FYI: Chechnya oil riches fuel war

[Junkdrawer]

In the chaos of the Chechnya war, one image stands out as a sign of why both sides are losing - that of the rebel who has run out of petrol for his Jeep, dashing between dugouts on a bicycle.

This is an old-fashioned war, for Chechen independence and Russian self-esteem, but also a more modern one, for oil. Grozny's dwindling supplies will please Russia's generals, but for Kremlin strategists they are a reminder that Moscow's long-term goal of dominating the Caspian basin and its vast oil and gas reserves is as elusive as ever.

Before the 1994-96 war, Grozny's network of refineries made it the second biggest oil city in the region after Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Geologists said up to 200 billion barrels lay beneath the Caspian, and there was every sign that Moscow would retain a leading role in the lucrative business of selling it. The Russian pipeline which pumped 100,000 barrels of crude a day to the Black Sea has been closed since summer.

Behind the rhetoric of an "anti-terrorist operation", it is clear that Moscow launched this war partly to keep a toehold in what may be the world's richest oil region outside the Middle East.

Yet as a policy initiative it has failed: the fighting has boosted two huge US-backed schemes to build pipelines through the Caucasus to Turkey, while a new Russian one that bypasses Chechnya may have nothing to pump when completed.

...

http://www.calguard.ca.gov/ia/Chechnya/chechnya_oil_riches_fuel_war.htm

Wait, I'm starting to detect a pattern here...Islamic people live in oil rich region...Oil-dependent nation refuses independence...Terror war ensues...Women and children killed on both sides in bloody fight to control the f$%*ing OIL...

Or is it just my imagination again? :shrug:

[underpants]

1. A Russia native I work with said basically the same thing this morning

She is originally from the very North of Russia. She said that Chechnya has been kept down and in fact bombed the hell out of Chechnya as far back as Stalin's regime.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Why the hell aren't we pursuing alternate energy with the same...

effort we pursued the Atomic Bomb?

Children are dying over a pursuit of the Black Gold. And God Knows how many will die when we start running out.

[underpants]

4. I don't thinkthe Russinas give a damn about those kids dying

Sorry to say it but if they had their way the Russians would probably kill all of them. The impression I got from my co-worker was that they kept just enough people alive to get the oil.

[donkeyotay]

3. Yep, it's oil again, and the great game

Look at a map. Russia used to move oil through Georgia and Azerbaijan.
I do believe that we have been active in getting rid of pro-Russian government in Georgia. And for an interesting look at Azerbaijan, see the who's who of American neocons on their Chamber of Commerce roster.

We've blocked Russia's southern route, so now they're fighting for this northern one.

[Junkdrawer]

5. Seems like, 1/8 of an inch below the surface of every major conflict...

today, lies a black, tarry liquid.

And the US press always seems to make it into a fight against Islamic Terrorists.

[donkeyotay]

7. seems that way

I'm reading a Kennedy biography and keep getting that deja vu feeling. Boy, if they want to talk about intelligence reform, they should examine the track record of covert ops! It seems our foreign policy consists of only one policy: do more of what hasn't worked. The war on terror has also always been a war on the left. Too bad that was stretched from fighting communism to killing anyone who even wants a decent standard of living for working classes.

The whole thing seems tragically stupid.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Partially right.

Chechnya has been a part of Russia for centuries. Or, if you like, a colony of Russia's. It has risen in rebellion many times over the centuries and even cooperated with the Nazis against the USSR.

Not to diminish your statements about oil/Muslims, but the history is a bit more convoluted. Russia thinks of Chechnya much in the same way we think of Puerto Rico, or used to think of Alaska.

It's now the Russian's own quagmire, much as Iraq has become ours.

They won't leave because of "National Honor", just as we won't leave because we (in the politician's sense of "we") fear the "cut and run" scenario of Vietnam.