It's all about the oil !!!!

[justjohn]

Leaders salute Caspian pipeline

A 1,768-km (1,100-mile) pipeline carrying oil from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan is set to be formally opened.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline links Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Oil is then shipped to western markets.

The US-backed project was conceived 10 years ago to diversify the West's oil supplies and bypass Russia.

Oil began flowing in May. At full capacity the pipeline will carry a million barrels of crude oil a day.

A second pipeline carrying Caspian gas along the same route is expected to start working by the end of the year.

Strategic project

The official opening ceremony is due to take place in Ceyhan shortly.

It will be attended by the presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

This is just a fraction of rising world demand but the pipeline has been heavily backed by Washington from the very start, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Ceyhan.

The US is keen to challenge Russia's dominance of energy supply routes and to promote the Caspian as a secure additional source of fuel channelled via America's regional allies, our correspondent says. For Ankara too this is a strategic project as much as an economic one, she adds.

Ankara is currently negotiating to host several other international gas and oil pipelines, hoping to become a major transit and terminal country for fuel.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/5175676.stm

[Bob S]

;D John the Just. I think Russia may lose a lot of money because of this pipeline. What needs to be done now is to start getting some of that oil from the Anwar in Alaska. That should provide income and jobs for that State.

[justjohn]

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. In 2005, Georgian companies received some $24 million in military contracts funded out of U.S. military assistance to Israel under the so-called "Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program".

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/states/GA.html



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.

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.

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 Re-routing of Central Asian Oil

Diverting Central Asian oil and gas to the Eastern Mediterranean (under Israeli military protection), for re-export 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.

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 did 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 this project requires the militarisation of the East Mediterranean coastline, sea ways and land routes, 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.

[piwo]

And those sneaky hezbollah insurgents that attacked on Israeli soil must have gotten their cut of the deal too. Attack Israel knowing they will strike back.. It will take them a few days to get reserves up so If we do this today, by our calculations, they should retaliate on the eve of this big oil pipeline's opening, and we can all kick back and say it's Israel and the USA again over oil. Ye!ah, that's the ticket!

darn THOSE GUYS ARE CLEVER... Whatever floats your boat folks... Somewhere along the lines their has to be a conspiracy theory that implicates those darn Jew's and those darn Americans.

[jimpres]

Seems like everyone believes the Jews and Americans are causing all the World's problems.
I forgot who American is threating to wipe off the world map.
And then their best country friend.
Or Kill all the Jew, Americans and non believers. H'mmm I need a application to a mosk.
A twelfth century battle in the 21st.

[sciwriter]

From an e-mail. Carl:

Life in an Orwellian universe
By Charles Krauthammer

Israel's moral scrupulousness is being paid in blood - and yet they're still branded as evil personified


www.JewishWorldReview.com | What other country, when attacked in an unprovoked aggression across a recognized international frontier, is then put on a countdown clock by the world, given a limited time window in which to fight back, regardless of whether it has restored its own security?

What other country sustains 1,500 indiscriminate rocket attacks into its cities - every one designed to kill, maim and terrorize civilians - and is then vilified by the world when it tries to destroy the enemy's infrastructure and strongholds with precision-guided munitions that sometimes have the unintended but unavoidable consequence of collateral civilian death and suffering?

Hearing the world pass judgment on the Israel-Hezbollah war as it unfolds is to live in an Orwellian moral universe. With a few significant exceptions (the leadership of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and a very few others), the world - governments, the media, U.N. bureaucrats - has completely lost its moral bearings.

The word that obviates all thinking and magically inverts victim into aggressor is "disproportionate," as in the universally decried "disproportionate Israeli response."

When the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, it did not respond with a parallel "proportionate" attack on a Japanese naval base. It launched a four-year campaign that killed millions of Japanese, reduced Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki to a cinder, and turned the Japanese home islands to rubble and ruin. Disproportionate? No. When one is wantonly attacked by an aggressor, one has every right - legal and moral - to carry the fight until the aggressor is disarmed and so disabled that it cannot threaten one's security again. That's what it took with Japan.

Britain was never invaded by Germany in World War II. Did it respond to the blitz and V-1 and V-2 rockets with "proportionate" aerial bombardment of Germany? Of course not. Churchill orchestrated the greatest land invasion in history that flattened and utterly destroyed Germany, killing untold innocent German women and children in the process.

The perversity of today's international outcry lies in the fact that there is indeed a disproportion in this war, a radical moral asymmetry between Hezbollah and Israel: Hezbollah is deliberately trying to create civilian casualties on both sides while Israel is deliberately trying to minimize civilian casualties, also on both sides.

