LUBMIN, GERMANY: GEOPOLITICAL PIVOT

clipped from: niqnaq.wordpress.com



German Chancellors disappear who deviate from Washington agenda. Schroeder was first in opposition to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and second, more serious strategically negotiations with Putin for new gas pipeline bypassing Poland.

Today, Nord Stream has reached Mecklenburg-Vorpommern town of Lubmin, a geopolitical pivot for Europe and Russia. Bill Clinton demanded Schroeder, if elected, support a US-NATO war against Serbia in 1999.

By 2005, Bush turned its attention to a successor. Schroeder's last act was to approve Nord Stream from Vyborg to Lubmin. Upon his defeat, he became chairman of Nord Stream AG, a joint venture between state-owned Gazprom and E.ON-Ruhrgas and BASF-Wintershall. He alsoaccused Georgia of initiating the 2008 war against South Ossetia.

In 2006, Poland’s For. Min. Sikorsk compared Nord Stream to the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact. The US has used Poland as a wedge to block Russian-German economic and political cooperation. This month, Nord Stream's first pipeline reached Lubmin. The second string will be completed later this month and begins operation in late 2011. It will be the world’s biggest subsea route through Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, avoiding Poland and the three Baltic States.

From Lubmin it will go through Saxony to the Czech border. From there, Other routes to Holland, France and the UK, France’s GDF Suez bought a 9% share, Holland's Nederlandse Gasunie has 9%. It has broad EU support.

a major geopolitical accomplishment with strong US opposition. Nord long-term agreements is with Denmark, the UK, France, Netherlands and Belgium as well as Germany.

Gazprom is advancing South Stream from Russia under Black Sea to Bulgaria and to Italy. South Stream, bypassing Ukraine. from the Soviet era pipelines transited Ukraine. in Jan 2005 “Orange Revolution” brought pro-NATO regime to power. Recent elections has taken a more neutral stance. The offshore part of South Stream is jointly between Gazprom and Italy’s ENI. From there, pre-existing pipelines through Bulgaria will be used.

Washington is applying major pressure on EU countries and Turkey to build Nabucco. To date, little backing in the EU and insufficient gas to fill it.

Completion of the gas line will result in a major geopolitical bond between EU, Central Europe and Russia and a geopolitical nightmare for the US.

US policy since WW2 has been to dominate, first by fanning the Cold War, and then after 1990 by pushing NATO eastwards towards Europe. Europe turning east has been a major defeat for the “sole Superpower”.

Lubmin is now a major geopolitical pivot

NABUCCO: HOW TO SAVE EUROPE TEN YEARS FROM NOW... OR... AN EMPTY PIPELINE GOES THROUGH IRAN

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clipped from: www.robertamsterdam.com


both the upcoming potential supply cut to the West from Russia and the growing monopolization of the oil and gas market place an increased emphasis on the region's most highly prized resource trophy: Central Asia (for example, the central dispute in the Ukraine revolves around the non-transparency of the Russo-Turkmen gas trade).



Western governments and energy companies have one last, grandiose project up their sleeve to secure Turkmen natural gas -- the 2,050-mile, multi-entity project known as Nabucco. Its multiple transit phases and various manifestations would, if constructed, transport energy from the Caspian region, Middle East and Egypt via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to terminus destinations in Austria and the Central and Western European gas markets. With a current projected price tag of $10.1 billion

Nabucco would be nearly twice the length and triple the cost of BTC.

where the gas to fill it will come from.
initially Nabucco could utilize gas from the second phase development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field beginning in 2013, he acknowledged that this meant a maximum of 13-14 bcm per year. But Nabucco's throughput capacity is projected to be more than double that, at 27-31 bcm, which explains the ardent courting of Berdymukhammedov (Turkmenistan) .



Russia currently supplies one-quarter of Europe's oil and 30 percent of its natural gas, and the Russo-Georgian conflict only heightened concerns in Brussels about the EU's growing dependence on Russian energy imports.

According to Barroso, the plan's "top priority" is developing the Southern Gas Corridor to deliver natural gas to Europe from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, and Egypt via Turkey. Both the TCP and Nabucco pipelines are an integral part of the scheme.

Aliyev stated bluntly that Azerbaijan alone cannot provide sufficient resources for Nabucco, and that the project depends on the availability of Central Asian gas.

If true, reality trumps the EU's optimism.

Turkmenistan (Berdymukhammedov) has already signed an agreement with China to provide 30 bcm of gas annually, beginning in 2009, in addition to agreements with Russia for 50 bcm and Iran for 8 bcm. Since its annual production stands at about 60 bcm, it has in effect already agreed to provide 28 bcm more than the country produces.

Nevertheless, the planning sessions and discussions for both Nabucco and the Trans Caspian Pipeline continue.