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Oil/gas

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  • Oil/gas

    While the economic importance of oil and gas has diminished over time, these natural resources are still very important factors in economics and geostrategic decision making. In this thread we can discuss topics relating to these important natural resources. I will begin with the following article.

    RUSSIA TURKEY AND THE NEW GREEK SIRTAKI

    20.05.2015 Author: F. William Engdahl

    Column: Economics
    Region: Europe

    The European Union has an uncanny knack for shooting itself in the
    foot these days. Under strong pressure from a Russo-phobic Washington
    administration and various Russo-phobic EU governments, Brussels last
    year decided to take steps to block the bilateral agreements between
    Russia's state Gazprom and EU countries such as Greece and Bulgaria
    to buy gas from a new Russian pipeline that was to have been called
    South Stream, the southern counterpart to the Gazprom-Germany North
    Stream line.

    For the neoconservatives in the Obama State Department and Pentagon,
    that would have forged far too strong EU-Russia economic ties that
    would significantly weaken America's ability to blackmail the EU. The
    EU Commission is brazenly violating all legal precepts by trying to
    enforce, retroactively, new laws that they claim Gazprom has violated.

    Further they forced the weak government of Bulgaria last year to back
    out of their Gazprom contract.

    Washington's Russo-phobes were gloating as they fantasized about
    getting a nuclear deal with Russia's ally Iran that could woo Teheran
    to double-cross Moscow and sell Iranian gas from South Pars, the
    world's largest gas field, via another pipeline through to Iran's
    city of Bazargan at the border with Turkey where it would transit
    Turkey on to Greece and Italy.

    Unlike the failed US Nabucco gas project which lacked gas, the Persian
    Pipeline, were Iran to be foolish enough to let Washington control it,
    would have gas, lots of it to weaken Russia's hold on EU gas markets
    that were previously supplied via Gazprom via older Ukraine pipelines.

    Putin calls EU bluff

    As we noted at the time last December, Russian President Vladimir
    Putin caught the EU by surprise when he announced cancellation of
    the South Stream Gazprom EU project during a visit in Turkey with
    President Erdogan. There Putin proposed instead an alternative that
    would pipe Russia's gas through Turkey to the door of EU member
    Greece. There different EU states could "take it or leave it." The
    advantage for Gazprom and Russia is that they would not be responsible
    for construction of the needed EU pipelines.

    When he announced the decision, he stated bluntly, "If Europe doesn't
    want to realize this, then it means it won't be realized. We will
    redirect the flow of our energy resources to other regions of the
    world. We couldn't get necessary permissions from Bulgaria, so we
    cannot continue with the project. We can't make all the investment
    just to be stopped at the Bulgarian border. Of course, this is the
    choice of our friends in Europe." South Stream would have provided
    secure delivery to southern EU countries including Bulgaria, Hungary,
    Austria, Italy, Croatia and also Serbia. It would avoid the current
    transit pipelines running through Ukraine.

    Now less than six months later Russia and Turkey have completed the
    landmark deal to begin deliveries of Gazprom Russian gas via a new
    "Turkish Stream" pipeline into and across Turkey through a pipeline
    now in construction. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced on May 7
    that, "An agreement has been made on the beginning of exploitation
    and deliveries of [Russian] gas along the Turkish Stream in December
    2016." The statement came following Miller's meeting earlier in the
    day with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız.

    The new pipeline will travel through Turkey to a gas hub on the
    Turkish-Greek border for further distribution to European customers.

    A geopolitical cherry on top

    And only minutes after the successful Russia-Turkish agreement, Putin,
    reported to be a master chess player, made a master geopolitical chess
    move into the European Union disaster that is called the Eurozone.

    Greek news outlet, Capital.gr, reported that the very same day
    Miller's Turkey Gazprom deal was finalized, Putin had an apparently
    very cordial phone chat with Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras.

    After the talk, Putin's office released a statement that Putin had
    told Tsipras that Russia would be willing to extend money to Greece
    in return for Greek participation in the Turkish Stream project into
    the EU. The Kremlin statement said, "In that context, the Russian side
    confirmed its willingness to consider the issue of extending financing
    to state and private companies that will cooperate in the project."

    In Tsipras' April 8 meeting with Putin Russia denied it had made
    a deal on energy; that all changed on May 7 after Turkey finalized
    Turkish Stream

    After Tsipras' talks with Putin in Moscow on April 8, the Kremlin
    spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, issued a denial of Der Spiegel reports
    that the two had come to an agreement in which Moscow would advance
    the cash-desperate Greek government with an immediate â~B¬5 billion
    cash advance from Russia based on expected future profits linked
    to the pipeline. The Greek energy minister said at the time that
    Athens would repay Moscow after 2019, when the pipeline is expected
    to start operating.

