Iran’s crime of transporting oil!
Waterflake | 18.04.2006 08:15
That’s right; years ago the struggle was all about the resources of black gold now it’s about getting it around and about to use and sell it.
Many have wondered why Bush Junior was obsessive about Iraq and what the real American interest has been behind toppling Hussein.
The answer can simply be put in two words: Check Mate! The current Middle East Crisis is a text book example of traditional power play.
Many have wondered why Bush Junior was obsessive about Iraq and what the real American interest has been behind toppling Hussein.
The answer can simply be put in two words: Check Mate! The current Middle East Crisis is a text book example of traditional power play.
IRAN
Anyone who believes Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran is about democracy, terrorism or nuclear energy is a dreamer or lacks the ability to look further than media mainstream news.
The chess game that is played in the Middle East can be easily understood by looking at a map and reading up developments of oil fields and pipelines.
Something that has not been brought to the public attention is the fact, that Iran is the ONLY country in the region that has access to the biggest two oil resources on the planet.
One is located in the Caspian See and the other on the Persian Gulf making Iran THE most important area in the struggle to securing easy access to the oil resources for industry nation.
Amongst the Nations fighting with open threats, clandestine operations and covert agreements are the usual suspects such as Russia, the US and the newcomer China.
Concerns about the obstinacy of Iran and its desire to practice a policy of self interest were already uttered in a 2001 hearing of the subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia.(transcript of hearing 2001)
EDWARD WALKER (Assistant Secretary to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs):
We need to continue responding to immediate threats to our national interests, while looking for ways to engage Iran constructively on issues of strategic importance to us all. Page 28
Mr. JOSEPH R. PITTS (Pennsylvania):
Many experts believe that Iran will be a key regional power and threat by 2008. I am wondering if we are paying adequate attention to the rising of Iran's threat to regional stability. Are we taking the specific steps that we need to take to ensure that Iran does not become the regional power that many predict?Page 56
But on of the most concerning comments have come out of a more recent hearing by the US committee on International Relations in February 2005.(transcript ot hearing 2005)
TOM LANTOS (California)
Mr. Chairman, in my view, it is well past time to isolate Iran economically and diplomatically. European and Asian Governments must immediately suspend or terminate their existing Iranian investments….I am particularly concerned with recent developments in terms of China-Iran agreements in the energy field.Page 11
The last sentence by Mr. Lantos is exactly what the provoked crisis with Iran is all about the possible loss of American predominance in the region to countries such as Iran, Russia or China.
One of the main goals of American Foreign Policy in the last decade was the shattering of the Russian Oil pipeline monopole and the establishment of Pro Western governments in the region.
The shattering of the Russian monopole has been accomplished with the completion of a 4 Billion Dollar pipeline build by a consortium of western companies.
The pipeline is called BTC as it connects BAKU, the capital of Azerbaijan; TBILISI, the capital of Georgia und CEYHAN, a port in Turkey making it the second biggest in the world.
The mere purpose was to create a competition to Russian run pipelines and to insure that no one country in the region has the lone and complete control over oil transport.
The new pipeline should secure a method of transporting oil from the Caspian See (which is deadlocked by land) to a safe harbour in the Mediterranean.
For a short while the pipeline looked like a victory in the struggle for dominance in oil transportation but Teheran has developed a “CROSS PROJECT” that renders the BTC financially unproductive.
If Iran continue with its CROSS PROJECT (and there is no reason why they shouldn’t) the money put into the BTC pipeline is not only wasted but will also shatter the aspired dominance by Western Conglomerates.
The CROSS PROJECT is a simply and cheap exchange scheme of oil between the countries bordering the Caspian See.
Kazakhstan is currently shipping vast amounts of crude oil from their Caspian fields to the Iranian port of Neka. Iran uses the oil, after blending it in its Tehran and Tabriz refineries.
Kazakhstan then has the option of getting either Iranian Light or Iranian heavy blend crude at Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf near the big tanker terminals a much cheaper method than exporting it via the 1700 km long BTC pipeline.
The deal is beneficial for countries along the Caspian See and especially for Iran who has also access to the See ports in the Persian Gulf. The only party losing out are Western Countries trying to keep a foot in the door and BTC investors.
The Cross Project is of such a simply execution and cost that the only way to impede it would be to occupy Iran or precipitate a change in Iranian leadership into a Pro Western Puppet state.
And as the US and its Western Allies are struggling to keep their grip on the region appears a new threat on the horizon. The Chinese have for long time worked on the construction of a pipeline of their own which has given them access to the oil fields in Kazakhstan and only a few hundred kilometres are missing to the biggest oil fields on the Caspian see.
This pipeline will give China not only direct access, the transported amount is exceeding Chinas requirements ten times given the country the possibility to trade.
Another agreement with Iran is further strengthening Chinas supply resources. In 2004 did Teheran and Beijing sign a contract on the development of the Yadavaran gas field which has an estimated worth of 70 Billion US$.
