Re: ...bring oil from the Caspian oil fields of Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean Sea...
Oh, Pleeease! Gimme a break on that scramble-for-Caucasian-oil theory... I believe the KEY variable in the Central Asia equation is ISLAM/Ethnicity --not oil. If the US really was anxious about tapping other oilfields then it'd rush to Africa! There's plenty of it off the coasts of Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Nigeria and whatnot. Africa's oil deposits are much closer to the US and its political regimes are much more amenable to US diplomacy than the Central Asian powder keg.... Furthermore, Saudi Arabia still is the world's #1 oil deposit... So, if oil was pre-eminent, why would the US alienate his long-standing Saudi friend? Giving up the Saudi golden goose for what? The lure of Central Asia?!? LOL....
Besides, due partly to the current world recession, the oil market is increasingly a monopsony, that is to say, no matter who gets their hands over Central Asia's oil faucet, they'll have to sell the bulk of it to the US anyway! So the wisest attitude for the US would be a wait-and-see policy. Let all the tribes of Central Asia fight it out between them, and then let's cut a deal with the winner... Problem is, those tribes --including the Russkies-- are crazy to the point where they just nuke each other! That's why the US --reluctantly-- had to enter the game.
Gus |
