[Austin-ghetto-list] Brainfood

[Bill Irwin]

Interesting articles you have presented about the oil pipelines.  Curious
how the current crises interlocks with the geo-political games that the
super powers like to play.  Note, that by making Afghanistan an American
military base we can protect the pipelines leading to the West's oil tanker
fleet and prevent China from tapping into that pipeline.  China, being a
growing super power, would like to get that oil also.  Currently they are
building a super-highway and an oil pipeline into Xinjiang province.  They
do have oil fields there and with just a little more effort they could
extend that pipeline into Afghanistan.  The super highway is to bring
economic development into the area (which it needs) and to more closely tie
the area to the rest of China.  They are also trying to get Hong Kong money
to invest in the area so they can get more Han Chinese to move into the area
in order to dilute the Muslim population in Xinjiang, just as they have done
in Tibet.
Bill

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Baker <rcbaker@infohiwy.net>
To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 7:34 AM
Subject: [Austin-ghetto-list] Brainfood


> The bottom line is that United States can seek world domination through
> trying to perpetuate its corporate empire, or else it can have security,
> but not both. -- Roger
>
>         **********************************************
>
> If you thought this war was a simple matter, look at the following story
> from the Wash. Post.
>
> Everyone would like to think isn't about oil, but in truth a major cause
> is the fact that we have made Saudi Arabia a military client by secret
> agreement with Fahd in exchange for Saudi oil. A primary goal of bin
> Laden is to remove our military power from the Persian Gulf, a power
> that assures our oil addiction will be satisfied until sometime this
> decade when not even the aging supergiant Saudi fields can supply our
> growing addiction -- which nothing but oil can quench.
>
> (forget wind and solar and natural gas and coal, etc., Oil is the one
> king of portable energy and nothing else can keep the US transportation
> system running as usual).
>
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32169-2001Sep26.html
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Progressive Review" <ssmith@igc.org>
> To: <news@prorev.com>
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 4:37 PM
> Subject: UNDERNEWS SEP 24
> > RECOVERED HISTORY
> > The Secret War
> >
 *** Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, LONDON., March 5, 2001: A new and
potentially explosive Great Game is being set up and few in Britain are
aware of it. There are many players: far more than the two - Russia and
Britain - who were engaged a century ago in imperial rivalry in central Asia
and the north-west frontier. And the object this time is not so much control
of territory. It is the large reserves of oil and gas in the Caucasus,
notably the Caspian basin. Pipelines are the counters in this new Great
Game.  There are plans for pipe-lines through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey,
Iran, Bulgaria, Macedonia - and Albania. Traditional rivalries between east
and west are complicated by other threats - from Chechen separatists, Kurds,
Albanian guerrilla groups, the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh and, throughout the region, Islamic groups whose activities
are causing deep concern to Moscow, Tehran and Washington alike . . . This
is the region both west and east have their eyes on. It is rich in untapped
oil and gas while US reserves are running down, China is desperate for more
oil, and no one outside the Gulf wants to rely on Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or
Iraq - which have the biggest oil reserves.
> >
> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4146099,00.html
> >
 *** DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: Afghanistan's significance from an energy
standpoint stems from its geographical position as a potential transit route
for oil and natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea. This
potential includes proposed multi-billion-dollar oil and gas export
pipelines through Afghanistan, although these plans have now been thrown
into serious question . . . On November 29, 1999, UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan issued a report on Afghanistan which listed the country's major
problems as follows: civil war (which has caused many casualties and
refugees, and which has devastated the country's economy), record opium
production, wide-scale human rights violations, and food shortages caused in
part by drought. According to the 2000 CIA World Factbook, Afghanistan is an
extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on farming and
livestock raising (sheep and goats). Currently, the country is experiencing
a severe drought . . . The Soviets had estimated Afghanistan's proven and
probable natural gas reserves at up to 5 trillion cubic feet. Afghan gas
production reached 275 million cubic feet per day in the mid-1970s. However,
due to declining reserves from producing fields, output gradually fell to
about 220 Mmcf/d by 1980 . . . Soviet estimates from the late 1970s placed
Afghanistan's proven and probable oil and condensate reserves at 95 million
barrels. Despite plans to start commercial oil production in Afghanistan,
all oil exploration and development work were halted after the 1979 Soviet
invasion. Afghanistan's various provinces receive refined products from
neighboring countries . . . Besides oil and gas, Afghanistan also is
estimated to have significant coal reserves (probable reserves of 400
million tons) . . .
> >
> > http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/afghan2.html
> >
 *** JOHN J. MARESCA, VICE PRESIDENT UNOCAL in testimony before a House
committee, February 12, 1998: Today we would like to focus on issues
concerning this region, its resources and U.S. policy: The need for multiple
pipeline routes for Central Asian oil and gas. The need for U.S. support for
international and regional efforts to achieve balanced and lasting political
settlements within Russia, other newly independent states and in Afghanistan
. . . The Caspian region contains tremendous untapped hydrocarbon reserves,
much of them located in the Caspian Sea basin itself. Proven natural gas
reserves within Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan equal
more than 236 trillion cubic feet. The region's total oil reserves may reach
more than 60 billion barrels of oil -- enough to service Europe's oil needs
for 11 years. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels . . . [An]
option is to build a pipeline south from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean.
One obvious potential route south would be across Iran. However, this option
is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation.
The only other possible route option is across Afghanistan, which has its
own unique challenges. The country has been involved in bitter warfare for
almost two decades. The territory across which the pipeline would extend is
controlled by the Taliban, an Islamic movement that is not recognized as a
government by most other nations. From the outset, we have made it clear
that construction of our proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized
government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and
our company. In spite of this, a route through Afghanistan appears to be the
best option with the fewest technical obstacles. It is the shortest route to
the sea and has relatively favorable terrain for a pipeline. The route
through Afghanistan is the one that would bring Central Asian oil closest to
Asian markets and thus would be the cheapest in terms of transporting the
oil. Unocal envisions the creation of a Central Asian Oil Pipeline
Consortium.
 The pipeline would become an integral part of a regional oil pipeline
 system that will utilize and gather oil from existing pipeline
infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The
1,040-mile-long oil pipeline would begin near the town of Chardzhou, in
northern Turkmenistan, and extend southeasterly through Afghanistan to an
export terminal that would be constructed on the Pakistan coast on the
Arabian Sea. Only about 440 miles of the pipeline would be in Afghanistan.
This 42-inch-diameter pipeline will have a shipping capacity of one million
barrels of oil per day. Estimated cost of the project -- which is similar in
scope to theTrans Alaska Pipeline -- is about $2.5 billion . .  The pipeline
would benefit Afghanistan, which would receive revenues from transport
tariffs, and would promote stability and encourage trade and economic
development. Although Unocal has not negotiated with any one group, and does
not favor any group, we have had contacts with and briefings for all of
them. We know that the different factions in Afghanistan understand the
importance of the pipeline project for their country, and have expressed
their support of it. A recent study for the World Bank states that the
proposed pipeline from Central Asia across Afghanistan and Pakistan to the
Arabian Sea would provide more favorable netbacks to oil producers through
access to higher value markets than those currently being accessed through
the traditional Baltic and Black Sea export routes.
> >
> > http://www.house.gov/international_relations/105th/ap/wsap212982.htm
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/22/automobiles/23ROAD.html
> >
> >