The whole game in the Middle East from Afghanistan over Iraq and Iran is a well set up scheme. Any attempts to explain Western intervention on the bases of democracy and the safe guarding of peace are blunt lies by the man in black pulling the stings from behind the scene.
The statement by PhD Gary Sick (senior research scholar and Prof. of Int. Relations) during previously mentioned 2005 hearing of the US Committee clearly illuminates the strategic game play
The two U.S. wars against Saddam Hussein—Desert Storm in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003—have raised our profile in the region dramatically. Together with the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. political and military footprint in the region is overwhelmingly greater than that of any other country.
We have become, at least for the time being and for the foreseeable future, the dominant Persian Gulf power.Page 32 We are today a neighbour of Iran, with our forces deployed on its eastern border in Afghanistan, its western border in Iraq, and with the Fifth Fleet and extensive U.S. support facilities located throughout the Persian Gulf.
We can no longer regard Iran as a distant and exotic country where our contacts are infrequent or by choice. Our contacts today are nearly daily, in one form or another, and there is no way to avoid them.Page 33
The US government under the leadership of George W. Bush is sounding the trumpets for their next move and yet again the media is playing along.
This time Americas allies in Europe who have opposed the invasion of Iraq (if only for show) are rallying up in their effort to subjugate Iran. Iran’s nuclear program is being exaggerated and distorted by the press and one wonders (or maybe not) where from the main stream media is obtaining their information.
Yes Iran is heading up a nuclear program but the country is far from joining the nuclear powers and experts project the development to take at least another 5 years. Also has Iran until last year followed all conditions and restrained it has been imposed with by the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Only when Iran was called to completely suspend all activities started the Iranian government to resist. Iran even signed the non-proliferation treaty, something India has refused to do. Yet President Bush has promised India the full support of the US to further its nuclear developments.
Nobody is going to try and defend Iran on its aggressive course and that the country is a dictatorship is not just an assumption. Arrests and the oppression of any even peaceful opposition is daily business.
However the world can not measure with two different scales for national or personal interest and than cajole and hoodwink their citizens into yet another war.
And for anyone who didn’t know I’m sorry to break the news but oil is endless and the scarcer it get’s the more profit the war mongers are going to make.
The money wasted on wars with the purpose to secure oil resources was better spend on programs for re-usable energy. But of course that would strip the oil conglomerates of their power. For example, Exxon made a record profit of 36 Billion in 2005, despite soaring inflation and declining prosperity, or even exactly because of it.
Albert Einstein:
One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
Sources:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa71437.000/hfa71437_0f.htm
2001
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA
OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
MARCH 29, 2001 Serial No. 107–4 http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa98809.000/hfa98809_0f.htm
2005
U.S. POLICY TOWARD IRAN: NEXT STEPS
HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
The chess game that is played in the Middle East can be easily understood by looking at a map and reading up developments of oil fields and pipelines.
Something that has not been brought to the public attention is the fact, that Iran is the ONLY country in the region that has access to the biggest two oil resources on the planet.
One is located in the Caspian See and the other on the Persian Gulf making Iran THE most important area in the struggle to securing easy access to the oil resources for industry nation.
Amongst the Nations fighting with open threats, clandestine operations and covert agreements are the usual suspects such as Russia, the US and the newcomer China.
Concerns about the obstinacy of Iran and its desire to practice a policy of self interest were already uttered in a 2001 hearing of the subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia.(transcript of hearing 2001)
EDWARD WALKER (Assistant Secretary to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs):
We need to continue responding to immediate threats to our national interests, while looking for ways to engage Iran constructively on issues of strategic importance to us all. Page 28
Mr. JOSEPH R. PITTS (Pennsylvania):
Many experts believe that Iran will be a key regional power and threat by 2008. I am wondering if we are paying adequate attention to the rising of Iran's threat to regional stability. Are we taking the specific steps that we need to take to ensure that Iran does not become the regional power that many predict?Page 56
But on of the most concerning comments have come out of a more recent hearing by the US committee on International Relations in February 2005.(transcript ot hearing 2005)
TOM LANTOS (California)
Mr. Chairman, in my view, it is well past time to isolate Iran economically and diplomatically. European and Asian Governments must immediately suspend or terminate their existing Iranian investments….I am particularly concerned with recent developments in terms of China-Iran agreements in the energy field.Page 11
The last sentence by Mr. Lantos is exactly what the provoked crisis with Iran is all about the possible loss of American predominance in the region to countries such as Iran, Russia or China.
One of the main goals of American Foreign Policy in the last decade was the shattering of the Russian Oil pipeline monopole and the establishment of Pro Western governments in the region.
The shattering of the Russian monopole has been accomplished with the completion of a 4 Billion Dollar pipeline build by a consortium of western companies.
