Oil track

Datum:          Mon, 22 Oct 2001 12:58:57 -0600
An:                     ecol-econ@csf.colorado.edu
Von:                    Barry Carter <bcarter@igc.org>
Betreff:                Re: Terrorism and Ecol-Econ may relate.

Dear Doug,

At 10:07 PM 10/21/2001 -0700, Doug Bashford wrote:


The environmental and economic links to the terrorist attacks appear to 
be
strong enough to support our exclusive attention. The US government 
has lusted
after an oil pipeline through Afghanistan for a long time. You can read a 
DOE
assessment of this "problem" at:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/afghan.html

Journalists and academic writers around the world are speculating that 
the
search for Osama bin Laden may be just cover for the establishment of a
government in Afghanistan which is more favorable to such a pipeline. 
You can
read some of these articles on the following web pages:

http://www.atimes.com/global-econ/CJ06Dj01.html

http://www.bushbacklash.com/NewFiles/oilwars.html

http://www.brojon.com/frontpage/bj091701.html

http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/10/16/18147.html

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumnew33.htm

The recent oil-industry-sponsored coup in the US installed a regime 
which is
certainly willing to procure oil at any environmental or social cost.

We build corporate, governmental and religious structures and give them 
control
of many of the things we think we need to survive. Soon these structures 
take
on a life of their own and perpetuate themselves by threatening to take 
away
what we need if we don't support their agenda. They control us with fear.

If a terrorist is one who commits acts that spread fear then the greatest
terrorists are the mass media who have been spreading an epidemic of 
belief,
which is being used to channel our outrage at the September 11 events 
into
unquestioned support for another oil war in the Middle East.

I think that the way to bring change to structure is inherent in the term
"ecological economics". The study of ecology is the study of how all of 
the
parts interact and contribute to the benefit of the whole. Structure tends 
to
isolate parts and characterize them as being separate from the whole. If 
we
wish to change structure we must bring more wholistic thought to bear 
on it.

Unfortunately the term "wholistic thought" is a bit of an oxymoron. We 
usually
think of thought as being a sort of binary either-or logic while wholistic
nature is more of a spectrum of possibility and actuality. If we have a
wholistic sense it would be beyond this sort of dualistic thought.

Terrorists like Osama and the news media like to paint the world as a 
black and
white picture. They use terms like "good and evil" to justify their actions. 
To
the extent that our thinking is wholistic and ecological we will not be 
taken
in by dualistic thinking.

Figuring out how to get away from dualistic thinking has been a major 
focus of
my attention because I figure that wholistic being is the best way to bring
change to the structures which we have empowered to control us. What 
has worked
in my life is to change my focus from what I don't want (or what I fear) to
what I do want and then to trust the whole to bring what I do want into
manifestation.

In my own thought I call my connection to ecology or the whole "love". I 
think
it is the same thing that scientists like David Bohm, Mae Wan Ho and 
Philip
Callahan call quantum coherence. I have noticed that when I describe a 
desired
outcome and then quit thinking about it and think about love instead, the
outcome often manifests in a very short time.

I have also noticed that the path to a given outcome is rarely what I 
thought
it might be. The best that I have found to do is to always be ready to 
follow
any opportunity which presents itself. I see little point in thinking about 
how
to get to the outcome, as much of this thought is often anticipation of
problems which then become the things which are manifest instead of the
original thing that I wanted.

I believe that as we take care of our own inner ecology we become more
supportive of the global ecology and less supportive of structure. 
Structure
depends on our fear of lack to mobilize support for its agenda. As we 
realize
that we can manifest what we want using the technique I described, we 
become
less fearful and dependent on the benefits which structure claims to 
provide.

--

With kindest regards,

Barry Carter
<bcarter@igc.org>
Web Pages:
Forest - http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/bmnfa/index.htm
ORMUS - http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/whatisit.htm
Phone: 541-523-3357

Attend to what is directly before you.  You have no responsibility to save
the world or find the solutions to all problems--but to attend to your
particular personal corner of the universe.  As each person does that, the
world saves itself.
-Jane Roberts, Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment






September 2001
Afghanistan

The information contained in this report is the best available
as of September 2001 and can change.

