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The Conquest of Eurasia: NATO's War For The World's Heartland
Azerbaijan And The Caspian
by Rick Rozoff
Global Research, June 11, 2009
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Welcoming Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to Foggy
Bottom in early May of this year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
could think of nothing more original to say than "Azerbaijan has a very
strategic location that is one important not only to their country, but
really, regionally and globally...." [1]
But what Clinton's effusion lacked in originality it compensated for in
accuracy. Azerbaijan is as strategically situated as any nation in the
world within the current contest between Western plans for global
military domination and control of energy resources and contrasting
efforts by other nations to secure a peaceful and multipolar
international order.
The nation of only slightly more than eight million people is nestled in
the far southeast corner of the Caucasus on the coast of the Caspian
Sea, bordering all the other Caucasus nations - Armenia, Georgia and
Russia - on its northern and western borders and Iran on its southern
one.
Even more than Turkey, Azerbaijan is that nation which links Europe with
Asia and, neighboring Iran, also connects Eurasia with the Middle East
and the Persian Gulf.
Strategic Energy Projects Of The 21st Century
The nation is also the linchpin in several Western oil and natural gas
transit projects comprising what the US White House calls the East-West
Energy Corridor - the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline (delivering
high-grade crude from Azerbaijan's Caspian offshore
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields to Turkey's deepwater Mediterranean
terminal at Ceyhan), the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and the Nabucco/Southern
Corridor natural gas pipelines - which in turn are linked with several
extensions running from and to three continents as well as the Middle
East.
These include transporting oil (and natural gas) from Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan on the eastern shores of the Caspian to Azerbaijan - either
by ship or under the sea - then to Georgia and Turkey, where one route
will ship oil from the Black Sea coast of Georgia to the Ukrainian port
city of Odessa and from there via pipeline to Brody and into Poland to
Plock and then Gdansk on the Baltic Sea for further transport to Germany
and the rest of Europe.
Other branches of this vast transcontinental energy transport project
include those carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas
field to Europe through the "Interconnector pipeline linking Turkey to
Italy via Greece and the White Stream, which would run from Georgia to
Romania across [or under] the Black Sea," [2] and the proposed shipping
of oil from Ceyhan in Turkey to the Israeli Mediterranean port city of
Ashkelon and from there by pipeline to the Red Sea port of Eilat where
it can be shipped on tankers across the Indian Ocean to East Asia. Last
year it was announced that "the pipeline company Ashkelon-Eylat [Eilat]
initiated a channel for transportation of oil from the Turkish Ceyhan
port to East Asia by using Israel's infrastructure." [3]
The last-named presents the eventual prospect of oil emanating from as
far east as Kazakhstan, which borders China, being shipped across the
Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, then through the South Caucasus to Turkey,
from there down the Mediterranean coast to Israel, and later shipped
through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and back to East Asia.
During the European Union summit in Prague on May 7 of this year it was
announced that the Nabucco gas pipeline - planned to transport natural
gas from Erzurum, Turkey, where the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey gas
pipeline ends, to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary - would be
fed by natural gas from Northern Iraq through Turkey and from Egypt.
"After meeting with EU officials, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia and Turkey
signed a joint declaration on the Southern Corridor [Nabucco] that
involves countries from Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, Mashreq
[Jordan, Lebanon, Syria] and the Middle East." [4]
"[Iraqi] supplies will be sufficient to feed the long-planned Nabucco
pipeline, which proposes pumping gas to Austria via Turkey.
"The pipeline would reduce Europe's dependency on gas from Russia.
"Iraq has the world's tenth-largest gas reserves, and the world's third
largest supply of crude oil.
"A consortium of oil companies plans to revive a project to supply
Europe with gas from northern Iraq." [5]
Azerbaijan: Central Link In Extended Chain
At the very center of this unprecedentedly wide-ranging energy transit
nexus is a small country with a population only slightly larger than
that of New York City, Azerbaijan.
And Azerbaijan is neither solely a transit state like Georgia and Turkey
nor only an exporting nation like Kazakhstan, Iraq and Egypt, but both
an oil- and natural gas-producing country and the very hub of a
transportation network whose spokes reach out in almost all directions.
All, that is, except for Russia and Iran, both neighboring Azerbaijan,
which are deliberately circumvented in the energy routes listed above.
And without Azerbaijan's participation various Western trans-Caspian and
trans-Eurasian energy, transportation and military projects would have
no central and unifying base.
Before Cold War Was Even Cold: NATO's Designs On Former Soviet Space
The foundation of Western plans for Azerbaijan's role in not only
regional but ultimately global energy strategies began immediately after
the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the creation of the Republic
of Azerbaijan in the same year. After three and a half years of
negotiations the so-called Contract of the Century was signed in the
capital of Baku in 1994 with British Petroleum and other foreign oil
companies including the American Amoco, Pennzoil, UNOCAL, McDermott and
Delta Nimir firms.
The pivotal Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project was agreed upon in
1998 and went into effect in 2006.
In March of this year the Azerbaijani government announced that its
military expenditures had increased 9.7 times - almost 1,000% - over the
past five years. Neighboring nation and fellow NATO outpost Georgia has
registered a similar increase in the same period. In both cases income
from oil and natural gas export and transport played a large role in
funding this monumental percentage increase. Oil for war.
In this morning's Azerbaijan press the head of NATO's Defense and
Security Economics Directorate, Michael Gaul, is quoted as saying that
"NATO realizes the whole importance of the Nabucco project and backs
Azerbaijan."
The same source added that "NATO can render assistance in provision of
pipeline security." [6]
Ten days earlier the Russian ambassador to Brussels Vladimir Chizov
warned "that Moscow is skeptical about any possible involvement of NATO"
in arrogating to itself the right to police oil and gas pipelines and
other means of transit from the Caspian. [7]
On May 6th Azerbaijan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Araz Azimov -
addressing a conference in his nation's capital called NATO-Azerbaijan:
Assessing the Past, Looking at the Future - "said a new era started for
NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, adding newly established
states in Eastern Europe and the issues of their independence were
included in the new Strategic Concept of NATO which was prepared during
the Rome Summit in 1991." [8]
That is, even before the recently fragmented remains of the Soviet Union
could regenerate themselves, NATO had plans in place to absorb them. And
Azerbaijan was among the priorities, if not the main one.
