>In this context, pipelines are a small part of the puzzle,
>just one stand of trees in the forest of the Great Game
>of this century -- control of Central Asia and the ME
>in conditions of increasing scarcity of oil.
Scarcity? Last night, I heard a talk by list alum Greg Nowell on all the powerplays in the ME. Among his arguments was the claim that U.S. oil interests want to keep Iraqi oil off the market to keep the price up. Also, he thought the U.S. was cultivating Russia as a replacement for or supplement to Saudia Arabia's role as swing producer.
Doug