Free Republic

A summit earlier this week achieves consensus on the inadmissibility of a foreign military presence in the sea. Iran and Russia have built unanimous consensus among the Caspian states, which also feature Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, over the inadmissibility of a foreign military presence in the Caspian Sea, ruling out any future possible deployment of NATO forces in the basin. A political declaration signed by the presidents of the five Caspian states at the IV Caspian Summit held in Astrakhan, Russia, on September 29, “sets out a fundamental principle for guaranteeing stability and security, namely, that only the Caspian littoral...

Russian Defense Ministry sources told the semiofficial news agency Interfax that action plans are being finalized to react to an armed conflict involving Iran and its nuclear program. The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces “calculates” that military action against Iran will commence “in the summer” of 2012. Since Israel does not have sufficient assets to defeat Iranian defenses, the Russian military considers US military involvement inevitable (Interfax, March 30). Bits of information have been appearing, indicating the essence of Russian military action. Last December it was disclosed that families of servicemen from the Russian base in Armenia have...

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s new ambassador to Azerbaijan raised eyebrows this week with a gesture interpreted by some as paying homage to the country’s late dictator – a one-time KGB general installed by military coup who oversaw an autocratic regime before handing power to his son. “The new U.S. envoy to Azerbaijan, Richard Morningstar, has honored memory of national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev,” the Azeri news site News.Az reported. “The newly appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States in Azerbaijan visited the monument to great leader in the park in front of the Heydar Aliyev’s Palace....

Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan relations, which experienced a significant thaw since the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenbashi), deteriorated again last week (June 19). The most recent conflict began when Turkmenistan started undertaking seismic work on a disputed oilfield in the Caspian Sea. The oilfield, discovered by Azerbaijani geologists, is called Kapyaz in Azeri and Serdar in Turkmen. Reserves in the oilfield total around 150 million barrels of oil. In response, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summoned Turkmenistan’s ambassador in Baku, Toyly Komekov, where Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov expressed Azerbaijan`s strong protest over the violation of the agreement. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry...

Despite the slow pace of introducing new or modernized weapons and equipment into the table of organization and equipment (TOE) in Russia’s Armed Forces, there are signs that progress is more sporadic and prioritizes one strategic direction. The South Military District (SMD) is receiving new combat hardware and weapons systems at a much faster rate than other military districts. In some areas of the TOE, the share of modern equipment has now surpassed more than 70 percent (Interfax, May 4). Russian T-90 tank (Source: freerepublic.com) According to the press service of the SMD, the district will receive over 40 new...

Iran discovers gas field in Caspian SeaAP – Sun, Dec 11, 2011 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's oil minister says the country has discovered a huge gas field containing an estimated 50 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Caspian Sea. **SNIP** Iran sits atop the world's second largest proven reserves of natural gas and is the second largest OPEC oil producer.

On 16 November in Astrakhan Lukoil president, Vagit Alekperov told journalists that his company will spend over $16 billion over the next decade to develop the country’s Caspian offshore Korchagin and Filanovskii oil and natural gas fields in the Caspian, at the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Astrakhan Region. An equitable division of the Caspian’s offshore resources have bedeviled the region since the December 1991 implosion of the USSR, putting the Soviet Union’s previous cozy arrangements with the Shah’s Iran “into the dustbin of history,” to quote Leon Trotsky. Before the collapse of the USSR, the Soviet Union...

Remains of the oldest known Caspian horse, otherwise referred to as the "Kings' horse" due to its popularity among royals the world over, have been unearthed in northern Iran, according to CAIS. The more than 3,000-year-old remains were found at an Iranian site named Gohar-Tappeh. In ancient times, royals often chose Caspian horses to ride them into battle and/or to pull their chariots. During more recent history, individuals such as Price Philip of England have popularized the Caspian, which is the oldest breed of horse in the world still in existence. The Shah of Iran gifted such a horse to...

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.

SITUATION: One indirect consequence of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the impact it may have on the financing of the many tourism projects that have sprouted along the Caspian Sea. Bordered clockwise from the North by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia, the Caspian Sea is one of the largest bodies of water and an object of strategic ambitions. Though the global financial crisis put may grandiose Caspian Sea tourism projects on hold, some of them are coming back to life, but investors should be alert to tourism trends, corruption, and unanswered questions about demand and potential profit....

The European Union faces two obstacles to its project to pipe gas via a southern corridor from the Caspian region and thus reduce western Europe’s dependence on Russian supplies: Turkey’s attitude and the Balkan activities of Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian oil monopoly. After receiving less than a warm embrace by the EU, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration and the Turkish public are not eager to jump on the EU bandwagon when it comes to the southern gas corridor. Ankara’s objective is to turn Turkey into a regional energy hub. This means that Turkey would not be a transit state, but a...

