Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Pipelineistan Goes Af-Pak

From Blue Gold, Turkmen Bashes, and Asian Grids - Pipelineistan in Conflict by Pepe Escobar

As Barack Obama heads into his second hundred days in office, let's head for the big picture ourselves, the ultimate global plot line, the tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order. In its first hundred days, the Obama presidency introduced us to a brand new acronym, OCO for Overseas Contingency Operations, formerly known as GWOT (as in Global War on Terror). Use either name, or anything else you want, and what you're really talking about is what's happening on the immense energy battlefield that extends from Iran to the Pacific Ocean. It's there that the Liquid War for the control of Eurasia takes place.

Yep, it all comes down to black gold and "blue gold" (natural gas), hydrocarbon wealth beyond compare, and so it's time to trek back to that ever-flowing wonderland -- Pipelineistan. It's time to dust off the acronyms, especially the SCO or Shanghai Cooperative Organization, the Asian response to NATO, and learn a few new ones like IPI and TAPI. Above all, it's time to check out the most recent moves on the giant chessboard of Eurasia, where Washington wants to be a crucial, if not dominant, player.

We've already seen Pipelineistan wars in Kosovo and Georgia, and we've followed Washington's favorite pipeline, the BTC, which was supposed to tilt the flow of energy westward, sending oil coursing past both Iran and Russia. Things didn't quite turn out that way, but we've got to move on, the New Great Game never stops. Now, it's time to grasp just what the Asian Energy Security Grid is all about, visit a surreal natural gas republic, and understand why that Grid is so deeply implicated in the Af-Pak war.

Every time I've visited Iran, energy analysts stress the total "interdependence of Asia and Persian Gulf geo-ecopolitics." What they mean is the ultimate importance to various great and regional powers of Asian integration via a sprawling mass of energy pipelines that will someday, somehow, link the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, South Asia, Russia, and China. The major Iranian card in the Asian integration game is the gigantic South Pars natural gas field (which Iran shares with Qatar). It is estimated to hold at least 9% of the world's proven natural gas reserves.

As much as Washington may live in perpetual denial, Russia and Iran together control roughly 20% of the world's oil reserves and nearly 50% of its gas reserves. Think about that for a moment. It's little wonder that, for the leadership of both countries as well as China's, the idea of Asian integration, of the Grid, is sacrosanct.

If it ever gets built, a major node on that Grid will surely be the prospective $7.6 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline." After years of wrangling, a nearly miraculous agreement for its construction was initialed in 2008. At least in this rare case, both Pakistan and India stood shoulder to shoulder in rejecting relentless pressure from the Bush administration to scotch the deal.
It couldn't be otherwise. Pakistan, after all, is an energy-poor, desperate customer of the Grid. One year ago, in a speech at Beijing's Tsinghua University, then-President Pervez Musharraf did everything but drop to his knees and beg China to dump money into pipelines linking the Persian Gulf and Pakistan with China's Far West. If this were to happen, it might help transform Pakistan from a near-failed state into a mighty "energy corridor" to the Middle East. If you think of a pipeline as an umbilical cord, it goes without saying that IPI, far more than any form of U.S. aid (or outright interference), would go the extra mile in stabilizing the Pak half of Obama's Af-Pak theater of operations, and even possibly relieve it of its India obsession.

If Pakistan's fate is in question, Iran's is another matter. Though currently only holding "observer" status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), sooner or later it will inevitably become a full member and so enjoy NATO-style, an-attack-on-one-of-us-is-an-attack-on-all-of-us protection. Imagine, then, the cataclysmic consequences of an Israeli preemptive strike (backed by Washington or not) on Iran's nuclear facilities. The SCO will tackle this knotty issue at its next summit in June, in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Iran's relations with both Russia and China are swell -- and will remain so no matter who is elected the new Iranian president next month. China desperately needs Iranian oil and gas, has already clinched a $100 billion gas "deal of the century" with the Iranians, and has loads of weapons and cheap consumer goods to sell. No less close to Iran, Russia wants to sell them even more weapons, as well as nuclear energy technology.