General Background
Afghanistan's significance from an energy standpoint stems from
its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and
natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea.  This
potential includes the possible construction of oil and natural gas
export pipelines through Afghanistan, which was under serious
consideration in the mid-1990s.  The idea has since been
undermined by Afghanistan's instability.  Since 1996, most of
Afghanistan has been controlled by the Taliban movement, which
the United States does not recognize as the government of
Afghanistan.

On December 19, 2000, the UN Security Council imposed
additional sanctions against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban
movement (which controls around 95% of the country), including
an arms embargo and a ban on the sale of chemicals used in
making heroin. These sanctions (Resolution 1333) are aimed at 
pressuring Afghanistan to turn over Osama bin Laden, suspected in 
various terrorist attacks, including the August 1998 US Embassy 
bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.  These latest sanctions are in addition 
to sanctions (Resolution 1267) imposed on Afghanistan in November 
1999, which included a freeze on Taliban assets and a ban on 
international flights by Afghanistan's national airline, Ariana.  The 
Taliban reacted sharply to
the new sanctions, ordering a boycott of US and Russian goods, and 
pulling out of UN-mediated peace talks aimed at ending the country's 
civil war.

On November 29, 1999, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a report 
on Afghanistan which listed the country's major problems as follows: 
civil war (which has caused many casualties and refugees, and which has 
devastated the country's economy), record opium production, wide-scale 
human rights violations, and food shortages caused in part by drought.

According to the 2001 CIA World Factbook, Afghanistan is an extremely 
poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on farming and livestock 
raising.  Afghanistan has experienced over two decades of war, including 
the nearly 10-year Soviet military occupation (which ended in 1989). 
During that conflict one-third of the population fled the country, with 
Pakistan and Iran sheltering a combined peak of more than 6 million 
refugees.  Large Afghan refugee populations remain in Pakistan and
Iran. Gross domestic product has fallen substantially over the past 20 
years because of the loss of labor and capital and the disruption of trade 
and transport.  The severe drought of 1998-2000 added to these 
problems.  The majority of the population continues to suffer from 
insufficient food, clothing, housing, and medical care. Inflation remains a 
serious problem throughout the country. International aid can deal with 
only a fraction of the humanitarian problem, let alone promote economic 
development. The economic situation did not improve in 1999-2000, as 
internal civil strife has continued, hampering both domestic economic 
policies and international aid efforts. Numerical data are likely to be either 
unavailable or unreliable. Afghanistan was by far the largest world 
producer of opium poppies in 2000, and narcotics trafficking is a major 
source of revenues.

Energy Overview
The Soviets had estimated Afghanistan's proven and probable natural 
gas reserves at up to 5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in the 1970s.  Afghan 
natural gas production reached 275 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) in 
the mid-1970s. However, due to declining reserves from producing fields, 
output gradually fell to about 220 Mmcf/d by 1980. At that time, the 
Jorquduq field was brought online and was expected to boost Afghan 
natural gas output to 385 Mmcf/d by the early 1980s. However,
sabotage of infrastructure by the anti-Soviet mujaheddin fighters limited 
the country's total production to 290 Mmcf/d, an output level that was 
held fairly steady until the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. After the Soviet 
pullout and subsequent Afghan civil war, roughly 31 producing wells at 
Sheberghan area fields were shut in pending the restart of natural gas 
sales to the former Soviet Union.