    That was on April 8. Flash forward to May 7 and the finalization
    of the Russia-Turkish Stream deal, and it seems now that there is
    also a Russia-Greece deal to advance Athens the sizeable cash sum,
    just before Athens must come up with large sums to repay IMF and
    EU loans in order to get more senseless EU and ECB "support." The
    difference was clearly the finalization of the Turkish Stream. Now
    EU bureaucrats in Brussels have new gas pains as Putin puts a Greek
    cherry atop Moscow's Turkish geopolitical deal on gas.

    If the Russia cash advance to Tsipras comes to pass, not only will
    Athens be able to dance a Sirtaki. This time it will be a dance
    in which the role of Zorba is played by a Russian, Vladimir Putin,
    not the Mexican, Anthony Quinn.

    Wolfgang Schauble, Angela Merkel, EU Commission President Jean-Claude
    Juncker all will have three options. They can decide to stand on the
    sidelines and clap to the sensuous rhythms of the new Sirtaki. They
    can join in the dance by refusing Washington blackmail on renewing
    EU economic sanctions against Russia. Or they can go on to boycott
    the dance and sink deeper into a new crisis of the Euro.

    The ongoing panic selloff in German bond markets over recent days
    suggests it might be wise for the Berlin government to consider an
    entire new choreography for its European Grand Strategy. The old
    Atlantic NATO dance is rapidly becoming a Danse Macabre for Germany
    and for Europe. Putin's Sirtaki would be far more fun for Europe and
    the world.

    F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds
    a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling
    author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine
    "New Eastern Outlook".

    First
    appeared:http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/20/ru...greek-sirtaki/
    Hayastan or Bust.

  • #2
    Re: Oil/gas

    The US is not asleep.
    The devious operations directorate has already started destabilization of Macedonia.
    More pipeline wars?
    Politics is not about the pursuit of morality nor what's right or wrong
    Its about self interest at personal and national level often at odds with the above.
    Great politicians pursue the National interest and small politicians personal interests

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Oil/gas

      Originally posted by londontsi View Post
      The US is not asleep.
      The devious operations directorate has already started destabilization of Macedonia.
      More pipeline wars?
      Got any links to a story or article?
      Hayastan or Bust.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Oil/gas

        Originally posted by Haykakan View Post
        Got any links to a story or article?

        After Russia's Stroitransgaz announced it will build a gas pipeline across Macedonia, Skopje has come under heavy criticism from Washington, Brussels and numerous US-funded NGOs, which blasted the government for violating "European...


        Macedonia Unrest: West Giving Balkan Country a Lesson of 'Democracy'

        There is increasing concern about potential outside influence involved in recent political demonstrations in Macedonia following reports that students were offered up to $1,500 by an activist group to come up with the best ideas on how to...


        After Russia's Stroitransgaz announced it will build a gas pipeline across Macedonia, Skopje has come under heavy criticism from Washington, Brussels and numerous US-funded NGOs, which blasted the government for violating "European values."

        It looks like the West is going to give Macedonia a lesson of "democracy," noted American writer and researcher Michael Collins, drawing a parallel between the current situation in the country and dramatic events which took place in Libya, Syria, and Ukraine......

        The Fifth Column: Western NGOs Accused of Financing Macedonian Uprising

        There is increasing concern about potential outside influence involved in recent political demonstrations in Macedonia following reports that students were offered up to $1,500 by an activist group to come up with the best ideas on how to protest against the country's government.

        The concern about overseas hands being involved in sparking protests in the country has been heightened by recent reports in Macedonian media, which claimed that activist group, Canvas (Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies), had sent out a memo to Macedonian students encouraging them to come up with effective protest ideas.

        The leaked memo, sent three weeks before last Sunday's mass demonstrations against Nikola Gruevski's government, purportedly shows Canvas offering students who could come up with the best protest ideas for a grant of $1,500....


        .
        Politics is not about the pursuit of morality nor what's right or wrong
        Its about self interest at personal and national level often at odds with the above.
        Great politicians pursue the National interest and small politicians personal interests

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Oil/gas



          Macedonia's Muslim uprising seen as flashpoint in East-West energy war

          SKOPJE, Macedonia – A bloody confrontation this month between Macedonian police and Albanian Muslims has touched off widespread protests and threatens to ignite a geopolitical powder keg whose effects could be felt well beyond the impoverished Balkan nation, warn analysts.

