Greece & Turkish Stream: ‘Athens in Russia v West, investment v debt dilemma’
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Patrick Henningsen: Traditionally, the West has always been incredibly interested in Greece and Russia relations all way back to WWII - the percentages agreement where Winston Churchill felt that he kept Greece within Europe by dividing up the influence between the Soviet Union throughout Eastern Europe and then allowing Europe to keep Greece. So its always been a pivotal point where East meets West.
But there are a number of pipeline projects that are on the table, not just this one which is being proposed now, which is to bring Azerbaijani gas through Greece into the European market.
Russia has the competing pipeline project which its calling South Stream through Turkey, from the Black Sea through Turkey and via Greece into Europe.
There is also the Qatari-Turkey pipeline project, which is a non-starter because it would have to pass through Syria which is a contested area at the moment. Jordan and Saudi Arabia are behind Syria for that pipeline project.
And you have this big pipeline project which I believe is whats driving these alternative scenarios - the friendship pipeline from Iran through Iraq through Syria and to the Mediterranean. And this is probably the key driver for the West or for the US-led coalition to want regime change in Syria to cut off any chance of that pipeline happening. This would be extremely profitable for all those three countries - Iran, Iraq and Syria - to reach the European market with what is a very rich natural gas field in Iran.
http://rt.com/op-edge/257505-greece-turkish-stream-russia-investment/