At its peak in the late 1970s, Afghanistan supplied 70%-90% of its 
natural gas output to the Soviet Union's natural gas grid via a link 
through Uzbekistan. In 1992, Afghan President Najibullah indicated that 
a new natural gas sales agreement with Russia was in progress. 
However, several former Soviet republics raised price and distribution 
issues and negotiations stalled. In the early 1990s, Afghanistan also 
discussed possible natural gas supply arrangements with Hungary, 
Czechoslovakia, and several Western European countries, but these 
talks never progressed further.  Afghan natural gas fields include 
Jorqaduq, Khowaja Gogerdak, and Yatimtaq, all of which are located 
within 20 miles of the northern town of Sheberghan in Jowzjan province.  
Natural gas production and distribution is the responsibility of the 
Taliban-controlled Afghan Gas Enterprise.  In 1999, work resumed on the 
repair of a distribution pipeline to Mazar-i-Sharif.  Spur pipelines to a 
small power plant and fertilizer plant also were repaired and completed.  
Mazar-i-Sharif is now receiving natural gas from the pipeline, as well as
some other surrounding areas.  Rehabilitation of damaged natural gas 
wells has been undertaken at the Khowaja Gogerak field, which has 
increased natural gas production.

In February 1998, the Taliban announced plans to revive the Afghan 
National Oil Company, which was abolished by the Soviet Union after it 
invaded Afghanistan in 1979.  Soviet estimates from the late 1970s placed 
Afghanistan's proven and probable oil and condensate reserves at 95 
million barrels. Oil exploration and development work as well as plans to 
build a 10,000-bbl/d refinery were halted after the 1979 Soviet invasion.  
A very small amount of crude oil is produced at the Angot
field in the northern Sar-i-Pol province.  It is processed at a primitive 
topping plant in Sheberghan, and burned in central heating boilers in 
Sheberghan, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Kabul.  Another small oilfield at Zomrad 
Sai near Sheberghan was reportedly undergoing repairs in mid-2001.

Petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel are imported, 
mainly from Pakistan and Turkmenistan.  A small storage and distribution 
facility exists in Jalalabad on the highway between Kabul and Peshawar, 
Pakistan.  Turkmenistan also has a petroleum product storage and 
distribution facility at Tagtabazar near the Afghan border, which 
supplies northwestern Afghanistan.

Besides oil and natural gas, Afghanistan also is estimated to have 73 
million tons of coal reserves, most of which is located in the region 
between Herat and Badashkan in the northern part of the country. 
Although Afghanistan produced over 100,000 short tons of coal 
annually as late as the early 1990s, as of 1999, the country was producing 
only around 1,000 short tons.

Afghanistan's power grid has been severely damaged by years of war. 
Currently, the ruling Taliban are concentrating on rebuilding damaged 
hydroelectric plants, power distribution lines, and high-voltage cables.  
Production of power by Afghanistan's hydroelectric dams was 
negatively affected by the drought of 1998-2000, resulting in blackouts in 
Kabul and other cities.  Increased rainfall in 2001 has improved power 
production.  The Kajaki Dam in Helmand province near Kandahar is 
undergoing the addition of another generating turbine with assistance 
from the Chinese Dongfeng Agricultural
Machinery Company.  This will add 16.5 megawatts (MW) to its 
generating capacity when completed.  Transmission lines from the Kajaki 
Dam to Kandahar were repaired in early 2001, along with a substation in 
the city, restoring supplies of electricity.  The Dahla Dam in Kandahar 
province also has been restored to operation, along with the Breshna-
Kot Dam in Nangarhar province, which has a generating capacity of 11.5 
MW.  The 66-MW Mahipar hydro plant also is now operational.

Turkmenistan supplies electricity to much of northwestern Afghanistan.  
In October 1999, Afghanistan announced that it had reached agreement 
with Turkmenistan for electricity imports into northwestern Afghanistan, 
including power to the city of Herat and the Herat cement plant.  Another 
transmission line has been built from Turkmenistan to the city of 
Andkhoy, and one was under construction in 2001 to Sheberghan.  
Electricity has previously been imported from Uzbekistan for Mazar-i-
Sharif, but supplies were cut off during the winter of 1999 due to 
payment arrears.

