Neil Bush to Visit Georgia (tomorrow)--Interfax/Russia & more

[Gloria]

from the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


5//Interfax, Russia Jun 21 2005 10:23PM

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11313857



NEIL BUSH TO VISIT GEORGIA



TBILISI. June 21 (Interfax) - U.S. President George Bush's brother Neil Bush will make an unofficial visit to Georgia on June 22, the Georgian media reported on Tuesday.



Bush is to meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli and other officials.



The media did not give any details regarding the cultural program of Bush's visit.

Saakashvili's press service did not deny or confirm the information about the visit. (End Item)



RELATED:



6//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia 21/06/2005 20:41

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050621/40563467.html



OPINION & ANALYSIS: RUSSIA TO EXPORT ITS OIL SOUTH



MOSCOW. (Anatoly Belyayev, for RIA Novosti) - Predictably, BP Azerbaijan has said that it does not want to export oil produced in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea via the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline.



This means that Russia, which is already losing its influence on the Caucasus, will suffer serious economic losses.



Baku explains its decision in terms of economic expediency. BP Azerbaijan pays $4-5 per barrel if it exports Caspian oil by rail via Georgia, whereas the Baku-Novorossiisk route costs three times more.



Economics is not the only thing that matters. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the main rival of the Russian route, will start operating this fall. This allegedly unprofitable and controversial project was launched in 1998 in Ankara when the presidents of Turkey, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia, plus then U.S. Energy Secretary William Richardson, signed a declaration committing themselves to facilitate the construction of the pipeline. However, the consortium's Western members were in no hurry to finance the project. In May 2001, David Woodward, the then Azerbaijani International Operating Company (AIOC) president, said he doubted whether most Caspian oil would be pumped along this route. To be cost-effective, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline would have had to pump 50 million metric tons of oil annually for the next 40 years. But the Caspian region apparently does not contain enough oil.



The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and rocketing global oil prices increased U.S. and EU demand for oil sources alternative to the Middle East. The United States, Israel and Turkey, all greatly interested in this route, pressured hesitant and shortsighted businessmen. Political pressure and rising fuel and energy prices made the project more attractive, and much more profitable. It is hardly surprising that BP Azerbaijan President David Woodward called the Caspian region a new promising energy source independent of the Middle East and Russia.



The Kremlin naturally wanted to pump Caspian oil via Russian territory.

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[rexcat]

1. I wonder...

if he will have a female knock on his door in evening and invite herself in for the evening.

[Raster]

2. wonder how many hookers they've got lined up for his visit?

you know, the ones that just "appear" at his door scantily clad with that "come-fuck-me" look in their eyes... he's probably seen more infections than a petri dish.

[Ilsa]

3. I wonder if the latest Mrs. Neil Bush is accompanying him

to prevent such a scene? She'd be an idiot not to be suspicious.

[Raster]

4. she'd be an idiot not to keep her mouth shut and just go with the flow

I'm surprised Sharon is still breathing.

[Ilsa]

5. True. My naivete gets the best of me sometimes.

That's really horrible... comparing the naivete of a sexual tryst with the likelihood of "disposal." These people really are low.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

7. I never...NEVER...get tired of THIS one:

:evilgrin:

[Miss Chybil]

6. What is this, a fucking dynasty?

:grr:

[lumpy]

8. What's next?

Is the little king so desparate he will send his ditzy daughters to act in some official goodwill compacity.

[Dover]

9. Well, so far the U.S. has secured the Balkans and the 'Stans'

primarily by way of CIA-induced coups. We have bases going into place all along the pipeline route and Russia is being left out to dry. Much of this plan was spelled out in Brzezinski's, The Grand Chessboard. Check it out for yourself:
http://book-case.kroupnov.ru/pages/library/Grand/


So what will be Russia's next move?