- President Bush's "crusade against the Taliban of
Afghanistan has more to do with control of the immense oil and gas resources
of the Caspian Basin than it does with "rooting out terrorism.
-
- Once again an American president from the Bush family
is leading Americans down an oil-rich Middle Eastern warpath against "enemies
of freedom and democracy.
-
- President George W. Bush, whose family is well connected
to oil and energy companies, has called for an international crusade against
Islamic terrorists, who he says hate Americans simply because we are "the
brightest beacon of freedom.
-
- The focus on religion-based terrorism serves to conceal
important aspects of the Central Asian conflict. President Bush's noble
rhetoric about fighting for justice and democracy is masking a less noble
struggle for control of an estimated $5 trillion of oil and gas resources
from the Caspian Basin.
-
- One of the material results of the elder Bush's Desert
Storm military campaign in 1991 was to secure access to the huge Rumaila
oil field of southern Iraq, which was accomplished by expanding the boundaries
of Kuwait after the war. This allowed Kuwait, a former British protectorate
where American and British oil companies are heavily invested, to double
its prewar oil output.
-
- The Trep?a mine complex in Kosovo, one of the richest
mines of Europe, was seized last year by George Soros and Bernard Kouchner,
two Jewish members of the New World Order gang who devastated Serbia.
-
- A similar geopolitical strategy, influenced by Zionist
planners, to control the valuable mineral resources of the Caspian Basin
underlies the planned aggression against Afghanistan, a Central Asian nation
that occupies a strategic position sandwiched between the Middle East,
Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
-
- Central Asia has enormous quantities of undeveloped oil
resources, including some 6.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, waiting
to be exploited. The former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
are the two major gas producers in Central Asia.
-
- Today, the only existing export routes from the area
lead through Russia. Investors in Caspian oil and gas are interested in
building alternative pipelines to Turkey and Europe, and especially to
the rapidly growing Asian markets.
-
- India, Iran, Russia, and Israel, are working on a plan
to supply oil and gas to south and southeast Asia through India but instability
in Afghanistan is "posing a great threat to this effort.
-
- Afghanistan lies squarely between Turkmenistan, home
to the world's third-largest natural gas reserves, and the lucrative markets
of the Indian subcontinent, China and Japan. A memorandum of understanding
has been signed to build a 900-mile natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan
to Pakistan via Afghanistan, but the ongoing civil war and absence of a
stable government in Afghanistan have prevented the project from going
forward.
-
- Afghanistan was at the center of the so-called "Great
Game in the 19th century when Imperial Russia and the British Empire in
India vied for influence. Today, its geographical position as a potential
transit route for oil and natural gas pipelines, makes Afghanistan an extremely
important piece of a global strategy by energy magnates to obtain control
over these precious resources.
-
- Enron, a Texas-based gas and energy company, together
with Amoco, British Petroleum, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil and Unocal are all
engaged in a multi-billion dollar frenzy to extract the reserves of Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, the three newly independent Soviet republics
that border on the Caspian Sea.
-
- On behalf of the oil companies, an array of former cabinet
members from the elder Bush administration have been actively involved
in negotiations with the former Soviet republics. The dealmakers include
James Baker, Brent Scowcroft, Dick Cheney, and John Sununu.
-
- Turkmenistan and Azerbijan are also both closely allied
with Israeli commercial interests and Israeli military intelligence. In
Turkmenistan, a "former Israeli intelligence agent, Yosef A. Maiman,
president of Merhav Group of Israel, is the official negotiator and policy
maker responsible for developing the energy resources of Turkmenistan.
-
- "This is the Great Game all over, Maiman told The
Wall Street Journal about his role in furthering the "geopolitical
goals of both the U.S. and Israel in Central Asia. "We are doing what
U.S. and Israeli policy could not achieve, he said, "Controlling the
transport route is controlling the product.
-
- "Those that control the oil routes out of Central
Asia will impact all future direction and quantities of flow and the distribution
of revenues from new production, said energy expert James Dorian recently
in Oil & Gas Journal on September 10.
