Is this why georgie decided to talk with Iran?

[seemslikeadream]

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080713/113855321.html

TEHRAN, July 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom and Iran's Ministry of Petroleum will sign on Sunday a memorandum of cooperation in the oil and gas sphere, an Iranian deputy oil minister said.

"Interaction between Iran and Russia in all spheres and especially in the energy sphere is very wide. We expect to further broaden this cooperation in the future," Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi said.

Shirazi said a series of discussions would precede the signing of the cooperation memorandum.

Iran ranks fourth in terms of crude reserves after Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, as well as fourth in terms of oil production after Saudi Arabia, the United States and Russia. Iran's proven gas reserves total more than 28 trillion cubic meters.

[billyoc]

1. Yes. Money trumps even War.

[malaise]

2. Of course

Why else

[seemslikeadream]

3. I suppose an attack on Iran would be a direct attack on the interests of Russia.

Checkmate georgie

[Pavulon]

4. Negative..

there is no mutual aid treaty in place between Iran and Russia.

[seemslikeadream]

5. I didn't say that

[seemslikeadream]

6. and then on to Africa?

http://axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=47&num=6026


Africa: Oil, al-Qaeda and the US military



Africa's Maghreb and Sahel regions recently exploded into world view with allegations that the Madrid bombers were tied to those areas' "al Qaeda" groups. And while United States concerns about terrorism in the region have been increasingly voiced, critics of the administration of President George W Bush say that the ongoing US pursuit of energy resources lies behind them. As early as the fall of 2002, Britain's Economist magazine charged that oil "is the only American interest in Africa".

In a fall 2003 interview with Asia Times Online, noted US security analyst Michael Klare, author of Resource Wars, had warned of America's potential African involvement. When queried as to where the next oil flash point might be after Iraq, Klare replied: "I've been looking at Africa. It's heating up over there."

Illustrating the basis for such statements, in 2001 Vice President Dick Cheney's report on a US National Energy Policy declared Africa to be one of America's "fastest-growing sources of oil and gas". By February 1, 2002, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Walter Kansteiner, declared: "This has become of national strategic interest to us." And a December 2001 report by the US National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2015, forecast that by 2015 a full quarter of US oil imports would come from Africa.

During this past February, a handful of top US generals visited Africa in separate and far from usual trips. They included the US's European commander, Marine General James L Jones, as well as the European deputy commander, Air Force, General Charles Wald. And excluding the region known as the Horn of Africa, the US European Command oversees the US's African actions.