NATO formally established ties with the country in 1992 by bringing it
into the North Atlantic Cooperation Council [the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council since 1997], the format the Alliance employs for
coordinating relations between members and various partners and
candidates.
Two years later Azerbaijan was one of the first nations to join NATO's
Partnership for Peace program that trains nations for eventual full
membership.
Challenging Post-Soviet Commonwealth Of Independent States
It was also chosen to be not only a member but the nucleus of the GUAM
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) bloc formed in 1997 to create
the basis for subsequent energy and military projects and to pull
nations away from the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) with Russia, effectively a second generation breaking up of Soviet
space. The GUAM project was an initiative of the Clinton administration
like the oil and gas Contract of the Century and its first realization,
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which were continued and
consolidated through the Bush and into the Obama presidency.
GUAM, now expanded to include Armenia and Belarus with the European
Union's Eastern Partnership, a subject explored in an earlier article in
this series [9], is a de facto mechanism for NATO integration and
membership.
A letter from US President Barack Obama was read to the opening ceremony
of the Sixteenth International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and
Conference in the Azerbaijani capital last week which included this:
"Your success is exemplified in Azerbaijan's invitation to international
investors in the mid-1990s to develop its oil and gas fields, and the
realization of the East-West Energy Corridor, including the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and South Caucasus gas pipeline." [10]
NATO's Forward Operating Base At Border of Europe And Asia
Anyone visiting the capital recently would be forgiven for thinking he
was in Brussels rather than Baku and perhaps at NATO Headquarters at
that. If the matter was not so deadly serious it might be observed that
the Azerbaijani capital resembles a gigantic NATO theme park.
Since the beginning of last month the nation has announced, hosted or
been the subject of: On May 1st a spokesman of the Defense Ministry
boasted that "thousands of Azerbaijani military men have participated in
more than 200 activities of NATO through the last year." [11]
The preceding day the Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
and the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a joint press
conference at NATO Headquarters in Belgium, where the NATO chief
informed the press that "It goes without saying that Azerbaijan is a
very important player in the region, but also beyond, as a nation which
is crucial in the very important area of energy, and energy security is
a highly valued and highly respected partner of NATO.
"[O]nly last year almost in 200 events, Azerbaijan participated in the
framework of our cooperation with NATO. We highly value this
partnership. Azerbaijan is redoubling its military presence in
Afghanistan."
The Azeri president said:
"We discussed today energy security and energy cooperation, and we
cannot consider general security of the region regardless [of] energy
security. Energy security, energy cooperation becomes more important in
today's world....So far our role was limited by the regional dimensions.
But now I think there are very good prospects for mutual cooperation on
a global scale. Our pipelines and oil and gas resource serve today's
stability and security of the region, and in the future will
serve...global energy security." [12]
On May 5th former Turkish foreign minister and current NATO senior civil
officer in Afghanistan Hikmet Cetin was in Baku and asserted "[O]ne day
Azerbaijan will be a full-fledged NATO member" and in addition "NATO is
counting on expanding its activity in the South Caucasus states by
admitting them as members." [13]
He also applauded Turkey's role in that process, affirming it "has been
playing a key role in bringing Azerbaijan`s armed forces in line with
NATO standards." [14]
The same day the US Defense Department's Deputy Assistant for European
and NATO Policy Mary Warwick arrived in the Azerbaijani capital to
attend the NATO-Azerbaijan: Assessing the Past, Looking at the Future
conference commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the nation joining
the NATO Partnership for Peace program.
A video address to the conference by NATO Secretary General Scheffer
communicated the fact that "he highly appreciated Azerbaijan's
participation in the ISAF program in Afghanistan" and quoted him saying
"We are working with Azerbaijan as a reliable partner in the field of
regional security." [15]
Azerbaijan General Major and Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations
Etibar Mirzayev used the occasion to state "We want some NATO exercises
to be held in Azerbaijan," and elaborated by saying "We propose to hold
some NATO exercises in Azerbaijan. Sea rescue, oil pipelines security
and other exercises can be held in Azerbaijan." [16]
On May 12th Robert Pszczel, NATO's Deputy Press Secretary, said that
"Azerbaijan is one of the most active participants in military
exercises" and "There is a bright future in co-operation between
Azerbaijan and NATO. A number of issues, particularly the country's role
as a main energy exporter, bear huge importance...." [17]
The same day the Romanian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Nikolai Ureki, whose
country has been tasked by the Alliance to be the main liaison for the
country's NATO integration, stated that "Azerbaijan's strategic location
may be beneficial for NATO in case of it joining the alliance" at the
European Security and NATO conference, adding "One of the advantages is
the country's strategic location on the South Caucasus, as an important
transit route." [18]
The following day Azerbaijan`s Defense Industry Minister Yavar Jamalov
hosted former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Efraim Sneh and the two
"discussed prospects for boosting military cooperation between the two
countries." [19]
Azerbaijan-Israel-NATO Connection: Armenia And Iran Targeted
Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected in Azerbaijan on June 28 to
consolidate energy and military ties with Baku, much as Tel Aviv has
done with Azerbaijan's neighbor, Georgia, modeling both relationships
after those with Turkey.
Last September Israel concluded a weapons deal with Azerbaijan worth
hundreds of millions of dollars.
"According to agreements signed by the Defense Ministry and the
government of Azerbaijan, which borders on Iran, Israel will sell the
southern Caucasus state ammunition, mortars and radio equipment.
"Foreign news outlets have reported that the two countries maintain
intelligence and security contacts. The bolstering of these ties has
reportedly been achieved by former Mossad agent Michael Ross."