          More than 20 people, including eight police officers, were killed in the May 9 police raid and ensuing riots in the northern city of Kumanovo’s ethnic Albanian neighborhoods, where Skopje officials say Muslim groups are training terrorists and seeking to secede. On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters waving Macedonian and Albanian flags marched in Skopje in a powerful show of ethnic unity against a reeling and scandal-scarred government. Experts say the raid and ensuing protests could imperil the regime of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

          "If the conflict escalates in Macedonia, it could produce a domino effect, transferred to the Balkans, or the other former Yugoslav republics in which the security situation is bad,” said Ivan Babanovski, a former Macedonian intelligence officer and a professor at Skopje’s Faculty of Security.

          World powers -- including the U.S., Europe, Russia and Turkey -- are monitoring the complex situation closely, issuing warnings and pointing fingers......

          .
          Politics is not about the pursuit of morality nor what's right or wrong
          Its about self interest at personal and national level often at odds with the above.
          Great politicians pursue the National interest and small politicians personal interests

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Oil/gas

            Thanks for the articles! I would imagine it will not take much to launch this whole thing out of control. Al these instigations can accumulate into something much greater but perhaps that is just what the aholes in charge want. If ISIS succeeds with its formation of the state and control of oil then the Balkans are indeed next. This can very easily lead to the reemergence of the ottoman empire or a similar situation with the turk taking the leading role. Perhaps this is the plan all along. I see ISIS as a USA proxy which is currently being used to force Iraq in accepting a permanent military presence in that country. This situation however can be used by turkey to hijack this movement and recreate its empire. With or without the wishes of the USA I see this as a real possibility and a real threat to Armenia and all the other states in the region. I do not think it is in USA interest to recreate the ottoman empire but it has been made abundantly clear that USA policy has not made USA interests its priority. We are living in very dynamic times with change all around us but unfortunately it does not look like most of the changes are for the good.
            Hayastan or Bust.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Oil/gas

              Here is another article I found.

              US Has Launched A New Assault Against Russia
              •From: Mihran Keheyian <[email protected]>
              •Date: Fri, 22 May 2015 14:59:58 +0000 (UTC)

              US HAS LAUNCHED A NEW ASSAULT AGAINST RUSSIA

              22.05.2015 Author: Petr Lvov

              Column: Politics
              Region: USA in the World

              If someone had the impression that the visit of Secretary of State
              John Kerry to the town of Sochi, followed by negotiations with
              Victoria Nuland, his deputy in Moscow, could be regarded as first
              steps in the direction of normalization of US-Russian relations,
              they would be deeply mistaken. In short, Washington, particularly the
              Obama administration, is trying to solve its problems at the expense
              or rather with the help of Russia, to ensure the victory of Hillary
              Clinton in the upcoming elections. However, the United States continues
              to apply pressure on Russia, using a variety of different strategies.

              Special attention is now paid to Syria and the weakened regime of
              Bashar al-Assad in the face of a new armed assault against Damascus.

              The attempts to trade the support of Syria for a number of concessions
              on Ukraine and Crimea allegedly made by John Kerry failed. Then
              Americans attempted blackmail, which is the strategy of choice for
              Washington in the countries that resist its dictate. On May 19 the
              Russian embassy in Syria was shelled by militants, presumably Jaysh
              al-Islam, which resulted in one of the shells exploding in the main
              building of the diplomatic mission. Fortunately, there was nobody
              there in the room destroyed by the explosion. Immediately after the
              attack the State Department swiftly condemned this act of terrorism.

              But we all are well aware of the fact that the "southern front"
              operating in the suburbs of the Syrian capital is controlled by Jordan
              with a certain amount of US assistance, unlike the "northern front"
              guided by Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The shelling of the Russian embassy
              - is clearly a signal to Russia that it should abandon its support
              of the Syrian regime.

              The White House continues to exploit the Iranian theme to dissuade
              Moscow supplying the Islamic Republic with S-300 air defense systems.

              But America didn't even try to propose a fair exchange. Yet, Washington
              think tanks are well of aware of the fact that Moscow will no longer
              buy any of America's fraudulent tricks, as happened a few years ago
              with the introduction of sanctions against Iran and the freezing of
              the contract to supply the S-300s. The US goal is clear and simple -
              to sow doubts in Tehran about the principal position of Russia on Iran,
              thus pushing Iranians to unnecessary concessions in discussions on
              the Iranian nuclear program.

              Another old trick has been the alleged desire of the GCC countries,
              including Saudi Arabia, to launch a full-scale cooperation with
              Russia, particularly in the coordination of global oil prices. The
              emissaries of the Arabian monarchies one by one have been visiting
              the Russian capital with handfuls of promises. Naturally, none of
              those were planned to be implemented, as they are designed to lure
              Russia's leadership into a trap. But this lesson has already been
              learned as well, especially in the times when the former Emir of
              Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Saudi Prince Bandar were
              eager to promise billions of dollars of investment in the Russian
              economy, the purchase of Russian weapons, and lucrative contracts,
              yet no concrete steps followed.

