The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline which pumps up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from Azerbaijan to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, and which is eventually shipped to Europe, was threatened in the most recent conflict. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world. It was reported by Georgian officials on several occasions that during the conflict, Russian warplanes had attempted to bomb the pipeline yet failed. (Most bizarrely, in an unrelated incident, a Turkish section of the pipeline caught fire).
Russia is the dominant oil and gas supplier to Western Europe yet the BTC pipeline oil does not cross Russian territory, so there is a real question of energy politics here. So vital is the pipeline that it is reported that the United States military’s Special Forces trained 1,500-2,000 Georgian soldiers in anti-terrorism techniques under a $64 million program designed to protect the pipeline against those seeking to sabotage it.
There have been many (investment bankers through to journalists) who claim that the conflict was merely a local war for local people – involving the Georgians, the Russians, the South Ossetians and the Abkhaz.
This implies that the conflict was not about Russia warring with the Western world or Europe; nor was it concerned about energy. What do you think?
