Am I being harsh in saying the US will once again turn the Chechens against the Russians in the Northern Caucasus? Not according to our past behavior. For one thing it will be a diversion if the US attacks Iran but more importantly it will divert the Kremlin from pursuing a vast Russian-German-Italian gas corporate group which the US is very much against.
US urges new terrorist attacks by Chechen militants and separtists against Russians #msg-10724046
Moscow is getting ready for the great war in Northern Caucasus #msg-10554411
At the July G8 Summit the Kremlin is going to present its "particular initiative of energy security". It refers to a proposal to create a vast Russian-German-Italian gas corporate group which will help Moscow to establish a "new order" in Europe. On the other hand, Russia hopes to finally bury the Polish idea of creating an "Energy NATO #msg-10748248
We used the Chechens before to block plans for northern Russian-controlled oil pipelines.
The Clinton White House operated like world class gangsters, pulling strings and making threats--to make all the other pipelines "disappear" and make the Ceyhan pipeline profitable for the western oil capitalists.
AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE First the U.S. government simply and firmly ruled out any Iranian pipeline. They announced they would not lift their embargo on Iran--and they would not allow major U.S. companies to participate in any major projects there. That was the end of the Iranian pipeline.
Then the Russian plans for the northern pipeline "suddenly" ran into huge problems: War broke out in Chechnya and Dagestan--border areas of Russia where oil from Baku travels on its way to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossisk.
War broke out in Dagestan in August 1999--just as the aging Baku-Novorossisk pipeline broke down and the Russian oil corporations were trying to move Baku's oil through Dagestan by rail. Then the fighting spread from Dagestan to nearby Chechnya. The Russian army initiated a brutal campaign to crush resistance and pacify the region. About 200,000 Chechens are refugees, as many as 4,000 may be dead, and much of this small nation has been devastated.
Meanwhile, plans for northern Russian-controlled oil pipelines have been torpedoed by this fighting--during exactly the timeframe when the oil companies have to decide on which pipeline to begin building. There is no documented evidence that the U.S. unleashed and armed the Muslim secessionist forces of Chechnya. But clearly the timing of this new war has been very useful for U.S. plans in the Caspian.
The Russian Defense Minister has accused the U.S. of wanting the "permanent smoldering of a manageable armed conflict" in this region.
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