And on the other end of the Caspian Sea, "Israeli companies have also
recently signed deals worth tens of millions of dollars with
Kazakhstan." [20]
An Azeri press agency revealed that military cooperation with Israel was
no new phenomenon as "Israel was supplying weapons to Baku in the period
of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh" and "US sources stated at different
times that Mossad helped Azerbaijani special services" and "that Israeli
points of radioelectronic reconnaissance are set on the
Azerbaijani-Iranian border." [21]
The above developments alarmed Armenia, still at conflict with its
neighbor over Nagorno Karabakh. In an article of last October, shortly
after the five-day war between Georgia and Russia in the South Caucasus,
called "Israel selling weapons to Azerbaijan fuels possibility of new
war," an Armenian website wrote that "A dangerous pattern is emerging in
the Caucasus with new reports that Israel is continuing to sell advanced
military armaments to Azerbaijan, costing hundreds of millions of
dollars."
The above feature quotes a former chairman of the Armenian Assembly of
America as saying, "They [the Israelis] sell these arms at a time when
Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, has repeatedly threatened to
recapture Nagorno Karabakh by military force." [22]
At the fifteenth anniversary NATO conference in Azerbaijan early in May
Turkey's Hikmet Cetin said of the lingering Nagorno Karabakh conflict:
"I think not only the Minsk Group, but the USA, Turkey and Russia, as
well as NATO can reach [a] solution to the problem.
"NATO has larger opportunities and therefore I consider that NATO should
be involved in the process." [23]
Azerbaijan and the West: Strategic Partnership At Eurasia`s Crossroads
On May 14 the US think tank the Jamestown Foundation hosted a conference
in Washington called Azerbaijan and the West: Strategic Partnership at
Eurasia`s Crossroads at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Speakers included former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
European and NATO Policy Daniel Fata, now with the Cohen Group of second
term Clinton administration Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
A few days later it was announced that Azerbaijani troops would
participate in several NATO Partnership for Peace military trainings
including in fellow GUAM state Ukraine where they would be given a "tour
to the military facilities in Simferopol and Sevastopol." The two cities
are in the Crimea where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based. [24]
In a May 19th report called "Azerbaijani, US militaries hold joint
events" a local news source noted that "The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry
is holding joint military events with the United States in Baku...in
accordance with the bilateral cooperation plan signed between Azerbaijan
and the United States," and that "a business meeting is being held on
May 18-22 to support the implementation of the Strategic Defense Review
and development of final documents." [25]
To demonstrate how thoroughly NATO's efforts are to infiltrate every
aspect of the country's existence, two days later "NATO's representative
in Azerbaijan's Romanian embassy and the NATO International School in
Azerbaijan (NISA) organized a roundtable on the theme NATO and
Azerbaijani youth." [26]
On the same day it was reported that NATO Supreme Allied Commander and
the US European Command chief General Bantz John Craddock met with
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on the topic of
"implementing fruitful bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the
USA." [27]
In the same visit to the capital of Azerbaijan Craddock also met with
the country's Defense Minister Safar Abiyev and "hailed Azerbaijan`s
contribution to the international security system and peacekeeping
operations in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan." [28]
Early this month Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov was
in Brussels to attend the Azerbaijan's European and Euro-Atlantic
Integration - Trends and Future Prospects conference which was addressed
by Assistant Secretary General of NATO Jean-Francois Bureau, Permanent
Representative of Romania to NATO Sorin Ducaru and Deputy Director of
the International Military Staff of NATO Maj. Gen. Georges Lebel.
For whatever the distinction is worth, the meeting was nominally under
European Union auspices.
At the same time the Pentagon was conducting a workshop in Baku in
conjunction with the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry as part of bilateral
military agreements.
First Full NATO Member In Caucasus: "Azerbaijan Is NATO's Strategic
Point In The South Caucasus"
On June 4th the George Soros Open Society Institute's EurasiaNet website
ran an article entitled "Azerbaijan: Baku Can Leapfrog Over Ukraine,
Georgia For NATO Membership" and included the claim that "A senior
source within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Joint Force
Command has told EurasiaNet that Azerbaijan stands a better chance of
gaining NATO membership in the near future than either Georgia or
Ukraine."
The feature went on to say that "'Earlier, the perception in both
Brussels [North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] headquarters] and
Baku was that Georgia should integrate into NATO first and Azerbaijan
should follow,' the source said. 'However, the situation has changed and
it might be that in the year to come Azerbaijan will become the
frontrunner. Baku may enter NATO earlier than Ukraine and Georgia.'
"If Azerbaijan opted to petition for NATO accession, 'no one could stop
it,' he continued. 'And if NATO will decide to accept Azerbaijan, Russia
would hardly be able to hold it back.'" [29]
The same report concluded by adding: "A NATO diplomatic source, who did
not want to be named, said some key officials at NATO headquarters in
Brussels were pushing hard for engaging Azerbaijan on the membership
question. 'Turkey, Romania, Italy, Poland, [the] UK and [the] Baltic
states,' are among the member-states also backing a fast track for
Azerbaijan's NATO membership, the diplomatic source said."
Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan and official NATO point man for the
country Nikolae Ureke, also pointing out the nation's strategic location
("The case for Azerbaijan comes down to geography and energy"), is
quoted as saying that "Azerbaijan is NATO's strategic point in the South
Caucasus." [30]
Today, June 10, Azerbaijan begin hosting its annual NATO week in Baku,
actually a seventeen day "series of workshops, conferences and working
meetings" including a "conference on the Role of Armed Forces and
Law-Enforcement Organizations in Cooperation between NATO and
Azerbaijan."
NATO's Partnership for Peace liaison officer for the South Caucasus,
Poland's Colonel Zbigniew Rybacki, flew in for the events. [31]
Yesterday the Azeri press announced that the nation was working on fifty
NATO partnership projects and on the second phase of its NATO Individual
Membership Action Plan. [32]
Also in attendance, Romania's Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs
Bogdan Aurescu assured the host government that the "alliance's doors
are open for the country," [33]
On June 9, a day before the official opening of the extended NATO Week
in Baku, Aurescu also delivered "a speech on the role of NATO in the
21st century at the NATO International School in Azerbaijan."
