Uzbek government to support U.S. military action in the region.
The new intelligence, gathered by the U.S. Central Command, shows that Iran's government is backing the IMU despite some steps toward reform within the leadership.
IMU fighters were among the several hundred al Qaeda militants killed during Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan last month. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumfeld last week stated that Iran is assisting al Qaeda terrorists fleeing Afghanistan. He also said Iran has been working with Syria to send terrorists to conduct attacks against Israel. ... Iran has provided safe haven to al Qaeda terrorists and allowed others to pass through Iran to other countries, he said. [ - E.g., Chechnya, Georgia, Turkey, etc. -]...
Afghanistan is no longer a base, so Iran steps more directly in. Khatami is essentially setting up the excuse of "American Power" to rationalize future destabilization of Central Asia, to its own monetary interest. Can also be used to "compel" these countries to ship product through Iran, so Iran can control the pump.
Interesting times. Don't know why u.s. in Kyrgyzstan, though.
Sounds like the prez of Iran is appeasing the current Ayatolla (what-his-face....I forget his name)
The inability of the Central Asian republics to to solve anything without the aid of a bullet or explosive, and their inability to decide ANYTHING without the aid of a Muslim cleric is ridiculous.
Of course the ELECTED officials of Iran more or less know that...shame they don't weild most of the POWER there.
So they want to throw monkey wrenches into American and Russian long term oil strategy. Iraq, Iran, PA, and Saudi are all busy to disrupt American buildup against Iraq and stretch American military resources. Are they sure that Russia will be happy with it ? Iran reasonably managed relation with Russia up to now. One explanation is that they are really feeling a lot of heat from US.
IRAN READY (TO) HIT BACK AT THE USA WITH TERRORISM
Because the rest of us in the US have been waiting a long, long time.
Either that or this is the way some crooked politicians in Russia say "gentlemen, you may begin the BIDDING."
Let me see, should we let women uncover their faces or not. Oh this is a tough one...
Yeah, Iran's leadership is eminantly capable of determining what is best for the region. Hell they're incapable managing their individual families with dignity. Nuff said.
Perhaps the turban is on too tight. I seem to recall a certain embassy, which under international law and diplomatic custom, that was "sovereign" and was over-run and its diplomatic personnel held hostage for 444 days.
This Iranian can drop dead. Hopefully, taking his cohorts with him.
Well, Russia can certainly exploit this event to get better bargain from US. However, I doubt that Khatamy is a willing messenger boy for Russia so that Uncle Ivan gets more cut from Uncle Sam. Would Ivan share its cut with Iranians ?
I think that we underestimated the effect of their state-sponsored "Death to America" rallies in the early 1980's on the so-called Muslim street. Open defiance like that should have been punished severely. We need to include "Death to America" rallies in the list of things we consider as a terrorist threat. The sponsors of these rallies should be hunted down and killed.
Iran is the "root cause" of terrorism in the Middle East.
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