The pipeline is called BTC as it connects BAKU, the capital of Azerbaijan; TBILISI, the capital of Georgia und CEYHAN, a port in Turkey making it the second biggest in the world.
The mere purpose was to create a competition to Russian run pipelines and to insure that no one country in the region has the lone and complete control over oil transport.
The new pipeline should secure a method of transporting oil from the Caspian See (which is deadlocked by land) to a safe harbour in the Mediterranean.
For a short while the pipeline looked like a victory in the struggle for dominance in oil transportation but Teheran has developed a “CROSS PROJECT” that renders the BTC financially unproductive.
If Iran continue with its CROSS PROJECT (and there is no reason why they shouldn’t) the money put into the BTC pipeline is not only wasted but will also shatter the aspired dominance by Western Conglomerates.
The CROSS PROJECT is a simply and cheap exchange scheme of oil between the countries bordering the Caspian See.
Kazakhstan is currently shipping vast amounts of crude oil from their Caspian fields to the Iranian port of Neka. Iran uses the oil, after blending it in its Tehran and Tabriz refineries.
Kazakhstan then has the option of getting either Iranian Light or Iranian heavy blend crude at Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf near the big tanker terminals a much cheaper method than exporting it via the 1700 km long BTC pipeline.
The deal is beneficial for countries along the Caspian See and especially for Iran who has also access to the See ports in the Persian Gulf. The only party losing out are Western Countries trying to keep a foot in the door and BTC investors.
The Cross Project is of such a simply execution and cost that the only way to impede it would be to occupy Iran or precipitate a change in Iranian leadership into a Pro Western Puppet state.
And as the US and its Western Allies are struggling to keep their grip on the region appears a new threat on the horizon. The Chinese have for long time worked on the construction of a pipeline of their own which has given them access to the oil fields in Kazakhstan and only a few hundred kilometres are missing to the biggest oil fields on the Caspian see.
This pipeline will give China not only direct access, the transported amount is exceeding Chinas requirements ten times given the country the possibility to trade.
Another agreement with Iran is further strengthening Chinas supply resources. In 2004 did Teheran and Beijing sign a contract on the development of the Yadavaran gas field which has an estimated worth of 70 Billion US$.
The whole game in the Middle East from Afghanistan over Iraq and Iran is a well set up scheme. Any attempts to explain Western intervention on the bases of democracy and the safe guarding of peace are blunt lies by the man in black pulling the stings from behind the scene.
The statement by PhD Gary Sick (senior research scholar and Prof. of Int. Relations) during previously mentioned 2005 hearing of the US Committee clearly illuminates the strategic game play
The two U.S. wars against Saddam Hussein—Desert Storm in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003—have raised our profile in the region dramatically. Together with the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. political and military footprint in the region is overwhelmingly greater than that of any other country.
We have become, at least for the time being and for the foreseeable future, the dominant Persian Gulf power.Page 32 We are today a neighbour of Iran, with our forces deployed on its eastern border in Afghanistan, its western border in Iraq, and with the Fifth Fleet and extensive U.S. support facilities located throughout the Persian Gulf.
We can no longer regard Iran as a distant and exotic country where our contacts are infrequent or by choice. Our contacts today are nearly daily, in one form or another, and there is no way to avoid them.Page 33
The US government under the leadership of George W. Bush is sounding the trumpets for their next move and yet again the media is playing along.
This time Americas allies in Europe who have opposed the invasion of Iraq (if only for show) are rallying up in their effort to subjugate Iran. Iran’s nuclear program is being exaggerated and distorted by the press and one wonders (or maybe not) where from the main stream media is obtaining their information.
Yes Iran is heading up a nuclear program but the country is far from joining the nuclear powers and experts project the development to take at least another 5 years. Also has Iran until last year followed all conditions and restrained it has been imposed with by the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Only when Iran was called to completely suspend all activities started the Iranian government to resist. Iran even signed the non-proliferation treaty, something India has refused to do. Yet President Bush has promised India the full support of the US to further its nuclear developments.
Nobody is going to try and defend Iran on its aggressive course and that the country is a dictatorship is not just an assumption. Arrests and the oppression of any even peaceful opposition is daily business.
However the world can not measure with two different scales for national or personal interest and than cajole and hoodwink their citizens into yet another war.
And for anyone who didn’t know I’m sorry to break the news but oil is endless and the scarcer it get’s the more profit the war mongers are going to make.
The money wasted on wars with the purpose to secure oil resources was better spend on programs for re-usable energy. But of course that would strip the oil conglomerates of their power. For example, Exxon made a record profit of 36 Billion in 2005, despite soaring inflation and declining prosperity, or even exactly because of it.
Albert Einstein:
One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
Sources:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa71437.000/hfa71437_0f.htm 2001
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA
OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
MARCH 29, 2001 Serial No. 107–4
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa98809.000/hfa98809_0f.htm 2005
U.S. POLICY TOWARD IRAN: NEXT STEPS
HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
Waterflake
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