Do not fear worry, everyone, Dick is coming to the rescue. For those of you who were worried that supplies of gas and oil would be disrupted after the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia, there is no need to worry as Old Dick Cheney is going to sort it out.
In what could be his last important foreign trip, the US vice-president will arrive in the Caucasus on a tour of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. He will, according to the UK Daily Telegraph “try to allay fears that Russia’s campaign in Georgia has fatally damaged a cornerstone of the West’s energy policy.”
Cheney will be trying to sweet talk the leaders in Baku that they have continued Western support, as the region is too geo-strategically important for the US and Europe, as it provides the only energy pathway from Central Asia to Europe that does not traverse Russia or Iran.
“If Azerbaijan tilts to Russia there goes 15 years of US energy diplomacy,” a Western diplomat in Baku told the Telegraph.
Cheney will seek to secure Azeri natural gas a high-profile, Western-backed pipeline, called Nabucco, that once completed will flow to the heart of Europe. But some analysts are now saying that the Georgian war could scare off investors, making it hard for the Nabucco consortium to raise the $11.5 billion needed to build it.
Some even argue that without EU or American subsidies the pipeline won’t get built and then there might not be enough gas to put in it.
In fact the whole Western strategy of reliance on gas and oil from the Caucuses is looking increasingly fragile. A bit like Dick Cheney himself..
What is not implicit in this article and most crucial in this war in South Osetia is lines have been drawn. Understanding the goal of controlling oil is well-placed. But what is not easily seen is this seemingly small conflict between the U.S. backed Georgian State and the ever more centrally controlled State of Russia having wide reaching ramifications and the strong possibility of a return to the era of the Cold War.
Our Republican leadership have no problem with the return to another nuclear arms race. They love the “good old” days and would be happy to stuff billions into their cronies at the D.O.D. and the defense companies who make weapons because they support Republicans almost exclusively.
We have hundreds of nuclear warheads in Poland pointed at Moscow and have put Russia in a state of panic.
I would feel very insecure as Russia with the U.S. President willing to invade Iraq and potentially Iran to their very near Southern Border over resources. With nukes pointed at my house. Wouldn’t you?
The Pipeline to Azerbaijan is crucial for oil and natural gas rich Russia to keep its sphere of influence intact. The U.S. and Europe would love to bypass this.
But what is not understood is how consistently undermined Russia has been since the collapse in the early 90’s. The free market reached out and robbed Russia before it had time to regroup and considerable resentment is evident and probably well deserved.
This situation is grave. For at least a couple decades nuclear weapons were on the decrease and now this spells trouble with an escalation in arms sure to follow.
Control of the Caspian is Russia’s stronghold for resource power. Russian Leaders will not take this crude invasion lightly.