Today he was a speaker at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council seminar
Energy Security: Challenges and Opportunities, also held in the
Azerbaijani capital. [34]
Tomorrow the new US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs, Philip Gordon, will arrive as part of a three day
visit to the South Caucasus. While in Azerbaijan Gordon, former Senior
Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director for European Affairs at
the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, "will
discuss US-Azerbaijan cooperation on energy matters and security." [35]
It was also reported today that on June 16-19 another conference, one
billed as The Role of Reforms in Azerbaijani Law-Enforcement Bodies and
Armed Forces in the Integration into the Euro Atlantic space," will be
conducted and that "The conference will be held with the support of NATO
and the Turkish embassy in Azerbaijan. NATO Liaison Officer in the South
Caucasus region Zbigniew Rybacki will also attend the conference." [36]
Romanian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs
Aurescu was quoted again today, this time stating:
"Energy security must be reflected in the coming NATO documents. Romania
see NATO's role in support of regional initiatives and beginnings.
Diversification of energy resources is a peculiar bridge which links
Europe with the Caspian region." [37]
US Energy And Geopolitical Objectives Converge
The efforts by the State Department's Philip Gordon will be joined with
those of the new US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy and Caspian Basin
"energy diplomacy," Richard Morningstar, who was in the Azerbaijani
capital on June 1-3 for the Caspian Oil and Gas international exhibition
and conference.
While there Morningstar said, "Delivering its gas to Europe via the
Southern Corridor, Azerbaijan will be able to establish strong
relationships with the West," and "We are ready to assist Azerbaijan in
the delivery of hydrocarbons to markets." [38]
"Morningstar's remarks echoed a consistent theme of Washington's since
the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent development of
the Caspian's hydrocarbon resources: that oil should move westwards
along a Western-built and dominated energy corridor, bypassing both
Russia and Iran." [39]
He had traveled to fellow oil-rich Caspian nation Turkmenistan before
arriving in Baku and left for Turkey afterward. While still in Baku
Morningstar said, "These projects are very important in terms of
diversification of energy sources and strategy. These projects will have
a positive influence not only on Azerbaijan, but also on Turkmenistan
and Iraq...."
When asked about Iran, a far more sensible supplier of and transit
nation for Caspian hydrocarbons, he said, "Iran continues violating the
international commitments and posing a threat to peace and stability.
Under these circumstances, it is too early for this country to realize
its gas resources within any project...." [40]
Threat To Iran
US and NATO forces are stationed in and have airbases or access to them
in three nations that border Iran - Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan - and
nearby in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria and Romania
and Washington's and Brussels' military integration of Azerbaijan will
add to the encirclement of the country. In addition, ethnic Azeris are
the largest minority group in Iran, estimated to constitute 15-18% of
the nation's population, and Azerbaijan could be used to foment
separatist violence after the Yugoslav model, possibly in unison with a
"velvet" or "color" uprising scenario as the national presidential
election occurs in less than two days.
NATO's role in expanding into the South Caucasus and in building a
string of military bases from the Balkans to Central Asia have been
dealt with in previous articles [41,42].
This past March the Pentagon's US European Command (EUCOM), whose
commander is also NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, announced that it
"will continue the Caspian Regional Maritime Security Cooperation
Program with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in 2009....The United States is
planning to continue its efforts toward the coordination between the
navies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan within the program." [43]
Not identified as such, the Pentagon's plan to project military presence
into the Caspian Sea Basin is a continuation of the Caspian Guard
initiative of the first George W. Bush administration's Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who launched the program in 2003 and by 2005
had allotted over $100 million dollars for it.
US naval forces in the Caspian Sea, even if initially as advisers, are
the equivalent of Russia and Iran signing an agreement with Canada to
deploy military vessels in the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes,
the American response to which wouldn't be long in coming and wouldn't
be pacific.
Eurasian Heartland And Plans For Global Domination
Azerbaijan lies at the very center of what 20th Century British
geographer Halford Mackinder named the Heartland - Eurasia from Eastern
Europe to China - control over which would guarantee domination of what
he termed the World Island (Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East), which
in turn would allow for control of the entire world.
It is also in the middle of what the contemporary adaptation of
Mackinder's model by the Russophobe and self-styled geostrategist
Zbigniew Brzezinski refers to as the Eurasian Balkans.
Perhaps never before in modern history has such a small country as
Azerbaijan been poised to play such a large role in the grand schemes of
major powers.
NOTES
1) PanArmenian.net, May 6, 2009
2) Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2009
3) Trend News Agency, July 24, 2008
4) Xinhua News Agency, May 9, 2009
5) BBC News, May 17, 2009
6) AzerTag, May 6, 2009
7) New Europe, May 31, 2009
8) AzerTag, May 6, 2009
9) Stop NATO, February 13, 2009
Eastern Partnership: West's Final Assault On Former Soviet Union
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/373 02
10) Today.az, June 2, 2009
11) Today.az, May 1, 2009
12) NATO International, April 30, 2009
13) Azerbaijan Business Center, May 5, 2009
14) AzerTag, May 6, 2009
15) Azeri Press Agency, May 5, 2009
16) Today.az. May 6, 2009
17) Today.az, May 12, 2009
18) Trend News Agency, May 12, 2009
19) AzerTag, May 13, 2009
20) Ha'aretz, September 26, 2008
21) Today.az, September 26, 2008
22) PanArmenian.net, October 16, 2008
23) Azeri Press Agency, May 7, 2009
24) Azeri Press Agency, May 19, 2009
25) Trend News Agency, May 19, 2009
26) Azeri Press Agency, May 21, 2009
27) Trend News Agency, May 21, 2009
28) AzerTag, May 21, 2009
29) EurasiaNet, June 4, 2009
30) Ibid
31) Azeri Press Agency, June 5, 2009
32) Trend News Agency, June 9, 2009
33) Trend News Agency, June 9, 2009
34) Azeri Press Agency, June 8, 2009
35) Azeri Press Agency, June 10, 2009
36) Azeri Press Agency, June 10, 2009
37) Trend News Agency, June 10, 2009
38) Trend News Agency, June 1, 2009
39) United Press International, June 3, 2009
40) Azeri Press Agency, June 2, 2009
41) Stop NATO, April 7, 2009
Eurasian Crossroads: The Caucasus In US-NATO War Plans
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/385 51
42) Stop NATO, March 4, 2009
Mr. Simmons' Mission: NATO Bases From Balkans To Chinese Border
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/376 72
43) Azeri Press Agency, March 11, 2009
Global Research Articles by Rick Rozoff
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?co ntext=viewArticle&code=ROZ20090611&article Id=13938
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Azerbaijan And The Caspian
by Rick Rozoff
Global Research, June 11, 2009
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Welcoming Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to Foggy
Bottom in early May of this year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
could think of nothing more original to say than "Azerbaijan has a very
strategic location that is one important not only to their country, but
really, regionally and globally...." [1]
But what Clinton's effusion lacked in originality it compensated for in
accuracy. Azerbaijan is as strategically situated as any nation in the
world within the current contest between Western plans for global
military domination and control of energy resources and contrasting
efforts by other nations to secure a peaceful and multipolar
international order.