-
- Foreign business in Turkmenistan is dominated by Maiman's
Merhav Group, according to The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
(WRMEA). Maiman, who was made a citizen of Turkmenistan by presidential
decree, serves as Turkmenistan's "official negotiator for its gas
pipeline, special ambassador, and "right-hand man for the "authoritarian
President Saparmurad Atayevich Niyazov, a former Politburo member of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
-
- The Merhav Group of Israel officially represents the
Turkmen government and has brokered all of the energy projects in Turkmenistan,
contracts worth many billions of dollars.
-
- Merhav has been contracted to modernize existing natural
gas infrastructure and will build new facilities in an oil refinery in
the city of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea. Merhav refuses to disclose
its sources of financing.
-
- In keeping with Israeli political interests, Maiman's
planned pipelines bypass Iran and Russia. Maiman has said that he would
have no objection to dealing with Iran, "when and if Israeli policy
allows it.
-
- Iran has accused the U.S. of trying to keep regional
pipelines from passing through Iran. Creating a counterbalance to Iran's
regional influence was a cornerstone of the Clinton administration, which
was concerned that Iran could gain too much control over Caspian exports.
-
- "This is a common interest for the U.S. and Israel,
said Dr. Nimrod Novik, vice president of Merhav, "The primary interest
is to prevent the development of Turkish strategic dependence on Iran,
given the unique emerging strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel.
-
- Russia and Turkmenistan are in a battle to conquer the
Turkish gas market, the supplier that offers the best price for its gas
will emerge as the winner. "This is a great race, Maiman says, "Whoever
takes Turkey first wins. Whoever comes second will have lean years.
-
- Although the U.S. needs Russian assistance in its campaign
against Afghanistan, when AFP asked Alex Chorine of Caspian Investor what
kind of relationship existed between the Russian and Western/Israeli energy
companies doing business in the Caspian Basin, Chorine said, "They
act as enemies.
-
- One of Maiman's proposed pipelines would bring Turkmenistan's
gas and oil to Turkey via Azerbaijan and Georgia. Maiman's Merhav Group
is also involved in a $100 million project that would reduce the flow of
water to Iraq by diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to
southeastern Turkey.
-
- Israeli officials boast of having "excellent relations
with Azerbaijan, where an Israeli company, Magal Security Systems, has
a contract to provide security at Baku airport. Magal is one of several
Israeli companies that will "turn Israel into a major player in Azerbaijan
by providing security for the 1,200 mile pipeline taking oil from the Caspian
to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
-
- Enron, the biggest contributor to the Bush campaign of
2000, conducted the feasibility study for a $2.5 billion Trans-Caspian
gas pipeline, which is being built under a joint venture agreement signed
in February 1999 between Turkmenistan and two American companies, Bechtel
and General Electric Capital Services. Maiman acted as the intermediary
between the Turkmenis and the U.S. firms, but won,t discuss "his cut
or whether he will receive a stake in the pipeline.
-
- The Merhav Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm,
Cassidy & Associates, and spent several million dollars to "encourage
U.S. officials to push for the Trans-Caspian pipeline. During the Clinton
administration, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and "special adviser
to the president, Richard Morningstar promoted the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline,
calling it "critical to the economic survival of Turkmenistan.
-
- The relationship between Israel, Turkey, and the U.S.
is the major factor for the selection of the Baku-Ceyhan route, which could
be extended to bring oil directly to energy deficient Israel, however,
energy experts question the wisdom and cost of this route. Companies are
under pressure from the U.S. and Israel to invest in east-west pipelines,
although most companies would prefer cheaper north-south pipelines through
Iran, according to WRMEA.
-
- The U.S. firm Unocal was leading a pipeline project to
bring Turkmenistan's abundant natural gas through Afghanistan to the growing
markets of Pakistan and India, until the turmoil in Afghanistan led them
to withdraw from the project in 1998. The planned pipeline would carry
gas from the Turkmen Dauletabad fields, among the world's largest, to Multan
in Pakistan, with a planned extension to India. The line from Dauletabad
through Afghanistan is planned to transport 15 billion cubic feet of gas
per year for 30 years. This pipeline is on hold until the political and
military situations in Afghanistan improve.