Walt Disney sequel "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" had no problem reigning over Friday's box office, grossing $19.3 million as it opened in 3,929 theaters. "Caspian's" opening day haul came in slightly lower than industry expectations and behind first Narnia installment, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which pulled in $23 million on its first day and $65.6 million for its final three-day in December 2005. Both pics are co-productions with Walden Media.

HOLLYWOOD seems to have concluded that war movies don't sell. But "Prince Caspian" seems likely to prove the opposite. "Caspian," the new Narnia film from Walden Media based on the CS Lewis classic, is expected to do quite well. The secret: It's not anti-war. Flicks like "Stop-Loss," "Lions for Lambs," "In the Valley of Elah" and "Rendition" have bombed because they're painfully anti-war - and the heavy-handed ideology makes for artistic as well as commercial failure. "Caspian" is a fantasy, of course - but also a war story. Indeed, it's the tale of a just war: Prince Caspian's fight to...

Over half the birthing facilities in Ohio are being equipped with an RFID infant protection system placed on infants at birth to prevent them from being abducted from the hospital or from being given to the wrong mother.  "Standard protocol in the hospitals using the VeriChip system is that the baby receives an RFID anklet at birth and the mother receives a matching wristband," VeriChip spokeswoman Allison Tomek told WND. "The mothers are not asked." VeriChip Corp., a publicly listed company headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., is marketing though its wholly-owned subsidiary, Xmark, a HUGS brand tag-and-bracelet infant security system....

European Oil Pipeline Deal Signed April 4, 2007 6:38 a.m. EST Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer Zagreb, Croatia (AHN) - Five south European countries have signed into the project called the Pan-European Oil Pipeline (PEOP). The pipeline will cover the Romanian port of Constanta and Trieste in Italy, and span through Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia and eventually to the Trans-Alpine Line oil pipeline near Trieste. According to the Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, the project is "of strategic importance" for the country and is expected to boost regional economy. The PEOP will deliver Russian and Caspian...

In a move that would help to diversify Europe's energy supplies, Ukraine's prime minister said he is working to complete a pipeline to carry Caspian-region oil directly to the European Union. Completion of the pipeline would bring an additional 12 million metric tons of oil a year to the EU from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, Ukrainian Premier Viktor Yanukovych said in an interview at the World Economic Forum. That would help to diversify supplies at a time of mounting concern over EU dependence on Russian energy. The EU consumed 700 million tons of oil in 2005, according to the BP...

Relatively quietly, and with tantalizingly few details available, Israel and Turkey have reached agreement on construction of a strategic pipeline linking the Black Sea and Red Sea, traversing Israel to eventually deliver energy resources to Far Eastern markets. If plans proceed to construction and operation, it will represent a major step forward for Israel, and will reinforce Turkey's moderating power among Muslim nations. Pipelines matter in the balance of world power. A lot. Their importance goes virtually unnoticed by the public, for they are not glamorous and they do not require large numbers of workers once they are completed. But...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - International concerns over Iran's nuclear programme do not warrant any discussion at the moment of sanctions against Tehran, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday. "I know of no instances in world practice and previous experience in which sanctions have achieved their aim and proved effective," Ivanov, shown on NTV television, told reporters in Russia's far east. "Moreover, I believe that the question is not so serious at the moment for the U.N. Security Council or the group of six to consider any introduction of sanctions. Russia stands for further political and diplomatic efforts to settle...

The nuclear standoff with Iran and insurgencies in Iraq and Africa have rattled world energy markets. But the threat to supply extends far beyond these hotspots. The United States depends on resources from a number of overseas markets, which threaten to become more of a risk. Those suppliers also include: • Russia, whose brief energy conflict with Ukraine last winter severely hit the European Union. Moscow, which is flexing its energy muscle for geopolitical leverage, accounts for more than 10 percent of the world's daily oil output and a fifth of its natural gas. President Vladimir Putin's drive to reassert...

The original American system promised a society in which the benefits of civilization including liberty, property, privacy, security and justice would be available to all of its citizens who were willing to work for them. However, such a society can only be sustained when the majority of the citizens are mature adults who accept the basic principles of self-government, self-reliance, and mutual respect. Those principles require the individual to assume reponsibility for his own actions, to be a producer rather than a parasite, to exercise his liberty with consideration for others, and to support and defend the system. It doesn't...