The nation of only slightly more than eight million people is nestled in
the far southeast corner of the Caucasus on the coast of the Caspian
Sea, bordering all the other Caucasus nations - Armenia, Georgia and
Russia - on its northern and western borders and Iran on its southern
one.
Even more than Turkey, Azerbaijan is that nation which links Europe with
Asia and, neighboring Iran, also connects Eurasia with the Middle East
and the Persian Gulf.
Strategic Energy Projects Of The 21st Century
The nation is also the linchpin in several Western oil and natural gas
transit projects comprising what the US White House calls the East-West
Energy Corridor - the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline (delivering
high-grade crude from Azerbaijan's Caspian offshore
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields to Turkey's deepwater Mediterranean
terminal at Ceyhan), the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and the Nabucco/Southern
Corridor natural gas pipelines - which in turn are linked with several
extensions running from and to three continents as well as the Middle
East.
These include transporting oil (and natural gas) from Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan on the eastern shores of the Caspian to Azerbaijan - either
by ship or under the sea - then to Georgia and Turkey, where one route
will ship oil from the Black Sea coast of Georgia to the Ukrainian port
city of Odessa and from there via pipeline to Brody and into Poland to
Plock and then Gdansk on the Baltic Sea for further transport to Germany
and the rest of Europe.
Other branches of this vast transcontinental energy transport project
include those carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas
field to Europe through the "Interconnector pipeline linking Turkey to
Italy via Greece and the White Stream, which would run from Georgia to
Romania across [or under] the Black Sea," [2] and the proposed shipping
of oil from Ceyhan in Turkey to the Israeli Mediterranean port city of
Ashkelon and from there by pipeline to the Red Sea port of Eilat where
it can be shipped on tankers across the Indian Ocean to East Asia. Last
year it was announced that "the pipeline company Ashkelon-Eylat [Eilat]
initiated a channel for transportation of oil from the Turkish Ceyhan
port to East Asia by using Israel's infrastructure." [3]
The last-named presents the eventual prospect of oil emanating from as
far east as Kazakhstan, which borders China, being shipped across the
Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, then through the South Caucasus to Turkey,
from there down the Mediterranean coast to Israel, and later shipped
through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and back to East Asia.
During the European Union summit in Prague on May 7 of this year it was
announced that the Nabucco gas pipeline - planned to transport natural
gas from Erzurum, Turkey, where the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey gas
pipeline ends, to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary - would be
fed by natural gas from Northern Iraq through Turkey and from Egypt.
"After meeting with EU officials, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia and Turkey
signed a joint declaration on the Southern Corridor [Nabucco] that
involves countries from Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, Mashreq
[Jordan, Lebanon, Syria] and the Middle East." [4]
"[Iraqi] supplies will be sufficient to feed the long-planned Nabucco
pipeline, which proposes pumping gas to Austria via Turkey.
"The pipeline would reduce Europe's dependency on gas from Russia.
"Iraq has the world's tenth-largest gas reserves, and the world's third
largest supply of crude oil.
"A consortium of oil companies plans to revive a project to supply
Europe with gas from northern Iraq." [5]
Azerbaijan: Central Link In Extended Chain
At the very center of this unprecedentedly wide-ranging energy transit
nexus is a small country with a population only slightly larger than
that of New York City, Azerbaijan.
And Azerbaijan is neither solely a transit state like Georgia and Turkey
nor only an exporting nation like Kazakhstan, Iraq and Egypt, but both
an oil- and natural gas-producing country and the very hub of a
transportation network whose spokes reach out in almost all directions.
All, that is, except for Russia and Iran, both neighboring Azerbaijan,
which are deliberately circumvented in the energy routes listed above.
And without Azerbaijan's participation various Western trans-Caspian and
trans-Eurasian energy, transportation and military projects would have
no central and unifying base.
Before Cold War Was Even Cold: NATO's Designs On Former Soviet Space
The foundation of Western plans for Azerbaijan's role in not only
regional but ultimately global energy strategies began immediately after
the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the creation of the Republic
of Azerbaijan in the same year. After three and a half years of
negotiations the so-called Contract of the Century was signed in the
capital of Baku in 1994 with British Petroleum and other foreign oil
companies including the American Amoco, Pennzoil, UNOCAL, McDermott and
Delta Nimir firms.
The pivotal Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project was agreed upon in
1998 and went into effect in 2006.
In March of this year the Azerbaijani government announced that its
military expenditures had increased 9.7 times - almost 1,000% - over the
past five years. Neighboring nation and fellow NATO outpost Georgia has
registered a similar increase in the same period. In both cases income
from oil and natural gas export and transport played a large role in
funding this monumental percentage increase. Oil for war.
In this morning's Azerbaijan press the head of NATO's Defense and
Security Economics Directorate, Michael Gaul, is quoted as saying that
"NATO realizes the whole importance of the Nabucco project and backs
Azerbaijan."
The same source added that "NATO can render assistance in provision of
pipeline security." [6]
Ten days earlier the Russian ambassador to Brussels Vladimir Chizov
warned "that Moscow is skeptical about any possible involvement of NATO"
in arrogating to itself the right to police oil and gas pipelines and
other means of transit from the Caspian. [7]
On May 6th Azerbaijan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Araz Azimov -
addressing a conference in his nation's capital called NATO-Azerbaijan:
Assessing the Past, Looking at the Future - "said a new era started for
NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, adding newly established
states in Eastern Europe and the issues of their independence were
included in the new Strategic Concept of NATO which was prepared during
the Rome Summit in 1991." [8]
That is, even before the recently fragmented remains of the Soviet Union
could regenerate themselves, NATO had plans in place to absorb them. And
Azerbaijan was among the priorities, if not the main one.
