MIM Notes No. 200      December 15, 1999

Pipeline deal shows stakes in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Chechnya

by MC12

There is one thing that the "humanitarian" hoopla over Serb 
aggression in Yugoslavia, the "containment" of Iraq, the Russian 
bombardment of Chechnya, and the latest James Bond movie all have 
in common: oil. The u.$. wars against Yugoslavia and Iraq, and the 
Russian war against Chechnya in part reflect inter-imperialist 
conflict over the future of oil exports from the former republics 
of the Soviet Union.

The latest round is going to the Amerikan led imperialist bloc.

On November 18 the leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia 
signed agreements to pursue a new 1,000-mile oil pipeline to get 
Caspian Sea oil out of Azerbaijan without going through either 
Russia (Chechnya), or Iran.(1) A second pipeline, built by General 
Electric, the Bechtel Group and Royal Dutch/Shell, will pump gas 
from Turkmenistan out through Turkey.(2)

The pipeline is still contingent on agreements by major oil 
companies, including BP-Amoco, to finance it, but the government 
agreement is the necessary first step. When completed, the 
pipeline could pump 1 million barrels of oil per day, about one-
eighth of what Saudi Arabia currently produces.(1) In order for 
the pipeline to be commercially viable, however, it will need to 
pump more than Ajerbaijan produces, so oil companies are hoping to 
use it to get oil from new wells in Kazakhstan as well.(2)

The deal is part of the Amerikan-led project of carving up the 
former Soviet empire before Russia has a chance to reassert its 
dominance. The project included the war against Iraq in 1990-91 
and the more recent war against Yugoslavia. Both of those wars 
ended up with increased local U.$. military presence and greater 
loyalty from Amerikan stooges and allies in the region. 

The geopolitical goals of the pipeline project are no secret, as 
the Associated Press reported: "The Clinton administration has 
pushed hard for a pipeline agreement, which also is aimed at 
drawing the oil rich region closer to the United States and Europe 
and reducing Russian influence in the newly independent Central 
Asian states."(1)

According to the New York Times, the "Clinton administration goal 
[is] to detach the region and its oil from Russian domination." 
The government of Azerbaijan agreed to the deal in the face of 
pressure from Russian and Iran, which both opposed it. But the 
current war in Chechnya hurt the Russian argument, because their 
proposed alternative runs through Chechnya, and companies consider 
that too dangerous given the situation there. And the Iranian 
route, which might be the cheapest, has been blocked by the 
U.$.(2)

The bourgeois media is open about the geopolitical aspects of the 
oil deals. This is the kind of thing diplomats are supposed to do. 
But they are much more silent on the connection between such 
economic dealings and the supposed humanitarian aims of U.$. wars, 
most recently the war against Yugoslavia, which was billed as a 
groundbreaking policy of putting humanitarian goals high on the 
military agenda.

In May, MIM reported: "As seen with the recent incorporation of 
the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland into NATO, the imperialists 
are digging their hooks more and more deeply into the former 
Soviet empire. The fact that Russia is so opposed to the current 
war [against Yugoslavia] is a tip-off that this represents U.$. 
empire expansion onto what the Russian still see as their 
potential or real turf."(3)

As we argued at the time, it is too simplistic to suggest that the 
war in Yugoslavia was all about oil -- and neither was the war 
against Iraq, for that matter. Oil is an important part of the 
economic situation, and represents profits for key corporations as 
well as a potentially destabilizing force if it falls into the 
"wrong" hands. But imperialism seeks world domination, in all 
aspects of political-economic spheres. That's why some military 
aggression has no direct economic goal such as securing a 
pipeline. Sometimes the imperialists need to shed some blood just 
to make sure their friends and stooges can stay in or attain 
positions of power. Sometimes they'll shed some blood to generate 
arms sales and make the situation somewhere so bad that people 
will clamor for them to come in and fix it. The current 
maneuvering over oil pipelines out of the ex-USSR is part of this 
much larger imperialist project.

Notes:

1. Associated Press, November 18, 1999

2. New York Times, November 20, 1999, p. C1.

3. Imperialist economic interests in Kosovo war are mostly 
indirect, posted May 10, 1999. 
(www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/kosovo/)