OIL AND THE BATTLE FOR CHECHNYA
A Caucasian Republic
On An Oil Transit Corridor
Between The Caspian And Black Seas

Grozny, Chechnya

"The Clinton administration followed up by providing strong support to the KLA, even though it was known that the KLA supported the Muslim mujahadeen. Despite that knowledge, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had the KLA removed from the State Department list of terrorists. This action paved the way for the United States to provide the KLA with needed logistical support. At the same time, the KLA also received support from Iran and Usama bin Laden, along with 'Islamic holy warriors' who were jihad veterans from Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Swiss journalist Richard Labeviere, in his book, 'Dollars for Terror,' said that the international Islamic networks linked to bin Laden received help from U.S. intelligence community. Indeed, Chechen sources claim that U.S. intelligence also aided them in their opposition to Russia. Given that U.S. policy in the post-Cold War period has not only been anti-Russian but anti-Iranian, the United States worked closely with Pakistan's predominantly Sunni Inter-Services Intelligence organization. Through ISI, the United States recruited Sunni mujahadeen by staging them in Chechnya to fight in Bosnia and later in Kosovo."
Michael Maloof, Post 9/11 Pentagon Counterterrorism Adviser
Iran subversion in Balkans
G2 Bulletin, 25 September 2006
(Who is Michael Maloof? - Click Here)

".... the Caspian Sea oilfields and control of pipelines through the Caucasus were a major factor behind Moscow's use of force against the rebels."
Back garden 'oil barons' spring up in Chechnya
Daily Telegraph, 7 June 2002

"Moscow first sent tanks to Chechnya, to topple its separatist leaders and curb organised crime, at the end of 1994. The Russian forces were routed in their first battle and were ultimately driven out of Chechnya in August 1996. They were sent back in 1999 by Vladimir Putin - then prime minister, later president - after 300 people died in a chain of bombings blamed on Chechens. Chechen rebels had also provoked Moscow by inciting an Islamist uprising in the neighbouring republic of Dagestan."
BBC Quick Guide: The Chechen conflict

"President Putin has drawn a line in the mountains of the North Caucasus beyond which Russia will not withdraw.... Mr Putin has also added into this complex mix the spectre of international (by which he means Islamic) terrorism and an accusation that unnamed foreign countries want to break bits off Russia.... An oil pipeline from Azerbaijan used to run through Chechnya, but it was by-passed after earlier fighting and now goes through Dagestan. There is oil and gas to be developed in the Caspian Sea and Russia wants a stable area through which to pass supplies."
Chechnya: Why Putin is implacable
BBC Online, 6 September 2004

"While it would be a distortion of history to claim that the struggle between Russia and Chechnya arises solely because of the of the jockeying for control of the Chechen oil deposits, refineries as well as the crucial pipeline which passes through Grozny, there is no doubt that petroleum has played a central role in the dispute. Given the potential of what seem to be vast untapped deposits in the Caspian Sea and the fact that the best if not only pipeline route from the Caspian through Russia to the West runs through Grozny, the odds are that tensions between Russia and Chechnya will not soon disappear. That will be the case even if constitutional matters dealing with regional rights and the integrity of the Russian Republic can be resolved.... Much more important in today's world is the fact that that Grozny is at the hub of Russia's pipeline network from the Caucasus' and most important to the vast deposits in the Caspian sea off Azarbajian........ If Russia's only concern was the Chechan rebellion, Russia would not be so anxious about the development of mineral reserves in the Caspian. However, in the aftermath of the breakup of the USSR, and the emergence of a newly assertive 'independent' Azerbaijan, Russian oil policy has suddenly taken on a new importance. This is due to the fact that there is a real possibility that Russia may find itself looking on from the outside as Azerbaijan, not Russia, becomes the recipient of billions of dollars worth of royalties from the sale of Caspian oil. Given the growing likelihood of such a development, the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and the Chechan pipeline have suddenly become matters of international power politics, not only in the Kremlin, but because of the intense interest in the area by American oil companies, by the Washington White House.... It is easy to understand the Russian concerns. Oil from Caspian Sea deposits were first developed in the days of the czars and expanded in the Soviet era. Why should other governments now become the beneficiary of this initial work.... This hardening of attitudes is part of the growing suspicion by the Russians of western intentions. It is not just that oil companies from Russia's former enemies have been gathering data and control over what was once the Soviet Union's most valuable resources, but that their efforts seem to be part of a strategy to cut Russia off completly from the Trans Caucasus. How else can the United States support of Chechnya and 'The Confederation of Mountain Peoples' be explained..... As if all this were not threatening enough, the United States and its obedient oil companies have also begun to insist on the opening of a second pipeline route from the Caspian Sea....The real reason the American oil companies want to ship through Georgia they insist is to deprive the Russians of the transit fees and insure that the Russians will lose monopoly control over the pumping and shipping of Caspian Oil."
Marshall I. Goldman, Associate Director, Russian Research Center, Harvard University
Petroleum, Pipelines and Paranoia in the Caucasus
International Conference on 'International Law and the Chechen Republic', Cracow, Poland, Dec.1995

'It's The Oil Pipeline Corridors Stupid'

Russian Language Map of Pipeline Network Between Ukraine And Caspian
Ukraine = Top Left
Caspian Sea = Far Right
Black Sea = Bottom Left
Chechnya (Capital Grozny)  = Red
Dagestan =To east of Chechnya

"The vast expanses of the former Soviet Union harbor oil and gas riches which will be crucial in fueling the global economy in the next century. The huge oil reserves, estimated at over 25 billion barrels, under the Caspian Sea and in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are similar to those in Kuwait and larger than those in Alaska's Northern Slope and the North Sea combined. Control over these energy resources and export routes out of the Eurasian hinterland is quickly becoming one of the central issues in post-Cold War politics. Like the 'Great Game' of the early 20th century, in which the geopolitical interests of the British Empire and Russia clashed over the Caucasus region and Central Asia, today's struggle between Russia and the West may turn on who controls the oil reserves in Eurasia. The world now faces a choice between the cooperative exploitation by the East and West of natural resources or a wasteful struggle that could cost a fortune in blood and treasure. Regional conflicts in the Caucasus and Central Asia threaten to deny Western access to the vital oil and gas reserves the world will need in the 21st century. .......The U.S. needs to ensure free and fair access for all interested parties to the oil fields of the Caucasus and Central Asia. These resources are crucial to ensuring prosperity in the first half of the 21st century and beyond. Access to Eurasian energy reserves could reduce the West's dependence on Middle East oil and ensure lower oil and gas prices for decades to come..... the West has a paramount interest in assuring that the Caucasian and Central Asian states maintain their independence and remain open to the West. Otherwise, Moscow will capture almost monopolistic control over this vital energy resource, thus increasing Western dependence upon Russian-dominated oil reserves and export routes.... The U.S. should support a pipeline route through the territory of Georgia and Turkey that will bring oil from Eurasia to a Mediterranean port such as Ceyhan in Turkey..... One of the main goals of the Russian attack on Chechnya in December of 1994 was to ensure control of the oil pipeline which runs from Baku, via Grozny, the Chechen capital, to the Russian city of Tikhoretsk. The pipeline ends at the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, designed by Russia to be the terminal for the proposed Kazakh and Azerbaijani pipelines. In addition, Grozny boasts a large refinery with a processing capacity of 12 million tons per year.... Russia launched a massive but covert military action in the fall of 1994 to support opponents of Dudayev. In 1994, Dudayev turned to radical Islamic elements in the Middle East and Central Asia for support. This exacerbated the religious aspect of the conflict between the Muslim Chechens and Christian Orthodox Russians.... Another conflict affecting potential oil routes is occuring in the Caucasus republic of Georgia. Russia wants to prevent oil from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan from going the 'Western' route through Georgia to Turkey. Moscow's support of civil strife in Georgia is directly connected to its goal of perpetuating conflict in the Caucasus.... Another dangerous conflict is smoldering in Abkhazia, a breakaway region in Georgia. The bitter war in Abkhazia, which began in 1992, has claimed over 35,000 lives. It was precipitated by the Russian military backing the Abkhaz separatist minority against the Georgian government in Tbilisi. One purpose of the Russian intervention was to weaken Georgia and curb Turkish and Western influence in the region. But more important was the Russian goal of controlling access to oil. By acting as it did, Russia gained de facto control over the long Black Sea coastline in Abkhazia. Moscow also was protecting the Russian Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse and moving closer to the Georgian oil exporting ports in Poti, Supsa, and Batumi. In August 1995, Georgia's beleaguered President Shevardnadze agreed to place four Russian military bases on Georgian soil, thus assuring Russia's control of the oil exporting routes via the Black Sea coast.....The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is important because of the immense oil reserves controlled by Azerbaijan. Since the late 19th century, the oil in Azerbaijan has played a key role in the economies of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union, as well as in the global energy market. International business interests, such as the Nobel and Rothschild families, and even conquerors like Adolf Hitler have all vied at different times for control of Azerbaijan's oil. Even after 100 years of Russian imperial and Soviet exploitation, Azerbaijan still has some of the largest reserves in the world..... On October 9, 1995, the Azerbaijani International Oil Consortium (AIOC) announced that 'early' oil (approximately 80,000 barrels a month) would be split between two pipelines. The northern line would go to the Russian port of Novorossiysk (via unstable Chechnya) and the western line to the Georgian port of Supsa in two separate pipelines. This was a compromise decision supported by the Clinton Administration and aimed at placating Moscow, but it failed to do so.... Moscow has gone beyond words to establish its power in the Caucasus. The Russians are setting up military bases in the region in order to gain exclusive control over all future pipelines. Georgia now has four Russian bases and Armenia has three, while Azerbaijan is still holding out under severe pressure from Moscow. In addition, members of the Commonwealth of Independent States are required to police their borders jointly with Russian border guards, and thus are denied effective control over their own territory..... The struggle to reestablish a Russian sphere of influence in the Caucasus and Central Asia started in early 1992. While not a full-scale war, this struggle employs a broad spectrum of military, covert, diplomatic, and economic measures. The southern tier of the former Soviet Union is a zone of feverish Russian activity aimed at tightening Moscow's grip in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. The entire southern rim of Russia is a turbulent frontier, a highly unstable environment in which metropolitan civilian and military elites, local players, and mid-level officers and bureaucrats drive the process of reintegration...... Much is at stake in Eurasia for the U.S. and its allies. Attempts to restore its empire will doom Russia's transition to a democracy and free-market economy. The ongoing war in Chechnya alone has cost Russia $6 billion to date (equal to Russia's IMF and World Bank loans for 1995). Moreover, it has extracted a tremendous price from Russian society. The wars which would be required to restore the Russian empire would prove much more costly not just for Russia and the region, but for peace, world stability, and security..... Eurasian oil resources are pivotal to economic development in the early 21st century. The supply of Middle Eastern oil would become precarious if Saudi Arabia became unstable, or if Iran or Iraq provoked another military conflict in the area.... The oil and gas reserves of the Caucasus and Central Asia are vital to Western geostrategic and economic interests in the 21st century..... A major campaign to assert influence in the Russian 'near abroad' would be a setback for U.S. interests. In addition, control of the Caucasus and Central Asia would allow Russia geographical proximity to, and closer cooperation with, the anti-Western regimes in Tehran and Baghdad. Together, an anti-Western Russia, Iran, and Iraq, if they desired, could pursue a common interest in driving up the price of oil...."
The New 'Great Game': Oil Politics in the Caucasus and Central Asia
The Heritage Foundation, 25 January 1996

"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."
Bill Richardson 1998, US energy secretary,
on US policy on the extraction and transport of Caspian oil
'A discreet deal in the pipeline - Nato mocked those who claimed there was a plan for Caspian oil'
Guardian, 15 February 2001

"I just want to get back to Russia.  No matter how you might try to soft-pedal it, isn't the real significance of this is that this is a long-term strategic triumph over Russia's historic aspirations and interests in Central Asia?  And how will that strategic defeat for Russia, do you think, affect U.S.-Russian relations?  I mean, you talked about the intensity of opposition, nationalist opposition, in Russia to this project....... On the second of the two early pipelines you mentioned, one that's been shut down due to the fighting in Chechnya.  Could you tell us what the points -- where that pipeline begins and ends, how much oil it moves, when it opened and when it got shut down?....."
Question Asked At
White House Press Briefing by Senior Administration Official
On Caspian Sea Diplomacy and the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline
Conrad International Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey, 17 November 1999

