Russia on the Move
Russia has one President, and one puppet master. Her President is Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, who assumed office after being supported by Vladimir Putin, aka "Puppet Master". We have two people here that are working the good cop, bad cop scenario.
Medvedev would be the good cop, that is, if your a Russian who wants democracy and laws. Putin is the colder "bad cop" who is willing to take control by force. It appears that the population who loves one, isn't a fan of the other, and vis-versa. However, these two guys are working as a team.
It reminds me of the definition of magic tricks. You have probably heard it, and can probably see it performed in your mind. A magician standing in front of you with a small coin in his hand, and hes making it disappear... and while your eyes focus on his right hand, the coin somehow slips into the left and is hidden. Its magic because you don't see the left hand because your watching the right.
Likewise, while Russia headed into Georgia, the President was on vacation. Putin (the Prime Minister) on the other hand, was sceen on local TV stations shaking hands with the commanders on the front lines. It wasn't until this last Tuesday that we seen Mevedev, and what was he doing? He was in France with Sarkozy discussing a ceasefire! Good cop; Bad cop.
These two guys are a winning team. They are appealing to everyone in Russia, and I see disaster in the near future.
Now while all this is going on, the US Government is putting pressure on Russia to agree with the ceasefire. This cannot benefit our already fading relationship with Russia.
Secretary of State, Ms. Rice, has stated that Russia needs to be isolated. Rice is on her way to France to discuss, with Mr. Sarkozy, the five-point peace plan he personally brokered with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on lightning visits to Russia and Georgia on Tuesday.
Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said attacks by Russian forces on Georgian military targets outside South Ossetia were legal and necessary.
He also said he was surprised at the international condemnation of Russia's response to the crisis:
"Any civilised country would act same way. I may remind you [that on] September 11 [2001], the reaction was similar. American citizens were killed. You know the reaction."
I cant help but think about the missiles that the US wanted to put around Russia. Remember how Putin was against that? That was a big deal, makes me wonder how this is all related. The Ukraine is also speaking out against Russia, implementing new laws to move Russia's fleet in the Black Sea. (Under a 1997 agreement, Ukraine agreed to lease harbour space in the Crimea peninsula base of Sevastopol until 2017. Nationalist Russian politicians (Putin supporters) regularly suggest that Moscow should reclaim Sevastopol -- or even all of Crimea -- as its own territory.)
It is in my opinion that this is just the beginning of something much larger to come. Watch out.
7 comments:
Putin and Medvedev are liars! and everyone know that.
The U.S. has an interest in Georgia and that area for one reason and that is the Baku Pipeline.
Russia already has control over 1 of the 4 parts of the pipeline.
You think the US would go to war over it?
Layne do you have a link or something about Russia controling 1 of the 4 parts of the BTC pipeline. I did not know this. It doesn't go through Russia.
The U.S. can't afford to go to war, but I think you will see NATO get pretty aggressive if they have to.
Just do a Google search for "Baku Pipeline". The first link, granted its wikipedia, explains it.
I still don't see it.
Shareholders of the pipeline
The pipeline is owned by a consortium of energy companies led by BP (formerly British Petroleum), the operator of the pipeline. The shareholders of the consortium are:
BP (United Kingdom): 30.1%
State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) (Azerbaijan): 25.00%
Chevron (USA): 8.90%
StatoilHydro (Norway): 8.71%
Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO) (Turkey): 6.53%
Eni/Agip (Italy): 5.00%
Total (France): 5.0%
Itochu (Japan): 3.4%
Inpex (Japan): 2.50%
ConocoPhillips (USA): 2.50%
Hess Corporation (USA) 2.36%[13]
There are really 3 pipelines starting in Baku:
The Baku-Supsa Pipeline (also known as the Western Route Export Pipeline and Western Early Oil Pipeline) which runs from the Sangachal Terminal near Baku to the Supsa terminal in Georgia.
The Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline (also known as the Northern Route Export Pipeline and Northern Early Oil Pipeline) which runs from the Sangachal Terminal near Baku to the Novorossiysk terminal at the Black Sea coast in Russia.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline)connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey
The one your talking about is the BTC Pipeline.
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