Frank Wietrzychowski: Pipeline To Disaster

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Frank Wietrzychowski

The flag of Absurdistan features "a sturgeon leaping up over an oil derrick against a background of red and green -- red for the blood of the Sevo martyrs and green for the color of American dollars." The titular nation in Gary Shteyngart's 2006 novel bears more than a passing resemblance to Azerbaijan, the former Soviet Republic located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. On the eastern shore, you will find Kazakhstan, home of the infamous Borat. And on the Caspian's south shore lies Iran.

In October of last year, an unannounced visit to Azerbaijan by CIA Director Michael Hayden prompted speculation concerning the real Absurdistan's strategic importance in a possible military campaign against its southern neighbor. But, Iran aside, Azerbaijan already plays a vital role in the 21st century's version of the Great Game: it is the starting point of the BTU pipeline, which transports Caspian oil, reportedly the world's third largest reserve, out of the region without going through either Iran or Russia. The pipeline runs from Baku, the Azeri capital, through Tbilisi in Georgia to Ceyhan, the Turkish port on the Mediterranean. In his book Blackwater, Jeremy Scahill reports that in 2003, under the aegis of a project known as "Caspian Guard," the United States hired Erik Prince's "civilian contractors" (aka "mercenaries"), presumably as protection for the pipeline, but also "possibly laying the groundwork for an important forward operating base for an attack against Iran."

Meanwhile, the prospect of Georgia becoming a NATO presence in the Caucasus has raised the ire of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and the ongoing dispute over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia has escalated. A Russian air raid on the Black Sea port of Poti "was followed up," according to Agence France-Presse, "with air raids on Gori, the main Georgian city closest to South Ossetia and another near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline -- the world's second longest -- which Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told Georgian television was 'miraculously' not damaged."

As if that weren't bad enough, last week an explosion hit the BTC pipeline in the Turkish province of Erzincan. The fire burned for nearly a week before being extinguished. The Kurdish separatist group PKK has claimed responsibility.

With the Blackwater Prince, Putin, and the PKK all as players, it looks like the Caspian cauldron has reached the boiling point.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION 

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