NATO formally established ties with the country in 1992 by bringing it
into the North Atlantic Cooperation Council [the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council since 1997], the format the Alliance employs for
coordinating relations between members and various partners and
candidates.
Two years later Azerbaijan was one of the first nations to join NATO's
Partnership for Peace program that trains nations for eventual full
membership.
Challenging Post-Soviet Commonwealth Of Independent States
It was also chosen to be not only a member but the nucleus of the GUAM
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) bloc formed in 1997 to create
the basis for subsequent energy and military projects and to pull
nations away from the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) with Russia, effectively a second generation breaking up of Soviet
space. The GUAM project was an initiative of the Clinton administration
like the oil and gas Contract of the Century and its first realization,
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which were continued and
consolidated through the Bush and into the Obama presidency.
GUAM, now expanded to include Armenia and Belarus with the European
Union's Eastern Partnership, a subject explored in an earlier article in
this series [9], is a de facto mechanism for NATO integration and
membership.
A letter from US President Barack Obama was read to the opening ceremony
of the Sixteenth International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and
Conference in the Azerbaijani capital last week which included this:
"Your success is exemplified in Azerbaijan's invitation to international
investors in the mid-1990s to develop its oil and gas fields, and the
realization of the East-West Energy Corridor, including the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and South Caucasus gas pipeline." [10]
NATO's Forward Operating Base At Border of Europe And Asia
Anyone visiting the capital recently would be forgiven for thinking he
was in Brussels rather than Baku and perhaps at NATO Headquarters at
that. If the matter was not so deadly serious it might be observed that
the Azerbaijani capital resembles a gigantic NATO theme park.
Since the beginning of last month the nation has announced, hosted or
been the subject of: On May 1st a spokesman of the Defense Ministry
boasted that "thousands of Azerbaijani military men have participated in
more than 200 activities of NATO through the last year." [11]
The preceding day the Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
and the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a joint press
conference at NATO Headquarters in Belgium, where the NATO chief
informed the press that "It goes without saying that Azerbaijan is a
very important player in the region, but also beyond, as a nation which
is crucial in the very important area of energy, and energy security is
a highly valued and highly respected partner of NATO.
"[O]nly last year almost in 200 events, Azerbaijan participated in the
framework of our cooperation with NATO. We highly value this
partnership. Azerbaijan is redoubling its military presence in
Afghanistan."
The Azeri president said:
"We discussed today energy security and energy cooperation, and we
cannot consider general security of the region regardless [of] energy
security. Energy security, energy cooperation becomes more important in
today's world....So far our role was limited by the regional dimensions.
But now I think there are very good prospects for mutual cooperation on
a global scale. Our pipelines and oil and gas resource serve today's
stability and security of the region, and in the future will
serve...global energy security." [12]
On May 5th former Turkish foreign minister and current NATO senior civil
officer in Afghanistan Hikmet Cetin was in Baku and asserted "[O]ne day
Azerbaijan will be a full-fledged NATO member" and in addition "NATO is
counting on expanding its activity in the South Caucasus states by
admitting them as members." [13]
He also applauded Turkey's role in that process, affirming it "has been
playing a key role in bringing Azerbaijan`s armed forces in line with
NATO standards." [14]
The same day the US Defense Department's Deputy Assistant for European
and NATO Policy Mary Warwick arrived in the Azerbaijani capital to
attend the NATO-Azerbaijan: Assessing the Past, Looking at the Future
conference commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the nation joining
the NATO Partnership for Peace program.
A video address to the conference by NATO Secretary General Scheffer
communicated the fact that "he highly appreciated Azerbaijan's
participation in the ISAF program in Afghanistan" and quoted him saying
"We are working with Azerbaijan as a reliable partner in the field of
regional security." [15]
Azerbaijan General Major and Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations
Etibar Mirzayev used the occasion to state "We want some NATO exercises
to be held in Azerbaijan," and elaborated by saying "We propose to hold
some NATO exercises in Azerbaijan. Sea rescue, oil pipelines security
and other exercises can be held in Azerbaijan." [16]
On May 12th Robert Pszczel, NATO's Deputy Press Secretary, said that
"Azerbaijan is one of the most active participants in military
exercises" and "There is a bright future in co-operation between
Azerbaijan and NATO. A number of issues, particularly the country's role
as a main energy exporter, bear huge importance...." [17]
The same day the Romanian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Nikolai Ureki, whose
country has been tasked by the Alliance to be the main liaison for the
country's NATO integration, stated that "Azerbaijan's strategic location
may be beneficial for NATO in case of it joining the alliance" at the
European Security and NATO conference, adding "One of the advantages is
the country's strategic location on the South Caucasus, as an important
transit route." [18]
The following day Azerbaijan`s Defense Industry Minister Yavar Jamalov
hosted former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Efraim Sneh and the two
"discussed prospects for boosting military cooperation between the two
countries." [19]
Azerbaijan-Israel-NATO Connection: Armenia And Iran Targeted
Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected in Azerbaijan on June 28 to
consolidate energy and military ties with Baku, much as Tel Aviv has
done with Azerbaijan's neighbor, Georgia, modeling both relationships
after those with Turkey.
Last September Israel concluded a weapons deal with Azerbaijan worth
hundreds of millions of dollars.
"According to agreements signed by the Defense Ministry and the
government of Azerbaijan, which borders on Iran, Israel will sell the
southern Caucasus state ammunition, mortars and radio equipment.
"Foreign news outlets have reported that the two countries maintain
intelligence and security contacts. The bolstering of these ties has
reportedly been achieved by former Mossad agent Michael Ross."
And on the other end of the Caspian Sea, "Israeli companies have also
recently signed deals worth tens of millions of dollars with
Kazakhstan." [20]
An Azeri press agency revealed that military cooperation with Israel was
no new phenomenon as "Israel was supplying weapons to Baku in the period
of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh" and "US sources stated at different
times that Mossad helped Azerbaijani special services" and "that Israeli
points of radioelectronic reconnaissance are set on the
Azerbaijani-Iranian border." [21]
The above developments alarmed Armenia, still at conflict with its
neighbor over Nagorno Karabakh. In an article of last October, shortly
after the five-day war between Georgia and Russia in the South Caucasus,
called "Israel selling weapons to Azerbaijan fuels possibility of new
war," an Armenian website wrote that "A dangerous pattern is emerging in
the Caucasus with new reports that Israel is continuing to sell advanced
military armaments to Azerbaijan, costing hundreds of millions of
dollars."
