The argument boils down to this: screw any examination of the history of the conflict, of Saakashvili's activities, or of the neocons meddling in Eastern Europe; nope - last week I read a story about Russia which mentioned BP and this week I read a story about Russia that mentioned BP, ergo there's some massive f*cking conspiracy whereby the Russkies ruthlessly murder gazillions of people and risk world war just to shutdown one miserable BBBBBPPPPP pipeline. Why should they bother?
Blecch. Just one or two missiles - or better still, sabotage by local proxies - and the job would be done in an instant, much more cheaply.
Oh, and your wonderful sooper-dooper, slick, GQed, metrosexual modern finance imperialism murders 10m people every year from disease, hunger and environmental causes. Even fuddy-duddy old Adolf Hitler, when he was running boring old unsexy overweight traditional old murderous German imperialsm, wasn't able to gas that many in 5 five years.
Exec overview:
US imperialism has been trying to kill two birds with one stone: (a) undermine the possibility of the EU becoming a solid united alternative imperialism and (b) make sure that it can fight Russia, the only country able to destroy it, to the last European. So they made a big song and dance act to get as many E European regimes with their corrupt clown leadership with their US MBAs and advisors to join the EU and NATO, then use these trojan horses to undermine it and divert it from consolidation of the existing developed European imperialist powers. Georgia hadn't yet joined the club. But, US trained Saakashvili comes to power in a coup (what the US calls a 'Democracy') and has a long track record of (a) screwing the Russians around and (b) 'disappearing' the real bourgeois democratic opposition, torturing people, reducing women's rights etc (read the Amnesty reports and, hell, even last year's newspapers on all this stuff). On Thursday the Georgians began to move on South Ossetia, so the Russians went to the security council and said, 'hey guys, tell these a-holes to pack it in'. But, of course, the US and the rest did nothing. A massive proportion of the S Ossetians have Russian citizenship and unofficial referenda have shown they don't want to be run by the Russians. So the Russians had a choice: let their citizens be attacked or go in and give Saakafascvili the kicking he deserves. Saakaf*ckface went on CNN (who have not interviewed a single Russian leader or diplomat) groomed, shaven, suited up, with the NATO flag visible in the corner (Georgia is NOT a member of NATO) to blather on about unprovoked aggression blahblahblah, obviously hoping that the west would pull his nuts out of the fire for him, after he'd thrown the match on it a few hours earlier. The US immediately flew the entire Georgian contingent back from Iraq (which is their training ground - they're the 3rd largest contingent (or were) of the <smirk> coalition of the willing </smirk>) so that they could fight the Russians. Most of the so-called bombing of civilians is likely to be collateral damage taking out airfields, command and control centres, communications, logistic centers, ammunition and fuel dumps. CNN showed film today of Russians supposedly continuing to fight after the ceasefire - which they had shown yesterday. The Russians have obviously decided to put an end to the screwing around; they won't be leaving the breakaway regions and Georgia is just going to have to accept it. Or the US has to try and start the war up again, but, really, it's too late for that. It's over, bar the weeping and wailing. I don't support the Russians, the US or their puppet(s), the death, horror and destruction. But you've got to look reality in the face: this was the inevitable outcome of failing to accept the independence of these regions.
This sort of crude cash-register-deterministic Marxism that has to find direct unmediated economic contradictions to explain everything is just nonsense. You have to look at the wider imperialist conflict shaping up between the US and Europe, which has much deeper economic roots than a single pipeline.
--- boddi satva <lbo.boddi at gmail.com> wrote:
> >From the AP, the facts:
>
> "BP shuts down Georgian pipeline as precaution
>
> Tuesday August 12, 11:58 am ET
>
> By Jane Wardell, AP Business Writer
>
> BP shuts down Georgian pipeline as a precaution amid Russia-Georgia
> conflict LONDON (AP) -- BP PLC said it shut down an oil pipeline that
> runs through Georgia on Tuesday as a precautionary measure, but added
> that it is unaware of any Russian bombings on pipelines in the region.
> BP said the 90,000-barrel-a-day pipeline to Supsa on Georgia's Black
> Sea coast from Baku in Azerbaijan will remain closed indefinitely.
>
> Another pipeline operated by the London-based oil company in the
> former Soviet Republic, the larger Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, is
> already out of action after a fire last week on its Turkish stretch.
> The BTC pipeline usually provides around 1 million barrels of Caspian
> crude to international markets.
>
> BP spokesman Robert Wine said that the Baku-Supsa line was closed
> because it runs through the center of Georgia, where there was greater
> risk of conflict."
>
>
> In other words, the pipelines Putin wanted closed are now closed,
> thanks to his newfound love of breakaway ethnic minorities.
>
> Anyone think it's a coincidence that these pipelines are run by the
> same company Putin is trying to dispossess in the TNK deal?
>
> No, of course you don't.
>
> This is transparent.
>
> Obviously I don't care if BP shareholders get dispossessed of
> anything, except if you give me a choice between having assets ruled
> by Putin or by BP - an unpleasant choice in an unpleasant world -
> I'll take BP every time. I prefer modern financial imperialism to the
> old style of murder-based imperialism.
>
> Here is the line that's coming, BTW:
>
> First, there is the ethnic-minority, NATO-imperialist canard.
>
> Then there is the "offense".
>
> Then there is the action on the basis of "righteous" response to threat.
>
> Then there will the boorish hand waving: "you see? your precious
> pipeline is fine, we don't even want it, it doesn't work anyway."
>
> Goal achieved (the important thing in all that was the "it doesn't
> work"), the Kremlin will start "negotiating" the "new reality" in the
> Caspian.
>
> Then will come the "charm" offensive, as Russia promotes "stability"
> and "justice for ethnic minorities" in what just happens to be an area
> that allows strategic control of Caspian oil and gas reserves. The US
> - desperate for a strongman who has the muscle they need - will
> probably bend over for Putin, as they have done.
>
> If they are really, really smart - and I think Putin is - the Russians
> will take the HUGE opportunity that Bush missed and start backing the
> Kurds. They may have started already, witness the pipeline fire.
> Again, the new Putin has found that he absolutely LOVES breakaway
> ethnic minorities.
>
> There are a lot of Kurds in Georgia. A Russian-dominated Georgia plus
> an active, Russian-backed Kurdistan movement would effectively provide
> a geographical checkmate to European access to Caspian Oil.
>
> It is such basic geo-politics that one finds oneself once again amazed
> at Bush's stupidity. He got all the problems of invading Iraq and none
> of the benefits. Potentially, and with the help of the Kurds, the
> unstable Armenian and Azeri regions, and other ethnic minorities,
> Russia and Iran could dominate and control the flow of oil from
> Kirkuk, north.
>
> Now I happen to be very sympathetic to the Kurds. I happen to like
> them and would like - on a sentimental basis - to see the formation of
> a Kurdistan. However, I would not like to see it if it means the
> splitting of a huge portion of the world's oil wealth between the
> Iranian mullahs and the Russian mafia. And as much as I would like to
> see world socialism, I do NOT think the way to get there is to oppose
> financial capitalism by backing thugs and religious zealots.
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