Regional Pipeline Plans
In January 1998, the Taliban signed an agreement that would allow a 
proposed 890-mile, $2-billion,
1.9-billion-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas pipeline project led by Unocal 
to proceed. The proposed pipeline would have transported natural gas 
from Turkmenistan's 45-Tcf Dauletabad natural gas field to Pakistan, and 
most likely would have run from Dauletabad south to the Afghan border 
and through Herat and Qandahar in Afghanistan, to Quetta, Pakistan. 
The line would then have linked with Pakistan's natural gas grid at Sui. 
Natural gas shipments had been projected to start at 700
Mmcf/d in 1999 and to rise to 1.4 Bcf/d or higher by 2002. In March 1998, 
however, Unocal announced a delay in finalizing project details due to 
Afghanistan's continuing civil war. In June 1998, Gazprom announced 
that it was relinquishing its 10% stake in the gas pipeline project 
consortium (known as the Central Asian Gas Pipeline Ltd., or Centgas), 
which was formed in
August 1996. As of June 1998, Unocal and Saudi Arabia's Delta Oil held 
a combined 85% stake in Centgas, while Turkmenrusgas owned 5%. 
Other participants in the proposed project besides Delta Oil include the 
Crescent Group of Pakistan, Gazprom of Russia, Hyundai Engineering & 
Construction Company of South Korea, Inpex and Itochu of Japan

On December 8, 1998, Unocal announced that it was withdrawing from 
the Centgas consortium, citing low oil prices and turmoil in Afghanistan 
as making the pipeline project uneconomical and too risky. Unocal's 
announcement followed an earlier statement -- in August 1998 -- that the 
company was suspending its role in the Afghanistan gas pipeline project 
in light of the recent U.S. government military action in Afghanistan, and 
also due to intensified fighting between the Taliban and opposition
groups. Unocal had previously stressed that the Centgas pipeline project 
would not proceed until an internationally recognized government was in 
place in Afghanistan. To date, however, only three countries -- Saudi 
Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates -- have recognized the 
Taliban government.

Besides the gas pipeline, Unocal also had considered building a 1,000-
mile, 1-million barrel-per-day (bbl/d) capacity oil pipeline that would link 
Chardzou, Turkmenistan to Pakistan's Arabian Sea Coast via 
Afghanistan. Since the Chardzou refinery is already linked to Russia's 
Western Siberian oil fields, this line could provide a possible alternative 
export route for regional oil production from the Caspian Sea. The $2.5-
billion pipeline is known as the Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project. For a 
variety of reasons, including high political risk and security concerns, 
however, financing for this project remains highly uncertain.

In April 1999, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and the Taliban authorities in 
Afghanistan agreed to reactivate the Turkmenistan-Pakistan gas pipeline 
project, and to ask the Centgas consortium, now led by Saudi Arabia's 
Delta Oil (following Unocal's withdrawal from the project), to proceed.  
Periodic meetings to discuss the project have continued.  It remains 
unlikely, however, that this pipeline will be built.

Energy Infrastructure at a Glance

Oil

Angot Oilfield
Produces a small quantity of crude oil; located in Sar-i-Pol province
Zomrad Sai Oilfield
Reportedly undergoing rehabilitation; near Sheberghan
Sheberghan Topping
Plant
Primitive topping plant which processes crude oil for consumption in
heating boilers in Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Sheberghan
Jalalabad Storage
Facility
Petroleum product storage and distribution facility


Gas

Sheberghan Area Gas
Fields
The Jorqaduk, Khowaja Gogerak, and Yatimtaq gas fields are all
located within 20 miles of Sheberghan
Pipeline to
Mazar-i-Sharif
A pipeline connects these gas fields to Mazar-i-Sharif.Gas is used
for a small power plant, a fertilizer plant, and domestic use.
Local pipelines
Small local pipelines near the gas fields distribute gas in small
quantities to nearby villages and Sheberghan


Electricity

Kajaki Dam
Located in Helmand province near Kandahar; undergoing upgrade
which will add a third generating turbine and increase its installed
capacity by 16.5 MW (from its current 33 MW capacity);
transmission lines to Kandahar repaired in early 2001.
Mahipar Dam
Installed capacity of 66 MW.Repaired and operational.
Breshna-Kot Dam
Installed capacity of 11.5 MW.Repaired and operational.In
Nangarhar province near Jalalabad.
Breshna-Kot Substation
Reportedly undergoing repairs.
Dahla Dam
Kandahar province.Repaired and operational.
Mazar-i-Sharif Power
Plant
Small gas-fired power plant near Mazar-i-Sharif, with an installed
capacity of 35 MW.
Transmission Lines from
Turkmenistan
Transmission lines from Turkmenistan supply power to several cities
in northwestern Afghanistan, including Herat, and Andkhoy.A line
was under construction in early 2001 to Sheberghan.


