SCRAMBLE FOR RESOURCES IS DESTABILISING THE WORLD

Socialistworker.co.uk
12 August 2008
UK

Caucasus conflict

This article should be read after: Â" Bloody cost of the new world
order

The global system of competition between rival power blocs has
transformed the Caucasus – with its myriad of ethnic and historic
rivalries – into a surrogate test of will between the US and Russia.

But the region also has strategic value, which has placed it at the
centre of conflicts between superpowers in the past.

On Georgia’s southern borders lie Turkey and Armenia, a close ally
of Iran. To the east is oil-rich Azerbaijan.

Georgia also lies on a key route between Russia and Central Asia.

If it became a full Nato member, with the increase in Western backing
that would bring, it would pose a direct threat to Russia.

Western control of the region is important for reasons of both strategy
and valuable resources.

The country is crucial for a variety of oil and gas pipeline
projects. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline started operations
in May 2005.

It runs from the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey,
ending up on Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Another oil pipeline runs from Azerbaijan to Supsa on Georgia’s Black
Sea coastline. A third project – the Nabucco pipeline – is planned
to run through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and on to Central Europe
and Austria.

Russia dominates supply of oil and gas to many countries in Central
Asia and Eastern Europe. But none of these new pipelines runs through
Russia or countries in Russia’s sphere of influence.

Consequently they act to tip the balance of forces in the region away
from Russia and towards rival powers in the West.

In a world dominated by competition between imperial blocs, such shifts
can destabilise whole regions – and ultimately plunge them into war.

The following should be read alongside this article: Â" Bloody cost
of the new world order Â" War is result of imperial game Â" Deepening
unease with US strategy Â" Ossetia – a history of division and war

–Boundary_(ID_stSOdf7OnAWn/AopME75xw)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress