This post is duplicated here because tblog is down right now (14Jan2005 00:23AM GMT)
(tblog is spewing SQL errors, they will probbly fix it in a couple of hours)

. Pipelineistan & Putin
Mike Whitney: 'Vladimir Putin and the global realignment'11January2005
Khodorkovsky tried to transfer ownership of Russia's largest oil company Yukos to friends in Israel and put American businessmen in charge of overall operations. It was a clear strategy to shift control of Russia's greatest natural resource to outside of the country. ..Putin responded by arresting him and putting Yukos under state control. In other words, he acted in the public interest

Caspian capers By Sergei Blagov ..26Aug2004
Moscow has been insisting that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is not economically viable, indicating that Russia remains wary of the US-backed project. Last February, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev came to Moscow to reassure Russia that the BTC was not intended to damage Russia's economic interests.
Coincidence or not, Kalyuzhny happened to be the BTC's most zealous critic. He threatened to undermine Kazakh crude oil supplies to the BTC, accusing Washington of sponsoring the BTC pipeline in order to bypass Russia. Following Kalyuzhny's removal, it remains to be seen whether Russia can remain opposed to the BTC, as well as the US pursuit of the Caspian's hydrocarbon riches


the Forging of Pipelineistan 2002 Jan

Putin's hands on the oil pumps By John Helmer Aug01

26Jan 2002 THE ROVING EYE Pipelineistan, Part 2: The games nations play By Pepe Escobar
MOSCOW - For a decade Washington has backed the Turkish and Azerbaijan governments to steer the export of Caspian region crude oil away from Russia. Russia's newest riposte has been to ally the Russian and Iranian oil industries, and open up the shortest, cheapest and most lucrative oil route of all, southwards out of the Caspian to Iran.