Note: This listing of Afghanistan’s energy infrastructure was compiled 
from information available in press and media
sources, and should not necessarily be considered comprehensive.  Only 
facilities which have been reported to be
functional or under repair have been included.



U.S. Geological Survey - Map of Afghanistan's Natural Resources




Sources for this report include: BBC Monitoring South Asia; BBC 
Summary of World Broadcasts; Dow Jones;
Economist Intelligence Unit Viewswire; Financial Times Asia Intelligence 
Wire; Foreign Broadcast Information
Service(FBIS).

For more information from EIA on Afghanistan, please see:
EIA - Country Information on Afghanistan


Links to other U.S. government sites:
2001 CIA World Factbook - Afghanistan
U.S. State Department Travel Warning on Afghanistan
U.S. State Department Consular Information Sheet -- Afghanistan
U.S. Geological Survey - Afghanistan Natural Resources Map

The following links are provided solely as a service to our customers, 
and therefore should not be construed as advocating or reflecting any 
position of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) or the United 
States Government. In addition, EIA does not guarantee the content or 
accuracy of any information presented in linked sites. 
The Islamic State of Afghanistan
Afghanistan Online
Washington Post: World Reference -- Afghanistan
University of Texas at Austin: Afghanistan Information
Afghanistan - Roads and Airports Map
ReliefWeb - Map of Afghanistan's Provinces
Afghanistan Today
Afghan Network

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File last modified: September 24, 2001

Contact:

Lowell Feld
lowell.feld@eia.doe.gov
Phone: (202) 586-9502
Fax: (202) 586-9753


URL: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/afghan.html






October 6, 2001
atimes.com

Global Economy

The oil behind Bush and Son's campaigns
By Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI - Just as the Gulf War in 1991 was all about oil, the new
conflict in South and Central Asia is no less about access to the region's
abundant petroleum resources, according to Indian analysts.

"US influence and military presence in Afghanistan and the Central Asian
states, not unlike that over the oil-rich Gulf states, would be a major
strategic gain," said V R Raghavan, a strategic analyst and former general
in the Indian army. Raghavan believes that the prospect of a western
military presence in a region extending from Turkey to Tajikistan could
not have escaped strategists who are now readying a military campaign
aimed at changing the political order in Afghanistan, accused by the
United States of harboring Osama bin Laden.

Where the "great game" in Afghanistan was once about czars and
commissars seeking access to the warm water ports of the Persian Gulf,
today it is about laying oil and gas pipelines to the untapped petroleum
reserves of Central Asia. According to testimony before the US House
of Representatives in March 1999 by the conservative think tank
Heritage Foundation, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan together have 15 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The
same countries also have proven gas deposits totaling not less than nine
trillion cubic meters. Another study by the Institute for Afghan Studies
placed the total worth of oil and gas reserves in the Central Asian
republics at around US$3 trillion at last year's prices.

Not only can Afghanistan play a role in hosting pipelines connecting
Central Asia to international markets, but the country itself has 
significant
oil and gas deposits. During the Soviets' decade-long occupation of
Afghanistan, Moscow estimated Afghanistan's proven and probable
natural gas reserves at around five trillion cubic feet and production
reached 275 million cubic feet per day in the mid-1970s. But sabotage
by anti-Soviet mujahideen (freedom fighters) and by rival groups in the
civil war that followed Soviet withdrawal in 1989 virtually closed down
gas production and ended deals for the supply of gas to several
European countries.