              Now a new player is being used - Turkey, which seems to be seriously
              offended by Russia's position on the Armenian Genocide. Turkey, for
              which the question of recognition or non-recognition of the genocide
              is the most painful of all, instantly responded to the fact that on 24
              April, Vladimir Putin visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial, built in
              memory of the genocide victims of 1915. Turkish officials said that
              there could be no justification for this visit, three days later,
              Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "remembered" events regarding
              the Crimea. The Turkish leader said that Russia should account for
              their actions in Crimea and Ukraine before condemning the massacre
              of Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915.

              Washington was eager to request even more anti-Russian statements
              from Turkey, including those relating to the Crimea, that followed
              one after the other. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, said
              that the recent unofficial Turkish delegation that was visiting the
              Crimea, found signs of human rights violations. Such an assessment
              on the situation on the ground from Cavusoglu looks rather strange,
              since they contradict statements made by members of the delegation
              themselves. On April 29 the head of the unofficial delegation Mehmet
              Uskyul said that he is satisfied with the treatment of Crimean Tatars
              on the peninsula. Even more dramatic statements were made by Turkey's
              Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on May 14 at a meeting of NATO Foreign
              Ministers. According to this Turkish official "The illegal annexation
              of the Crimea can not be tolerated". The Turkish prime minister also
              urged NATO states to support Ukraine so it could better ensure the
              security of its own people. Ahmet Davutoglu went as far as stressing
              that NATO states should not forget about the suffering of the people
              of the Crimea...

              Ankara canceled a regular meeting of the Russian-Turkish Cooperation
              Council and the arrival of Sergey Lavrov to Antalya that was scheduled
              on May 16. Formally - under the pretext of difficulties caused by the
              forthcoming parliamentary elections, after which a new government
              will be formed. But all that buzz can negatively affect a project
              of fundamental importance for Russia - the "Turkish Stream", which
              couldn't make the United States any more happier.

              Another front of this anti-Russian campaign was opened in Macedonia.

              The United States is actively advancing a possible regime change
              in Skopje to counter Russian influence. It's also important to note
              that the "Turkish Stream" would stretch across Macedonian soil. That's
              what Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week about those
              events: "Objectively speaking, the events in Macedonia are unfolding
              against the background of the government's refusal to join the policy
              of sanctions against Russia and the vigorous support Skopje gave to
              the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, to which many people oppose,
              both in Brussels and across the ocean. So we can't help but feeling
              that there is some sort of connection here."

              In fact, Washington has tried to stage a "color revolution" by
              organizing mass demonstrations launched by the local opposition. Even
              the country's Albanian minority, which has nothing in common with
              Macedonian opposition came out to the streets to support rallies in
              the capital, Skopje. For Moscow this looks all too familiar. Events
              are moving in the same direction as they were in Ukraine in 2013 and
              2014, when the corrupt regime of Viktor Yanukovych was ousted during
              mass demonstrations organized by the United States and Poland.

              So the latest maneuvers of American diplomacy - is nothing but
              a smokescreen designed to hide the true intentions of the Obama
              administration. Washington's strategic goal remains the same - to
              weaken Russia by all means necessary and break it apart from those
              countries which are engaged in cooperation with Moscow. Therefore
              there's no trusting US promises or even reaching deals with
              them. All this smooth-talking is a mere trap in the hope that
              Russian pro-Western liberals might convince President Putin that the
              White House is sincere. But US think tanks have missed one thing -
              "Ukrainian lessons" have not been lost on the Kremlin.

              Peter Lvov, Ph.D in political science, exclusively for the online
              magazine "New Eastern Outlook"

              First
              appeared:http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/22/us...inst-russia-2/
              Hayastan or Bust.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Oil/gas

                West is trash and evil.

                In order for the world to be at peace we need the following to happen.

                Turkey to be wiped of the map.
                Saudia Arabia to be wiped of the map.
                Qatar to be wiped of the map.
                Israhell to be wiped of the map.
                U.S.A to be turned into a concrete parking lot.

                The west is going to push the Bear so far until it finally snaps and when that happens it will bomb everything in its way.
                Last edited by Gevz; 05-23-2015, 04:16 PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Oil/gas

                  Originally posted by Gevz View Post

                  The west is going to push the Bear so far until it finally snaps and when that happens it will bomb everything in its way.
                  Russia is self sufficient in energy and food and receives consumer goods from China, so the sanctions are not having a great impact as they did with Yugoslavia and Iraq

                  If the West decides to co-operate with Russia, Armenia wins

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Oil/gas

                    Armenia at least need three players for good balance, West, Russia and Iran.

                    Comment

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