The above feature quotes a former chairman of the Armenian Assembly of
America as saying, "They [the Israelis] sell these arms at a time when
Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, has repeatedly threatened to
recapture Nagorno Karabakh by military force." [22]
At the fifteenth anniversary NATO conference in Azerbaijan early in May
Turkey's Hikmet Cetin said of the lingering Nagorno Karabakh conflict:
"I think not only the Minsk Group, but the USA, Turkey and Russia, as
well as NATO can reach [a] solution to the problem.
"NATO has larger opportunities and therefore I consider that NATO should
be involved in the process." [23]
Azerbaijan and the West: Strategic Partnership At Eurasia`s Crossroads
On May 14 the US think tank the Jamestown Foundation hosted a conference
in Washington called Azerbaijan and the West: Strategic Partnership at
Eurasia`s Crossroads at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Speakers included former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
European and NATO Policy Daniel Fata, now with the Cohen Group of second
term Clinton administration Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
A few days later it was announced that Azerbaijani troops would
participate in several NATO Partnership for Peace military trainings
including in fellow GUAM state Ukraine where they would be given a "tour
to the military facilities in Simferopol and Sevastopol." The two cities
are in the Crimea where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based. [24]
In a May 19th report called "Azerbaijani, US militaries hold joint
events" a local news source noted that "The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry
is holding joint military events with the United States in Baku...in
accordance with the bilateral cooperation plan signed between Azerbaijan
and the United States," and that "a business meeting is being held on
May 18-22 to support the implementation of the Strategic Defense Review
and development of final documents." [25]
To demonstrate how thoroughly NATO's efforts are to infiltrate every
aspect of the country's existence, two days later "NATO's representative
in Azerbaijan's Romanian embassy and the NATO International School in
Azerbaijan (NISA) organized a roundtable on the theme NATO and
Azerbaijani youth." [26]
On the same day it was reported that NATO Supreme Allied Commander and
the US European Command chief General Bantz John Craddock met with
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on the topic of
"implementing fruitful bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the
USA." [27]
In the same visit to the capital of Azerbaijan Craddock also met with
the country's Defense Minister Safar Abiyev and "hailed Azerbaijan`s
contribution to the international security system and peacekeeping
operations in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan." [28]
Early this month Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov was
in Brussels to attend the Azerbaijan's European and Euro-Atlantic
Integration - Trends and Future Prospects conference which was addressed
by Assistant Secretary General of NATO Jean-Francois Bureau, Permanent
Representative of Romania to NATO Sorin Ducaru and Deputy Director of
the International Military Staff of NATO Maj. Gen. Georges Lebel.
For whatever the distinction is worth, the meeting was nominally under
European Union auspices.
At the same time the Pentagon was conducting a workshop in Baku in
conjunction with the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry as part of bilateral
military agreements.
First Full NATO Member In Caucasus: "Azerbaijan Is NATO's Strategic
Point In The South Caucasus"
On June 4th the George Soros Open Society Institute's EurasiaNet website
ran an article entitled "Azerbaijan: Baku Can Leapfrog Over Ukraine,
Georgia For NATO Membership" and included the claim that "A senior
source within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Joint Force
Command has told EurasiaNet that Azerbaijan stands a better chance of
gaining NATO membership in the near future than either Georgia or
Ukraine."
The feature went on to say that "'Earlier, the perception in both
Brussels [North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] headquarters] and
Baku was that Georgia should integrate into NATO first and Azerbaijan
should follow,' the source said. 'However, the situation has changed and
it might be that in the year to come Azerbaijan will become the
frontrunner. Baku may enter NATO earlier than Ukraine and Georgia.'
"If Azerbaijan opted to petition for NATO accession, 'no one could stop
it,' he continued. 'And if NATO will decide to accept Azerbaijan, Russia
would hardly be able to hold it back.'" [29]
The same report concluded by adding: "A NATO diplomatic source, who did
not want to be named, said some key officials at NATO headquarters in
Brussels were pushing hard for engaging Azerbaijan on the membership
question. 'Turkey, Romania, Italy, Poland, [the] UK and [the] Baltic
states,' are among the member-states also backing a fast track for
Azerbaijan's NATO membership, the diplomatic source said."
Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan and official NATO point man for the
country Nikolae Ureke, also pointing out the nation's strategic location
("The case for Azerbaijan comes down to geography and energy"), is
quoted as saying that "Azerbaijan is NATO's strategic point in the South
Caucasus." [30]
Today, June 10, Azerbaijan begin hosting its annual NATO week in Baku,
actually a seventeen day "series of workshops, conferences and working
meetings" including a "conference on the Role of Armed Forces and
Law-Enforcement Organizations in Cooperation between NATO and
Azerbaijan."
NATO's Partnership for Peace liaison officer for the South Caucasus,
Poland's Colonel Zbigniew Rybacki, flew in for the events. [31]
Yesterday the Azeri press announced that the nation was working on fifty
NATO partnership projects and on the second phase of its NATO Individual
Membership Action Plan. [32]
Also in attendance, Romania's Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs
Bogdan Aurescu assured the host government that the "alliance's doors
are open for the country," [33]
On June 9, a day before the official opening of the extended NATO Week
in Baku, Aurescu also delivered "a speech on the role of NATO in the
21st century at the NATO International School in Azerbaijan."