Major Afghan natural gas fields awaiting exploitation include Jorqaduq,
Khowaja, Gogerdak, and Yatimtaq, all of which are located within 9
kilometers of the town of Sheberghan in northrern Jowzjan province.

Natural gas production and distribution under Afghanistan's Taliban
rulers is the responsibility of the Afghan Gas Enterprise which, in 1999,
began repair of a pipeline to Mazar-i-Sharif city. Afghanistan's proven
and probable oil and condensate reserves were placed at 95 million
barrels by the Soviets. So far, attempts to exploit Afghanistan's
petroleum reserves or take advantage of its unique geographical location
as a crossroads to markets in Europe and South Asia have been
thwarted by the continuing civil strife.

In 1998, the California-based UNOCAL, which held 46.5 percent
stakes in Central Asia Gas (CentGas), a consortium that planned an
ambitious gas pipeline across Afghanistan, withdrew in frustration after
several fruitless years. The pipeline was to stretch 1,271km from
Turkmenistan's Dauletabad fields to Multan in Pakistan at an estimated
cost of $1.9 billion. An additional $600 million would have brought the
pipeline to energy-hungry India.

Energy experts in India, such as R K Pachauri, who heads the Tata
Energy Research Institute (TERI), have long been urging the country's
planners to ensure access to petroleum products from the Central Asian
republics, with which New Delhi has traditionally maintained good
relations. Other partners in CentGas included the Saudi Arabian Delta
Oil Company, the Government of Turkmenistan, Indonesia Petroleum
(INPEX), the Japanese ITOCHU, Korean Hyundai and Pakistan's
Crescent Group.

According to observers, one problem is the uncertainty over who the
beneficiaries in Afghanistan would be - the opposition Northern Alliance,
the Taliban, the Afghan people or indeed, whether any of these would
benefit at all. But the immediate reason for UNOCAL's withdrawal was
undoubtedly the US cruise missile attacks on Osama bin Laden's
terrorism training camps in Afghanistan in August 1998, done in
retaliation for the bombing of its embassies in Africa. UNOCAL then
stated that the project would have to wait until Afghanistan achieved the
"peace and stability necessary to obtain financing from international
agencies and a government that is recognized by the United States and
the United Nations".

The "coalition against terrorism" that US President George W Bush is
building now is the first opportunity that has any chance of making
UNOCAL's wish come true. If the coalition succeeds, Raghavan said, it
has the potential of "reconfiguring substantially the energy scenarios for
the 21st century".

(Inter Press Service)

©2001 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.
Room 6301, The Center, 99 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong






BROTHER JONATHAN'S
FRONT PAGE NEWS


THE DISMANTLING OF AMERICA
POSTED: 09/17/01


THE DISMANTLING OF AMERICA
The Phoney War in Afghanistan

the bottom line .....


The current "war" on Afghanistani terrorism is a misdirection and a hoax. 
As pointed out in
the book "Black Gold Hot Gold" the oil expected to flow from the vast 
oilfields under the
Russian Caspian Sea, discovered about 20 years ago remains undrilled 
and untapped. That
field contains about 500 years worth of oil at present world consumption 
rates.

The only possible oil pipeline routes at the present time to handle the 
massive flow of oil
from the Caspian Sea region under Chenya is either through Kosovo to 
the Mediterranean
Sea, or through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. Two 
years ago, the Clinton
administration attempted to place Kosovo under international control 
and begin pipeline
construction, but was unable to complete the process.

The normal oil route would have been to move oil from Chenya, across 
the Black Sea and
through the Bosporus to the Mediterranean. But the narrow Bosporus 
channel is already
clogged with oil tankers from the existing Black Sea oilfields. The only 
alternate is to move
the tankers from the Black Sea, bypassing the Bosporus, up the Danube 
River and then
through a very short pipeline across Kosovo to the Mediterranean at 
Tirana, Albania. That
process was stopped by the Chinese who have supplied and armed the 
Albanians, as a
client state, since 1949.