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Leftist group claims two Greek bomb attacks

By Renee Maltezou

ATHENS, May 21 (Reuters) - A leftist urban guerrilla group said on Thursday it carried out a bomb attack in the Greek capital this week and another in March, saying it was protesting corruption and the killing of a teenager by police in December.

No one was hurt in either explosion, part of a string of anarchist and leftist attacks aimed at companies, police and public buildings since the death of the teenager triggered the worst riots in Greece in decades.

The group, which calls itself Popular Will, said in a pamphlet sent to Greek weekly To Pontiki newspaper it planted the time-bomb which exploded outside the Athens offices of an investment company in Athens on Wednesday, causing minor damage.

The little-known group also claimed responsibility for a bomb which rattled central Athens in March, causing serious damage to a state building and shops but no injuries.

"Undoubtedly the killing of the 15-year old student Alexandros Grigoropoulos roused the sleeping consciousness of the popular class," the group said in its statement, referring to the teenager shot by the police.

It also condemned official scandals and corruption, as well as measures taken to deal with a sharp economic decline.

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Siemens Greece ex-director held in bribes scandal

 ATHENS, May 21 (Reuters) - A former director of engineering firm Siemens' Greek unit was taken into custody on Thursday pending trial on charges of bribery and money laundering in contracts with Greek telecoms group OTE, a court official said.

Former general director Prodromos Mavrides has denied any wrongdoing in the 1997 case, in which prosecutors have also charged other ex-Siemens ( SI - news - people ) Greece staff over alleged bribes for contracts with the then state-controlled telecoms group.

 'Last night, the investigating prosecutor ruled Mavrides should be kept in custody pending trial,' a court official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. 'He was taken to jail this morning.'

The scandal is one of a series being investigated by Greek prosecutors. Although others have come to light in recent years, no Greek politician has yet been prosecuted.

Siemens ended one of the biggest corporate corruption investigations in history when it agreed in December last year to pay about 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion) in fines and penalties as a result of investigations by U.S. and German authorities into bribes it paid to win contracts.

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Muslims clash in Greece after ‘Quran incident’

From the Daily Times:

ATHENS: Greek police on Thursday used tear gas during clashes with hundreds of Muslim immigrants protesting in Athens over reports that an officer had torn up a copy of the holy Quran during a routine check the day before. Around 1,500 demonstrators marched through the working class district of Kypseli towards the Omonia Square in the city centre, where there were scuffles with officers and tear gas was fired, said police. Demonstrators said that on Wednesday, as police officers stopped four Syrian immigrants to check their papers, one of the officers had torn up a Quran and stamped on it. After word spread of the alleged incident, the local Muslim immigrant community, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, organised Thursday's protest. Police have so far not commented on Wednesday's alleged incident. afp

This seems part of a wider clampdown:

EU border agency helps Greece with immigration

Officers from an EU border protection agency used high-tech sensors to search trucks and monitor clandestine crossings along Greece's frontier with Turkey on Tuesday, as part of an eight-day exercise to help local authorities stem a spike in illegal immigration.

Greek authorities said the EU agency, known as Frontex, has sent 40 officers from 20 countries to work with 165 Greek border guards in the exercise. Border guards from new EU-member Bulgaria are also assisting.

Athens is seeking greater assistance from the European Union to help stop immigrants illegally crossing over its rugged borders with Turkey or reaching dozens of islands in the Aegean Sea.

Frontex officers are using heartbeat and carbon dioxide detectors, along with heat cameras and other sensors to scan vehicles, and are watching the border with a surveillance helicopter and aircraft.

Officers involved in the exercise, which ends Wednesday, reported the arrest of 12 illegal immigrants during vehicle searches.

"This border region is the hottest area of illegal immigration in Europe," Gil Arias, Frontex' deputy executive director, told The Associated Press.

