DUGIN: RUSSIA SHOULD CONSIDER WAR TO HEAD OFF NABUCCO PROJECT

Today’s Zaman
Feb 5 2009
Turkey

A leading Russian intellectual has called for war to crush the Nabucco
pipeline project as a means of stopping attempts to decrease European
dependency on Russian energy resources.

Alexander Dugin, a Russian intellectual known in Turkey for his
controversial support for the Ergenekon terrorist organization —
support he later retracted to distance himself from being affiliated
with terror — is in the spotlight again after commenting on the
Nabucco natural gas pipeline project.

Speaking to the Eurasia.net news portal yesterday, Dugin said the
Nabucco project aims to bypass Russia as an alternative gas route and
must be prevented at all costs, even if that means waging war. "If
a military intervention is needed, then it must be done. This is
directly relevant to the geopolitics of natural gas, and all means
are allowed in geopolitics," he said.

Dugin is strictly in favor of Russian expansionism and nationalism
and is closely affiliated with the Kremlin and Russian military
intelligence. He is a strong proponent of the restoration of the
Russian Empire through a partitioning of the former Soviet republics
and unification with Russian-speaking territories. "We have to topple
Nabucco and partition Ukraine. Ukraine has to be divided into two
vassal states. We have to always be a step ahead of our rivals. If
we step back on natural gas, this obliges us to step back in other
fields, too. And this is impossible to accept," Dugin opined.

Meanwhile, Russian magazine Kommersant Vlast claimed in an article in
its most recent issue that an armed conflict is very likely to erupt in
a short while on Nabucco. The analysis, penned by Vladimir Solovyev,
claimed that the Vladimir Putin administration will do anything it
takes to prevent the launch of the Nabucco project. "For the current
Russian authorities, participating in the Nabucco project as a supplier
country is totally unacceptable. Shying away from using energy as
a tool to consolidate Russian political influence is impossible. A
war possibility may deter the emergence of a new and strong rival
to Gazprom’s presence in the European market. For example, a war
between Russia-backed Armenia and Nabucco’s adherent Azerbaijan,
on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute…" the analysis asserted.

Azerbaijanis: A war is not that easy

Azerbaijani parliament deputy Asim Mollazade says Russia’s most
essential problem now is coping with the global economic downturn and
that it has no time to conspire to trigger a war in the region. Vefa
Guluzade, a military and political expert who served as foreign
affairs advisor to former President Haydar Aliyev, believes a war
is definitely not in the interests of Armenia. He thinks Armenia is
trying to improve relations with the West and will probably not be
willing to endanger them.

Europe frequently feels the threat of the halt of gas flow from its
main supplier, Russia, and is a fervent supporter of Nabucco. Last
week, the European Commission decided to grant 250 million euros for
the project, asking Nabucco partners to accelerate the process. Turkey
has on several occasions invited Russia to take part in the project,
but Russia has declined.