-
- There is a second Unocal project to build a 1,030 mile
oil pipeline called the Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project, which would
start at Chardzhou in Turkmenistan linking Russia's Siberian oil field
pipelines to Pakistan's Arabian coast. This line could transport 1 million
barrels a day of oil from other areas of the Former Soviet Union. It would
run parallel to the gas line route through Afghanistan and branch off in
Pakistan to the Indian Ocean terminal in Ras Malan.
-
- ISRAEL's SOVIET DICTATORS IN CENTRAL ASIA
-
- Niyazov, the authoritarian president of the Turkmen Soviet
Socialist Republic was elected in 1990, and remained in power when Turkmenistan
declared independence in October 1991. In May 1992, Niyazov oversaw the
passage of a new constitution giving the president extraordinary powers.
-
- Under the new constitution, the president is head of
government as well as head of state, and can appoint a prime minister at
any time. The president can also appoint and remove all judges.
-
- Niyazov's leadership became increasingly authoritarian
during the 1990s. In September 1993 he defended his policy of tight censorship
of the press as a prerequisite for stability and peace in the country.
In a referendum held in January 1994, nearly 100 percent of the voters
endorsed Niyazov's leadership, allowing him to extend his presidency until
2002.
-
- Niyazov renamed himself Turkmenbashi (father of the Turkmen)
and presents himself as a prophet and messiah. Every morning, state radio
and television (no independent broadcasters exist) transmit the words of
a prayer that includes an oath of allegiance to the president along with
the traditional appeal to Allah.
-
- Like Turkmenistan, the other Central Asian nations of
Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are all ruled by former
Communists who came to power under the Soviet system. All five have been
re-elected to their posts without opposition, garnering over 90 percent
of the votes and securing comfortable lives in the national palaces.
-
- In each of the Central Asian countries a strange and
officially imposed dichotomy between "official" and "unofficial"
Islam has appeared. Official Islam refers to religious institutions under
the control of the state authorities. Unofficial Islam includes all other
Muslims, especially those who believe that Islam cannot be controlled by
the state power. They are accused of being extremists.
-
- The strength of Islamic fundamentalist movements like
the Taliban in Afghanistan and the anti-Russian Chechen rebels threatens
the Soviet style dictatorships and their control of the region's immense
mineral wealth.
-
- FOCUS ON AFGHANISTAN
-
- Before the sun had set on the apocalyptic day that New
York's gleaming twin towers collapsed, the U.S. government had already
determined to affix the blame for the kamikaze attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon on Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born guerilla leader,
and the Taliban government of Afghanistan which harbored him.
-
- Although the U.S. government did not present its evidence
in support of its case against bin Laden, Secretary of State Colin Powell
said on September 23, "I think in the near future, we will be able
to put out a paper, a document, that will describe quite clearly the evidence
that we have linking him to this attack.
-
- When it was reported that the Taliban might turn bin
Laden over to face justice, the Bush administration said that surrendering
bin Laden would not prevent an American-led attack on Afghanistan.
-
- An international plan to remove the fundamentalist Islamic
Taliban from power has been a subject of international diplomatic discussions
for months and was reportedly raised by India during the Group of Eight
summit in July in Genoa, Italy.
-
- The Indian press reported in June that, "India and
Iran will facilitate, U.S. and Russian plans for limited military action,
against the Taliban if the contemplated tough new economic sanctions don,t
bend Afghanistan's fundamentalist regime.
-
- The invasion plans described in the Indian press in June
may come to pass in October: "Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will lead
the ground attack with a strong military back up of the U.S. and Russia.
Vital Taliban installations and military assets will be targeted.
-
- The economic reasons for the multi-national assault against
the Taliban were explained: "Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and
Turkmenistan are threatened by the Taliban that is aiming to control their
vast oil, gas, and other resources by bringing Islamic fundamentalists
into power.
-
- What was not explained in the Indian press is how these
four predominantly Islamic Central Asian nations would be "threatened
by having "Islamic fundamentalists in power.
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- American Free Press.net 1 888 699-NEWS
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