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Meanwhile, Turkey raises the ante:

Greece insists to ignore Turkish rigths despite ECHR rule

Iskece (Xanthi) District Law Court in Greece announced the reasons for denial decision on the case of closure of Iskece Turkish Union (ITU) in Western Thrace that applied to Greek court to get legal rights after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision, Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.

Denial causes were listed under three main headings in the court decision: "Greek Civil Procedure Code do not allow to change a court decision in this manner", the association applied to the court without making any changes in its charter, which is one of the reasons of closure " and "any association closed by court order have the right for financial compensation, but do not have the legal right to move on to new activities as it is before the decision."

ITU officials reported they will appeal the court decision.

ITU, after the ECHR's decision last year, had made two separate applications to get their legal rights to Iskece District Court and Rodop Court of Appeal. ITU demands to regain its legal position before the closure and the renewal of its registration that was deleted by Iskece Associations Book.

Established in Western Thrace in 1927, and shut down in 1986 by the Governor of Iskece claiming " there are no Turks in Western Thrace" and "activities threatens public order and national security", ITU struggled nearly 20 year within Greek law until 2005 and then moved to the ECHR.

ECHR desicion states Greece violated the Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights that is related to the right to organize by closing the ITU.

Greece insists on recognizing only a Muslim minority, not Turkish, impeding progress for resolving minority rights issues.


So, Cyprus comes to the rescue:

House rules Greece has no Turkish minorities

By Elias Hazou

BY UNANIMOUS vote, the Plenum yesterday passed a resolution stressing that it does not recognise the presence of “any Turkish minority within the territory of Greece”.

The move comes after DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides, in his personal capacity, signed a motion for a resolution calling for an investigation into possible human rights violations of the 'Turkish minority' in the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kos.

The contentious motion was drafted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), of which Pourgourides is a member. PACE's document, dated May 6, expressed “concern on the situation of the Turkish minority” in the two islands.

PACE's motion cited concerns over religious and linguistic restrictions for persons of Turkish ethnic origin living in the two islands. It noted, for instance, that Turkish schools in Rhodes and Kos “ceased to operate in 1972”. And that “according to the latest information received, the Turkish minority on the islands is denied the right to education in their mother tongue.”

Greece does not acknowledge the presence of a Turkish minority, instead referring to Greek citizens of Turkish ethnic origin as the “Muslim minority”.

A number of Turkish MPs also signed the same document. Pourgourides took flak from politicians in Cyprus, accusing him of playing into the hands of Turkish diplomacy and of jeopardising Cyprus' relations with steadfast ally Greece.

Yesterday's resolution by Parliament, drafted at the initiative of DIKO, also stressed that “we remain firmly opposed to Turkey's intention to promote secessionist elements in the territory of Greece”.

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Hidden from this debate are basic issues such as the denial of burial plots and services to muslims in southern Greece and the Athens area (forcing them to have to transport their dead to northern Greece for proper burial).

Turkish commander sparks debate in Greece

Greek newspapers express concerns about a NATO restructuring under which Greek and Turkish commanders will take turns heading the alliance's Larissa military headquarters. Some Greeks say the appointment of a Turkish commander will make it easier for Turkish warplanes to fly in Greek airspace

The appointment of a Turkish commander to the NATO military headquarters in Larissa, Greece, as part of a restructuring process has sparked controversy in Turkey's western neighbor.

According to the Greek press, the Turkish and Greek Chiefs of General Staff, with their respective governments' approvals, agreed at a meeting held May 7-8 in Brussels to accept the implementation of the new arrangements under a NATO restructuring in the region.

The restructuring foresees the closing of the military base in Eskişehir, and Turkey and Greece's continued responsibility for the Larissa headquarters and the aerial control of Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. The administration of the Aegean base will be transferred to NATO under alternating Turkish and Greek commandership in two-year intervals.

Athens newspapers argued that the appointment of a Turkish commander to the Larissa Military Headquarters, which was merged with the Eskişehir base, would make it easier for Turkish warplanes to fly in Greek airspace.

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