Following the Soviet discovery of the vast Chechen oilfields in the late 
1970's, they
attempted to take control of Afghanistan to provide a massive pipeline 
system to allow the
Soviets to market their oil directly from the Afghan-Pakistan seaport. 
This resulted in the
decades long Soviet-Afghan war. The Soviets were stopped by the U.S. 
supplied and armed
insurgent groups, including Osama bin Laden, who defeated the Soviets 
in the late 1980's.

The Soviets had massively built up their military in the 1980's, including 
the world's largest
nuclear submarine fleet, gambling on the huge profits to be made by 
selling their Chechen oil
on the open market. When the Afghans under bin Laden, backed by the 
U.S. CIA stopped the
construction of the Soviet-Afghan pipeline, the Soviet Union went 
through an economic
collapse and ceased to exist in 1991.

The vast Chechen oilfield still remains fallow and untapped. As identified 
in "Black Gold
Hot Gold," the Empire of Energy is now making a new attempt to market 
the Chechen oil by
carpet bombing Afghanistan and building the Afghan pipeline.

George W. Bush's statement about declaring war on "terrorism" is 
obviously hollow and
sallow. It strangely does not include the terrorists in Northern Ireland, 
nor even the terrorist
suicide bombers among the Palestinians. Instead it makes an instant leap 
of logic to aim the
U.S. military directly at Afghanistan.

The terrain in northern Afghanistan is the arid rugged foothills of the 
Himalayas known as
the Hindu Kush and is defended by the large fierce tribal armies of the 
Northern Alliance who
are excellent guerilla fighters with years of experience fighting Soviets, 
now backed by the
Chinese, and not connected with the main Taliban government in Kabul. 
The Soviets spent
over 10 years at great expense to attack and "carpet bomb" Afghanistan, 
but they found
fortress Himalaya is impenetrable. The result was tremendous loss of 
Soviet lives and the
economic collapse of the Soviet Union.

George Bush is now leading the United States down that same road. The 
Empire of
Energy has for almost 100 years had as its goal the dismantling of the 
United States of
America and amalgamating it into one large global energy market. They 
have found in
George Bush a willing partner. Any war in Afghanistan would pit the 
U.S. against the Chinese
who just last week, on the day of the Word Trade Center attack, signed a 
mutual pact with the
Afghans.

In the last 50 years the U.S, has fought numerous wars against the 
Chinese, as in Korea,
Vietnam and elsewhere. In those wars the result was always a draw with 
massive loss of life.
Even high tech "smart" weapons in Kosovo were unable to defeat the 
Chinese. In the
upcoming Afghan war with the Chinese, the U.S. will lose by simple 
attrition. Neither smart
bombs nor nuclear bombs work against hidden terrorists or against 
fortress Himalaya. There
are more Chinese soldiers in uniform than the whole population of the 
U.S.

Numerous recent news stories indicate the attack on the World Trade 
Center was known
to the CIA and FBI weeks before the attack. Seemingly nothing was 
done. As for America, its
panzers ran out of gas with the "strange" fraudulent election of 
November 2000. Both G.W.
Bush and Al Gore were backed by the Empire of Energy, so it didn't 
matter for whom you
voted. Americans have been anesthetized and put to sleep by their lack 
of knowledge of
world history, as America disintegrates.

-------------- Marshall Smith

*  *  *  *  *

Excerpts from the ebook "Black Gold Hot Gold" are available on the 
Brother Jonathan
Gazette Front Page.


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Pravda.RU:Main:More in detail

14:11 2001-10-16
BILL SARDI: IS AN OIL PIPELINE BEHIND THE WAR IN 
AFGHANISTAN?

Testimony before the US Congress is circulating on the internet. It 
pertains to a proposed oil pipeline
through Central Asia that is applicable to the current war in Afghanistan.

On February 12, 1998, John J. Maresca, vice president, international 
relations for UNOCAL oil company, testified before the US House of 
Representatives, Committee on International Relations. Maresca 
provided information to Congress on Central Asia oil and gas reserves 
and how they might shape US foreign policy. UNOCAL's problem? As 
Maresca said: "How to get the region's vast energy resources to the 
markets." The oil reserves are in areas north of Afghanistan, 
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Routes for a pipeline 
were proposed that would transport oil on a 42-inch pipe southward thru 
Afghanistan for 1040 miles to the Pakistan coast. Such a pipeline would 
cost about $2.5 billion and carry about 1 million barrels of oil per day.