In perhaps the most blatant terror campaign from the air since the London blitz, Hezbollah is raining rockets on Israeli cities and villages. These rockets are packed with ball bearings that can penetrate automobiles and shred human flesh. They are meant to kill and maim. And they do.

But it is a dual campaign. Israeli innocents must die in order for Israel to be terrorized. But Lebanese innocents must also die in order for Israel to be demonized, which is why Hezbollah hides its fighters, its rockets, its launchers, its entire infrastructure among civilians. Creating human shields is a war crime. It is also a Hezbollah specialty.

On Wednesday, CNN cameras showed destruction in Tyre. What does Israel have against Tyre and its inhabitants? Nothing. But the long-range Hezbollah rockets that have been raining terror on Haifa are based in Tyre. What is Israel to do? Leave untouched the launch sites that are deliberately placed in built-up areas?

Had Israel wanted to destroy Lebanese civilian infrastructure, it would have turned out the lights in Beirut in the first hour of the war, destroying the billion-dollar power grid and setting back Lebanon 20 years. It did not do that. Instead, it attacked dual-use infrastructure - bridges, roads, airport runways - and blockaded Lebanon's ports to prevent the reinforcement and resupply of Hezbollah. Ten-thousand Katyusha rockets are enough. Israel was not going to allow Hezbollah 10,000 more.

Israel's response to Hezbollah has been to use the most precise weaponry and targeting it can. It has no interest, no desire to kill Lebanese civilians. Does anyone imagine that it could not have leveled south Lebanon, to say nothing of Beirut? Instead, in the bitter fight against Hezbollah in south Lebanon, it has repeatedly dropped leaflets, issued warnings, sent messages by radio and even phone text to Lebanese villagers to evacuate so that they would not be harmed.

Israel knows that these leaflets and warnings give the Hezbollah fighters time to escape and regroup. The advance notification as to where the next attack is coming has allowed Hezbollah to set up elaborate ambushes. The result? Unexpectedly high Israeli infantry casualties. Moral scrupulousness paid in blood. Israeli soldiers die so that Lebanese civilians will not, and who does the international community condemn for disregarding civilian life?

[leslie]

Carl
Krauthammer has got at least two points wrong in his discourse. He says that Britain did not respond (proportionately or otherwise) to the Nazi Blitz - as soon as The Nazis started to bomb London, orders were given to bomb German cities, including Berlin. Eventually cities that were 'known' not to be in military support were bombed - flattened to the ground with no regard to the civilians, in the same way that the Nazis had paid no regard to civilians in the cities they tried to flatten.
Also America did not respond to Pearl Harbour 'proportionately' by leveling Japanese naval bases, because it would have been 'wrong ' - it was because they did not have bombing aircraft with the ability to reach these bases.
Inaccuracies such as these, obviously based on his lack of knowledge and/or lack of ability to research properly, cast doubts on his other 'philosophical' arguments.
Leslie

[Jaga]

sciwriter said:

From an e-mail. Carl:

Life in an Orwellian universe
By Charles Krauthammer

Israel's moral scrupulousness is being paid in blood - and yet they're still branded as evil personified

Krautzhammer is very one-sided. Yes, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, hoping to receive many of their own in exchange but no - Hezbollah did not start attack of Israel. It was Israel that started attacking Lebanon.

Just see how many people are dead on both sides - the ratio is 10:1. Over 600 civilians dead in Lebanon and over 50 civilians and soldiers in Israel.

[piwo]

Yes, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, hoping to receive many of their own in exchange

Always the logical explanation, always the excuse for someone else's lawless behavior. You profess to know exactly why they did what they did... but then again, the anointed always know exactly the way things are It's beyond a broken record..

..but no - Hezbollah did not start attack of Israel.

Sure they did. That's what you call an invasion into a sovereign country. I'm thinking that two were taken, but others were killed..Not sure anymore, but it's not important. Fact is, they raided a border, knowing Israel doesn't trade, and always kills 10 for each 1 of there's. And it's been there policy since 1948, and with 10's of millions to their 3 million, it may be the only reason they are still alive today as a nation.

[jimpres]

Leslie,

Your right the US did not respond because it was not ready. But after four years and an atomic bomb the proportionality was correc to stop the war.

Jaga,

Hezbollah did start the war. Kidnapped soldiers and started firing rockets. That is what the Arabs think of Israels giving up of Gaza.

I say again until Jerusalem is again Arab the prophet can not come and religion be fulfilled.
It is a religious fanatical war. All land previously occupied by Arabs must be retaken. And
death for them is more precious then life.

Amen

Jim