Today he was a speaker at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council seminar
Energy Security: Challenges and Opportunities, also held in the
Azerbaijani capital. [34]
Tomorrow the new US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs, Philip Gordon, will arrive as part of a three day
visit to the South Caucasus. While in Azerbaijan Gordon, former Senior
Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director for European Affairs at
the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, "will
discuss US-Azerbaijan cooperation on energy matters and security." [35]
It was also reported today that on June 16-19 another conference, one
billed as The Role of Reforms in Azerbaijani Law-Enforcement Bodies and
Armed Forces in the Integration into the Euro Atlantic space," will be
conducted and that "The conference will be held with the support of NATO
and the Turkish embassy in Azerbaijan. NATO Liaison Officer in the South
Caucasus region Zbigniew Rybacki will also attend the conference." [36]
Romanian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs
Aurescu was quoted again today, this time stating:
"Energy security must be reflected in the coming NATO documents. Romania
see NATO's role in support of regional initiatives and beginnings.
Diversification of energy resources is a peculiar bridge which links
Europe with the Caspian region." [37]
US Energy And Geopolitical Objectives Converge
The efforts by the State Department's Philip Gordon will be joined with
those of the new US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy and Caspian Basin
"energy diplomacy," Richard Morningstar, who was in the Azerbaijani
capital on June 1-3 for the Caspian Oil and Gas international exhibition
and conference.
While there Morningstar said, "Delivering its gas to Europe via the
Southern Corridor, Azerbaijan will be able to establish strong
relationships with the West," and "We are ready to assist Azerbaijan in
the delivery of hydrocarbons to markets." [38]
"Morningstar's remarks echoed a consistent theme of Washington's since
the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent development of
the Caspian's hydrocarbon resources: that oil should move westwards
along a Western-built and dominated energy corridor, bypassing both
Russia and Iran." [39]
He had traveled to fellow oil-rich Caspian nation Turkmenistan before
arriving in Baku and left for Turkey afterward. While still in Baku
Morningstar said, "These projects are very important in terms of
diversification of energy sources and strategy. These projects will have
a positive influence not only on Azerbaijan, but also on Turkmenistan
and Iraq...."
When asked about Iran, a far more sensible supplier of and transit
nation for Caspian hydrocarbons, he said, "Iran continues violating the
international commitments and posing a threat to peace and stability.
Under these circumstances, it is too early for this country to realize
its gas resources within any project...." [40]
Threat To Iran
US and NATO forces are stationed in and have airbases or access to them
in three nations that border Iran - Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan - and
nearby in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria and Romania
and Washington's and Brussels' military integration of Azerbaijan will
add to the encirclement of the country. In addition, ethnic Azeris are
the largest minority group in Iran, estimated to constitute 15-18% of
the nation's population, and Azerbaijan could be used to foment
separatist violence after the Yugoslav model, possibly in unison with a
"velvet" or "color" uprising scenario as the national presidential
election occurs in less than two days.
NATO's role in expanding into the South Caucasus and in building a
string of military bases from the Balkans to Central Asia have been
dealt with in previous articles [41,42].
This past March the Pentagon's US European Command (EUCOM), whose
commander is also NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, announced that it
"will continue the Caspian Regional Maritime Security Cooperation
Program with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in 2009....The United States is
planning to continue its efforts toward the coordination between the
navies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan within the program." [43]
Not identified as such, the Pentagon's plan to project military presence
into the Caspian Sea Basin is a continuation of the Caspian Guard
initiative of the first George W. Bush administration's Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who launched the program in 2003 and by 2005
had allotted over $100 million dollars for it.
US naval forces in the Caspian Sea, even if initially as advisers, are
the equivalent of Russia and Iran signing an agreement with Canada to
deploy military vessels in the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes,
the American response to which wouldn't be long in coming and wouldn't
be pacific.
Eurasian Heartland And Plans For Global Domination
Azerbaijan lies at the very center of what 20th Century British
geographer Halford Mackinder named the Heartland - Eurasia from Eastern
Europe to China - control over which would guarantee domination of what
he termed the World Island (Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East), which
in turn would allow for control of the entire world.
It is also in the middle of what the contemporary adaptation of
Mackinder's model by the Russophobe and self-styled geostrategist
Zbigniew Brzezinski refers to as the Eurasian Balkans.
Perhaps never before in modern history has such a small country as
Azerbaijan been poised to play such a large role in the grand schemes of
major powers.
NOTES
1) PanArmenian.net, May 6, 2009
2) Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2009
3) Trend News Agency, July 24, 2008
4) Xinhua News Agency, May 9, 2009
5) BBC News, May 17, 2009
6) AzerTag, May 6, 2009
7) New Europe, May 31, 2009
8) AzerTag, May 6, 2009
9) Stop NATO, February 13, 2009
Eastern Partnership: West's Final Assault On Former Soviet Union
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/373 02
10) Today.az, June 2, 2009
11) Today.az, May 1, 2009
12) NATO International, April 30, 2009
13) Azerbaijan Business Center, May 5, 2009
14) AzerTag, May 6, 2009
15) Azeri Press Agency, May 5, 2009
16) Today.az. May 6, 2009
17) Today.az, May 12, 2009
18) Trend News Agency, May 12, 2009
19) AzerTag, May 13, 2009
20) Ha'aretz, September 26, 2008
21) Today.az, September 26, 2008
22) PanArmenian.net, October 16, 2008
23) Azeri Press Agency, May 7, 2009
24) Azeri Press Agency, May 19, 2009
25) Trend News Agency, May 19, 2009
26) Azeri Press Agency, May 21, 2009
27) Trend News Agency, May 21, 2009
28) AzerTag, May 21, 2009
29) EurasiaNet, June 4, 2009
30) Ibid
31) Azeri Press Agency, June 5, 2009
32) Trend News Agency, June 9, 2009
33) Trend News Agency, June 9, 2009
34) Azeri Press Agency, June 8, 2009
35) Azeri Press Agency, June 10, 2009
36) Azeri Press Agency, June 10, 2009
37) Trend News Agency, June 10, 2009
38) Trend News Agency, June 1, 2009
39) United Press International, June 3, 2009
40) Azeri Press Agency, June 2, 2009
41) Stop NATO, April 7, 2009
Eurasian Crossroads: The Caucasus In US-NATO War Plans
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/385 51
42) Stop NATO, March 4, 2009
Mr. Simmons' Mission: NATO Bases From Balkans To Chinese Border
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/376 72
43) Azeri Press Agency, March 11, 2009
Global Research Articles by Rick Rozoff
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?co ntext=viewArticle&code=ROZ20090611&article Id=13938
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress