Chossudovsky on the Balkans and oil pipeline politics

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Article by: Michel Chossudovsky                          
Thursday 26 Jul 2001
                        
Summary:Michel Chossudovsky, Professor of Economics at the University of
Ottawa explains the forces at work in the Balkans.

Weblink: http://www.bsrec.bg/taskforce/SYNERGY/oilprojects2.html

Reference at indymedia website:
http://www.indymedia.org:8081//front.php3?article_id=55639

Article:

 See map at  http://www.bsrec.bg/taskforce/SYNERGY/oilprojects2.html

 Washington\'s covert war in Macedonia purports to consolidate America\'s
sphere of
 influence in southeastern Europe. At stake is the strategic
 Bulgaria-Macedonia-Albania transport, communications and oil pipeline
\"corridor\"
 which links the Black Sea to the Adriatic coast. Macedonia stands at the
 strategic crossroads of the oil pipeline corridor.

 To protect these pipeline routes, Washington\'s goal is to install a
\"patchwork
 of protectorates\" along strategic corridors in the Balkans.  The promise of
 \"Greater Albania\" used by Washington to foment Albanian nationalism is
part of
 the military-intelligence ploy.  Amply documented, the latter consists in
 financing and equipping the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and its National
 Liberation Army (NLA) proxy to wage the terrorist assaults in Macedonia.

 The development of America\'s sphere of influence in Southeastern Europe --in
 complicity with Britain-- supports the interests of the oil giants including
 BP-Amoco-ARCO, Chevron and Texaco. Securing control and \"protecting\" the
 pipeline routes is paramount to the success of these multi-billion dollar
 ventures:

 AA successful international oil regime is a combination of economic,
political,
 and military arrangements to support oil production and transportation to
 markets.1

 The Anglo-American consortium which controls the AMBO Trans-Balkan pipeline
 project linking the Bulgarian port of Burgas to Vlore on the Albanian Adriatic
 coastline largely excludes the participation of Europe\'s competing oil giant
 Total-Fina-Elf. 2 In other words, US strategic control over the pipeline
 corridor is intent upon weakening the role of the European Union and keeping
 competing European business interests at arms\' length.

 WHO IS BEHIND THE TRANS-BALKAN PIPELINE?

 The US based AMBO pipeline consortium is directly linked to the seat of
 political and military power in the United States and Vice President Dick
 Cheney\'s firm Halliburton Energy.3   The feasibility study for AMBO\'s
 Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline, conducted by the international engineering
company of
 Brown & Root Ltd. [Halliburton\'s British subsidiary] has determined that this
 pipeline…will become a part of the region\'s critical East-West corridor
 infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fiber optic
 telecommunications lines.4

 And upon completion of the feasibility study by Halliburton, a senior
executive
 of Halliburton was appointed CEO of AMBO.  Halliburton was also granted a
 contract to service US troops in the Balkans and build \"Bondsteel\" in
Kosovo,
 which now constitutes \"the largest American foreign military base constructed
 since Vietnam\".5 Coincidentally, White and Case LLT, the New York law
firm that
 President William J. Clinton joined when he left the White House also has a
 stake in the AMBO pipeline deal.

 MILITARISATION OF THE PIPELINE CORRIDORS

 The AMBO Trans-Balkans pipeline project would link up with the pipeline
 corridors between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea basin, which lies at
the hub
 of the World\'s largest unexplored oil reserves (See map of
 http://www.bsrec.bg/taskforce/SYNERGY/oilprojects2.html). The
militarisation of
 these various corridors is an integral part of Washington\'s design.

 The US policy of  \"protecting the pipeline routes\" out of the Caspian
Sea basin
 (and across the Balkans) was spelled out by Clinton\'s Energy Secretary Bill
 Richardson barely a few months prior to the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia:

 \"This is about America\'s energy security… It\'s also about preventing
strategic
 inroads by those who don\'t share our values. We\'re trying to move these
newly
 independent countries toward the west… We would like to see them reliant on
 western commercial and political interests rather than going another way.
We\'ve
 made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it\'s very
important
 to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right.\"6

 The Anglo-American oil giants, including BP-Amoco-Arco, Texaco and Chevron
 --supported by US military might-- are competing with Europe\'s oil giant
 Total-Fina-Elf (associated with Italy\'s ENI) which is a big player in
 Kazakhstan\'s wealthy North East Caspian Kashagan oil fields. The stakes are
 high:  Kashagan is reported \"so large as to even surpass the size of the
North
 Sea oil reserves.\"7 The competing EU based consortium, however, lacks a
 significant stake and leverage in the main pipeline routes out of the Caspian
 Sea basin and back (via the Black Sea and through the Balkans) to Western
 Europe. The key pipeline corridor projects  --including the AMBO project
and the
 Baku-Cehyan project through Turkey  to the Mediterranean-- are largely in the
 hands of their Anglo-American rivals, which rely heavily on US political and
 military presence in both the Caspian basin and the Balkans.

 Washington\'s design is to eventually distance all three AMBO countries,
namely
 Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania from German-EU influence through the
 installation of full-fledged US protectorates. In other words, US
militarisation
 and geopolitical control over the projected pipeline linking Burgas in
Bulgaria
 to the Adriatic port of Vlore in Albania is intent upon undermining EU
influence
 as well as weakening competing Franco-Belgian-Italian oil interests.

 Negotiations concerning the AMBO pipeline have been supported by US government
 officials through the Trade and Development Agency\'s  (TDA) South Balkan
 Development Initiative (SBDI) \"designed to help Albania, Bulgaria and FYR
 Macedonia further develop and integrate their transportation infrastructure
 along the east-west corridor that connects them.\"8

 The TDA points to the need for the three countries to \"use regional
synergies to
 leverage new public and private capital [from US companies]\" while
underscoring
 the responsibility of the US government  \"for implementing the initiative.\"
 With regard to the AMBO pipeline, it would appear that the EU has largely been
 excluded from the planning and negotiations. \"Memoranda of
understanding\" (MOU)
 have already been signed with the governments of Albania, Bulgaria and
Macedonia
 which strip the countries\' national sovereignty over both the pipeline
and the
 transport corridors  by providing \"exclusive rights\" to the Anglo-American
 consortium:

 \" …[The] MOU states that AMBO will be the only party allowed to build the
 planned Burgas-Vlore oil pipeline. More specifically, it gives AMBO the
 exclusive right to negotiate with investors in and creditors of the
project. It
 also obligates … [the governments of Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania] not to
 disclose certain confidential information on the pipeline project.9

 \"EAST-WEST CORRIDOR 8\"

 The AMBO pipeline project is linked up with another strategic project entitled
 \"Corridor 8\", initially proposed by the Clinton Administration in the
context of
 the \"Balkans Stability Pact\". Of strategic importance to both the US and the
 European Union, \"Corridor 8\" includes highway, railway, electricity and
 telecommunications infrastructure. In turn, the existing infrastructure in
these
 sectors is slated for deregulation and privatisation (at rock bottom prices)
 under IMF-World Bank supervision.

 Although rubber-stamped by EU transport ministers as part of the process of
 European economic integration, \"Corridor 8\" feasibility studies were
conducted
 by US companies financed directly by the TDA. In other words, Washington seems
 to have set the stage for the takeover of the countries\' transport and
 communications infrastructure. American corporations including Bechtel, Enron
 and General Electric (with financial backing from the US government) are
 competing with companies from the European Union.

 Washington\'s design is to open up the entire corridor to US
multinationals in a
 region situated in the European Union\'s \"economic backyard\", where the
power of
 the Deutschmark tends to dominate over that of the US dollar.

 \"EU ENLARGEMENT\"

 In early 2000, the European Commission began negotiations on EU associate
 membership status with Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania. And in April 2001, at
 the height of the terrorist assaults, Macedonia became the first country
in the
 Balkans to sign a so-called \"stabilisation and association agreement\" (SAA)
 constituting an important step towards full EU membership. The agreement
 provides the basis for \"trade liberalisation, political co-operation,
economic
 and institutional reform and transplantation of EU legislation.\" Under
the SAA,
 Macedonia would (de facto) be integrated into the European monetary
system, with
 full access to the EU market.10

 The terrorist assaults coincided chronologically with the process of \"EU
 enlargement\", gaining momentum barely a few weeks before the signing of the
 historic \"association agreement\" with Macedonia. Amply documented, the
US has
 military advisers working with the terrorists.  Was this a mere coincidence?

 Also, Robert Frowick, \"a former US diplomat\", was appointed to head the OSCE
 mission in Macedonia in mid-March, again barely a few weeks before the signing
 of the \"association agreement.\" In close liaison with Washington and the US
 embassy in Skopje, Frowick initiated a \"dialogue\" with NLA rebel leader Ali
 Ahmeti. He was also instrumental in brokering an agreement between Ahmeti and
 the leaders of the Albanian parties, which form part of the government
 coalition.

 This agreement negotiated by Frowick has largely contributed to destabilising
 political institutions, while at the same time jeopardising the process of EU
 enlargement.11 Moreover, the deteriorating security situation in Macedonia has
 provided a pretext for increased US political, \"humanitarian\" and military
 interference, while contributing to weakening Skopje\'s economic and political
 ties to Germany and the EU. In this regard, one of the \"binding
conditions\" of
 the \"association agreement\" is that Macedonia conform to \"EU standards on
 democracy\".12 Needless to say, without a \"functioning government\" in
Macedonia,
 the EU association process with Brussels cannot proceed.

 The puppet governments installed in Tirana, Skopje and Sofia, while largely
 responding to US diktats, are currently being swayed in the direction of the
 European Union. Washington\'s intent is ultimately to curb Germany\'s
\"Lebensraum\"
 into Southeastern Europe.  While paying lip service to \"EU enlargement\",
the US
 has consistently favoured \"NATO enlargement\" as a means to pursuing its
 strategic interests in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, while Germany and
France
 have opposed it.

 While the tone of international diplomacy remains mannerly and polite, US
 foreign policy under the Bush administration has become distinctly
 \"anti-European\".  According to one observer:

 \"At the heart of the Bush team, Colin Powell is [considered] the friend
of the
 Europeans, while the other ministers and advisers are considered arrogant,
hard
 and indisposed to listen or to give the Europeans a place.\"13

 GERMANY AND AMERICA

 Amply documented, the CIA is behind the KLA and the NLA rebels, who are waging
 the terrorist assaults against the Macedonian security forces. While the
CIA\'s
 German counterpart the Bundes Nachrichten Dienst (BND) collaborated with
the CIA
 in overseeing and financing the KLA prior to the 1999 war, recent developments
 suggest that the BND is not involved in Washington\'s
military-intelligence ploy
 in Macedonia.14    Barely a few weeks before the signing of the \"association
 agreement\" with the European Union, German troops stationed in Macedonia
in the
 Tetovo region were (mid March 2001) \"accidentally\" targeted by the NLA.
While
 the Western media --echoing in chorus the official statements-- maintains that
 German troops were \"caught in the cross-fire\", reports from Tetovo
suggest that
 the NLA shelling \"was deliberate.\" In any event, the incident would not have
 occurred had Germany\'s BND been working with the rebel army:

  \"Up to 600 German troops were forced to leave Tetovo overnight after their
 barracks… were caught in crossfire… [They] were too lightly armed to defend
 themselves against the Albanians. The Germans will replace the departing
troops
 with a Leopard tank squadron [belonging to the Panzer-Artillerie-Batterie
 division stationed in Nordrein-Westphalen]. …[T]he new [German] firepower
may be
 used to knock out Albanian positions now established around Tetovo,…\" 15

 In a bitter irony, two of the commanders responsible for the terrorist
assaults
 in the Tetovo region had been trained by British Special Forces:

 \"Embarrassingly for KFOR, it emerged that two of the Kosovo-based commanders
 leading the Albanian push [into the Tetovo region] were trained by former
 British SAS and Parachute Regiment officers in the days when NATO was more
 comfortable with the fledgling Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).  A former
member of
 a European special forces unit who accompanied the KLA during the Kosovo
 conflict said that a commander with the nom de guerre of Bilal was organising
 the flow of arms and men into Macedonia, and that the veteran KLA
commander Adem
 Bajrami was helping to co-ordinate the assault on Tetovo. Both were taught by
 British soldiers in the secretive training camps that operated above Bajram
 Curri in northern Albania during 1998 and 1999.\"16   These same British
trained
 rebel commanders view Germany as the \"enemy\" because Bundeswehr troops
stationed
 in Macedonia and Kosovo --rather than  providing \"protection\"  to NLA
\"freedom
 fighters\" in the same way as their British and American KFOR counterparts--
 frequently detain \"suspected terrorists\" at the border:

  \"A spokesman for the Albanians\' National Liberation Army (NLA) in Pristina
 warned the Bundeswehr its involvement would constitute \'a declaration of
war by
 the Federal Republic of Germany\'\". 17

 In response to NLA threats, the Bundeswehr sent in its own Special Forces, the
 Fallschirmjäger (Parachutists) to work with its Panzer-Artillerie-Batterie
 squadron.18 German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping confirmed that \"he was
 ready to send more tanks and troops to bolster Bundeswehr forces\".19 Yet in
 recent developments, Berlin has chosen to withdraw most of its troops from the
 Tetovo region and not in any way challenge the US military-intelligence
ploy in
 support of the NLA rebels.  Some of these German troops are now stationed
on the
 Kosovo side of the border.

 While the NLA received a shipment of brand new advanced weaponry \"made in
 America\", Germany donated (mid-June) to the Macedonian Security forces all
 terrain vehicles as well as weapons \"for sophisticated infrared tracing
in the
 battlefield.\"  According to a report from Macedonia, the small contingent of
 German troops which still remains in the Tetovo region \"was under heavy
attack
 from the terrorists who attacked them with mortar from the mountains above
 Tetovo. That is probably the response of yesterday\'s [14 June 2001]
donation to
 our army made by the German government\".20

 While divisions between \"NATO allies\" are never made public, Germany\'s
Foreign
 Minister Joschka Fischer --in a strongly worded statement to the Bundestag
 directed against \"the Albanian extremists in Macedonia\"-- has called for \"a
 long-term arrangement, aimed to make the whole region closer to Europe.\"
(i.e.
 free of US encroachment). The German position is in marked contrast to
that put
 forth by the US, which requires the Skopje government to grant amnesty to the
 terrorists, modify the country\'s constitution and incorporate the NLA
rebels in
 civilian politics:

 \"The pact reportedly called for the rebels to stop their fight in
exchange for
 amnesty  guarantees. The rebels would also have the right to veto future
 political decisions regarding ethnic Albanian rights. The accord was
reportedly
 mediated by Robert Frowick, a former U.S. envoy who currently served as a
Balkan
 representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe.\" 21

 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AXIS

 The clash between Germany and America in the Balkans is part of a much broader
 process which affects the heart of the Western military-industrial complex and
 defence establishment.

  From the early 1990s, the US and Germany have acted jointly as NATO
partners in
 the Balkans, coordinating their respective military, intelligence and foreign
 policy initiatives. While maintaining in their public statements a
semblance of
 political unity, serious divisions started to emerge in the wake of the Dayton
 Accords (1995), as German banks scrambled to impose the Deutschmark and take
 over the monetary system of Yugoslavia\'s successor states.

  Moreover, in the wake of the 1999 war in Yugoslavia, the US has
reinforced its
 strategic, military and intelligence ties with Britain, while Britain has
 severed many of its ties (particularly in the area of defence and aerospace
 production) with Germany and France.

 Launched in early 2000, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and his British
 counterpart, Geoff Hoon, signed a “Declaration of Principles for Defense
 Equipment and Industrial Cooperation\'\'. 22 Washington’s objective was to
 encourage the formation of a “transatlantic bridge across which the DoD [US
 Department of Defense] can take its globalization policy to Europe.\"23

 The US defence industry --which now includes British Aerospace Systems
(BaeS)--
 is clashing with the Franco-German defence consortium EADS  --a conglomerate
 composed of France\'s Aerospatiale Matra, Deutsche Aerospace, which is part of
 the powerful Daimler group, and Spain\'s CASA. In other words, a major
split in
 the Western military-industrial complex has occurred with the US and
Britain on
 one side and Germany and France on the other.

 Oil, guns and the Western military alliance are intimately related processes.
 Washington\'s design is to eventually ensure the dominance of the US
 military-industrial complex in alliance with the Anglo-American oil giants and
 Britain’s major defense contractors.  These developments evidently also have a
 bearing on the control over strategic pipelines, transport and communications
 corridors in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

 In turn, this Anglo-American axis is also matched by increased cooperation
 between the CIA and Britain’s MI5 in the sphere of intelligence and covert
 operations as evidenced by the role played by British SAS Special Forces in
 training KLA rebels.

 WAR,  \"DOLLARISATION\" AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER

 \"Protection\" of the pipelines, covert activities and the recycling of
drug money
 in support of armed insurgencies, militarisation of strategic corridors,
defence
 procurement to \"Partnership for Peace\" (PfP) countries are all an
integral part
 of the Anglo-American axis and its quest to dominate oil and gas routes and
 transport corridors out of the Caspian sea basin and from the Black sea across
 the Balkans.

 More generally, what is happening in the broader region linking Eastern Europe
 and the Balkans to the former Soviet republics is a relentless scramble for
 control over national economies by competing business conglomerates. And
behind
 this process is the quest by Wall Street\'s financial establishment --in
alliance
 with the defence and oil giants-- to destabilise and discredit the Deutschmark
 (and the Euro) with a view to imposing the US dollar as the sole currency for
 the region.

 Control over \"money creation\"  --imposing the rule of the US Federal Reserve
 system throughout the World-- has become a central feature of US expansionism.
 In this regard, Washington\'s military-intelligence ploy not only consists in
 undermining \"EU enlargement\", it is also intent upon weakening and
displacing
 the dominion of Germany\'s largest banking institutions (e.g. Deutsche Bank,
 Commerzbank and WestDeutsche Landesbank) throughout the Balkans.

 In other words, the New World Order is marked by the clash between Europe and
 America for \"colonial control\" over national currencies. And this conflict
 between \"competing capitalist blocks\" will become increasingly acute when
 several hundred million people from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to Central
 Asia start using the Euro as their \"de facto\" national currency on
January 1st
 2002.

 See map at http://www.bsrec.bg/taskforce/SYNERGY/oilprojects2.html).

 NOTES

 1 Robert V. Baryiski, The Caspian Oil Regime: Military Dimensions, Caspian
 Crossroads Magazine ,Volume 1, Issue No. 2, Spring 1995.
 2. Reference to the European Union in this article should be interpreted
as the
 \"European Union minus Britain\".
 3 See Albanian Telegraph Agency, Tirana 28 July 1998 and Milsnews, Skopje, 23
 January, 1997 available at
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a379fb721329c.htm.
 4. Milsnews, op cit.
 5. See Karen Talbot\'s incisive analysis: \"Former Yugoslavia: The Name of the
 Game is Oil, People\'s Weekly World, May 2001 at
 http://www.ecadre.net/pages/news/stories/990197752.shtml, see also Marjorie
 Cohn, \"Pacification for a pipeline: explaining the US Military presence
in the
 Balkans, The Jurist, Legal Education Network, June 2001,
 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumnew22.htm.
 6. George Monbiot, A Discreet Deal in the Pipeline, The Guardian, 15  February
 2001.
 7. Richard Giragosian, \"Massive Kashagan Oil Strike Renews Geopolitical
 Offensive In Caspian\", The Analyst, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Johns
 Hopkins University-Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, 7
 June, 2000, http://www.soros.org/caucasus/0059.html.
 8. See the Trade and Development (TDA) by Region at
 http://www.tda.gov/region/sbdi.html.
 9. Alexander Gas and Oil Connections,
 http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/nte04224.htm, October 2000.
 10.   Under so-called \"asymmetric trade preferences\" with the EU.
 11.  For further details on the role of Robert Frowick, see Michel
Chossudovsky,
 \"Macedonia: Washington\'s Military-Intelligence Ploy\". June 2001
 12. See AFP, 10 April 2001.
 13. According to Pascal Boniface, director of the Paris Institute of
 International and Strategic Relations, UPI, 11 April 2001.
 14. For details on CIA-BND support to the KLA see Michel Chossudovsky,
\"Kosovo
 Freedom Fighters Financed by Organised Crime\", Covert Action Quarterly, Fall
 1999 also available  at http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/2743/1.html),
 15 Tom Walker, NATO Troops caught in a Balkan Ulster, Sunday Times, London, 18
 March 2001,
 16. Ibid.
 17. Ibid.
 18. See Deutsche Fallschirmjäger nach Tetovo, Spiegel Online, 24 March
2001, see
 also, Bundeswehr verlegt Soldaten ins Kosovo, Spiegel Online, 23 March 2001.
 19. Deutsche Press Agentur, 19 March 2001,
 20.  Information transmitted to the author from Skopje, June 2001.
 21.  Facts on File, World News Digest, 30 May 2001.
 22. Reuters, 5 February 2000.
 23. The agreement was signed (according to a Pentagon official quoted in
 Muradian) shortly after the creation of British Aerospace Systems
resulting from
 the merger of BAe with GEC Marconi. British Aerospace (Bae) was already firmly
 allied to America’s largest defense contractors Lockheed Martin and
Boeing. For
 further details see Vago Muradian,  Pentagon Sees Bridge to Europe,  Defense
 Daily, Vol. 204, No. 40 Dec. 01, 1999.

  Recent articles by the author on the Balkans:
 \"Washington Finances Ethnic Warfare in the Balkans\", April 2001, at
 http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/fin.htm or
 http://www.canadiandimension.mb.ca/extra/x0404mc.htm

 \"Economic Terrorism\", May 2001 at
 http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/choss/eco1.htm or
 http://alainet.org/active/show_news.phtml?news_id=1225.

 © Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, June 2001. All rights reserved.
 Permission is granted to post this text on non-commercial community internet
 sites, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is
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 publish this text in printed and/or other form, contact the author at
 chossudovsky@videotron.ca, fax: 1-514-4256224.