Maresca told Congress then that: "It's not going to be built until there is 
a single Afghan government. That's the simple answer."

Dana Rohrbacher, California congressman, then identified the Taliban as 
the ruling controllers among
various factions in Afghanistan and characterized them as "opium 
producers." Then Rohrbacher asked Maresca: "There is a Saudi terrorist 
who is infamous for financing terrorism around the world. Is he in the 
Taliban area or is he up there with the northern people?"

Maresca answered: "If it is the person I am thinking of, he is there in the 
Taliban area." This testimony
obviously alluded to Osama bin Laden. Then Rorhbacher asked: "... in 
the northern area as compared to the place where the Taliban are in 
control, would you say that one has a better human rights record toward 
women than the other?" Maresca responded by saying: "With respect to 
women, yes. But I don't think either faction here has a very clean human 
rights record, to tell you the truth."

So women's rights were introduced into Congressional testimony by 
Congressman Rohrbacher as the
wedge for UNOCAL to build its pipeline through Afghanistan. Three 
years later CNN would be airing ist acclaimed TV documentary "Under 
The Veil," which displayed the oppressive conditions that women 
endure in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban (a propaganda film 
for the oil pipeline?).

Rohrbacher then went on to say that a democratic election should take 
place in Afghanistan and "if the
Taliban are not willing to make that kind of commitment, I would be very 
hesitant to move foreward on a $2.5 billion investment because without 
that commitment, I don't think there is going to be any tranquility in that 
land."

Beginning in 1998 UNOCAL was chastized, particularly by women's 
rights groups, for discussions with the Taliban, and headed in retreat as 
a worldwide effort mounted to come to the defense of the Afghani 
women. This forced UNOCAL to withdraw from its talks with the Taliban 
and dissolve its multinational partnership in that region. In 1999 
Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections newsletter said: "UNOCAL company 
officials said late last year (1998) they were abandoning the project 
because of the need to cut costs in the Caspian region and because of 
the repeated failure of efforts to resolve the long civil conflict in 
Afghanistan." [Volume 4, issue #20 - Monday, November 22, 1999]

Three days following the attack on the World Trade Centers in New York 
City, UNOCAL issued a statement reconfirming it had withdrawn from its 
project in Afghanistan, long before recent events. [www.unocal.com 
September 14, 2001 statement]

UNOCAL was not the only party positioning themselves to tap into oil 
and gas reserves in central Asia.
UNOCAL was primary member of a multinational consortium called 
CentGas (Central Asia Gas) along with Delta Oil Company Limited (Saudi 
Arabia), the Government of Turkmenistan, Indonesia Petroleum, LTD. 
(INPEX) (Japan), ITOCHU Oil 
Exploration Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. 
(Korea), the Crescent Group (Pakistan) and RAO Gazprom (Russia).

Just because CentGas had dissolved does not mean that the involved parties have 
totally abandoned their interest in building an oil pipeline out of Central 
Asia. There is also talk of another pipeline thru Iran. India and Pakistan are 
bidding to be the pipeline terminal ocean port since they would obtain hundreds 
of millions of dollars in fees.

So, in 1998 Osama bin Laden was identified as the villain behind the Taliban, 
Afghanistani women the
victims of an oppressive Taliban regime, and the stage was set for a 
future stabilization effort (i.e. a war). Was all this a cover story for a 
future oil pipeline?

In November 2000, Bruce Hoffman, director of the Rand Institute office in 
Washington DC, indicated that the next US President would have to face 
up to the growing threat is Islamic terrorism. Hoffman: "The next 
administration must turn its immediate attention to knitting together the 
full range of US counterterrorist capabilities into a cohesive plan." [Los 
Angeles Times, November 12, 2000]

All that was needed was a triggering event.

Bill Sardi