"The Druzhba system supplies much of the Russian energy, mainly gas, on which the EU has become dependent, and while the EU is keen to keep its Russian energy flowing - attaching great importance to maintaining good relations with Moscow - Western governments and companies also regard themselves as being in territorial and commercial competition with Russia. The West has a distinct preference for transit routes which avoid Russian territory or regions under heavy Russian influence, as well as being keen to secure energy markets which are currently, or potentially, lucrative for the Russian energy companies, mainly the giant Gazprom. This company already has the lion's share of the east European market - inherited from the communist era - which is set to grow significantly and which will increase the EU's energy dependency on Russia as these countries accede to the EU. Competition with Gazprom to secure the Turkish gas market is also raging. A crucial piece of this geopolitical jigsaw is the limited capacity of Turkey's Bosphorus Straits to handle the increasing oil tanker traffic from the eastern Black Sea ports out towards the Mediterranean and world markets. This has dictated the need for overland pipelines which bypass this shipping lane: southerly across Turkey (the Baku-Ceyhan plan) or westerly from the Black Sea ports of Bulgaria and Romania. However, for the last decade transit problems closer to source have presented the greatest hurdles, in particular those facing the BP Amoco-led AIOC in its need for an 'early oil' pipeline from Azerbaijan to a Black Sea port. While most of a pipeline route north-westwards to the Russian port of Novorossiisk was already in place, it passed right through Grozny, the war in Chechnya rendering the pipeline often unusable until the Russians built a bypass pipeline around the war zone. Greater investment and time were required for an alternative route through Georgia to its Black Sea port of Supsa, but highlighted the merits of a diverse, multiple pipeline strategy:"
A Meeting of Blood and Oil: The Balkan factor in Western energy security
Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, Vol.4, No.1, May 2002, pp.75-89

"Why would a group of leading American neo-conservatives, dedicated to fighting Islamic terror, have climbed into bed with Chechen rebels linked to al-Qaeda? The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC), which includes Pentagon supremo Richard Perle, says the conflict between Russia and Chechnya is about Chechen nationalism, not terrorism.  The ACPC savaged Russia for the atrocities its forces have committed in the Caucuses, said President Vladimir Putin was 'ridiculous', claimed Russia was more 'morally' to blame for the bloodshed than Chechen separatists and played down links between al-Qaeda and the 'Chechen resistance'. The ACPC's support for the Chechen cause seems bizarre, as many of its members are among the most outspoken US policymakers who have made it clear that Islamist terror must be wiped out. But the organisation has tried to broker peace talks between Russia and Chechen separatists. The ACPC includes many leaders of the neo-conservative think-tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which advocates American domination of the world.... ACPC executive director Glen Howard said the continuation of the 'brutalising tactics' of Russian forces would only lead to 'the resistance employing more brutal tactics' like the assault on School Number One in Beslan...... The nurturing of Chechen fighters against Russia recalls America's support for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan - an act that went on to spawn al-Qaeda and the Taliban.... Howard said hardliners like Richard Perle were backing Chechnya as they 'understood what it feels like to be under the Russian yolk'.  Some critics believe the support for the Chechens may be a cold war hangover or part of a policy to keep Russia weak through bloodletting in the Caucuses.... According to Howard, due to the vast energy resources in the Caucuses, the West, which is heavily dependent on foreign energy, has strategic interests in the area to which it cannot afford to turn a blind eye."
US neo-cons: Kremlin is 'morally' to blame for the school massacre
Sunday Herald - 12 September 2004

"Some Russian analysts argue that Turkey and the US are supporting the Ceyhan [rival pipeline] project [which passes through Georgia] so as to elbow Russia off the Caspian. Furthermore, Ankara's quiet support to the Chechen militants has been said to be designed to sustain volatility in the northern Caucasus - which would make it impossible for the competing CPC [Russian pipeline] project to proceed."
CONFLICT-CAUCASUS: Petrodollars Behind the Chechen Tragedy
Inter Press Service - 7 Dec 1999

"Forget the war on terrorism. The United States is once again supporting the drug dealers, gangsters and warlord fundamentalists. The other day a State Dept. official met Chechnya’s self-declared foreign minister, Ilyas Akhmadov. The Russians were dismayed. Having thrown their lot in with the supposed common struggle against terrorism, they find the Americans giving support to terrorists. Last month, after a post-Sept. 11 lull, the U.S. stepped up its criticism of human rights abuses in Chechnya. The Russians professed to be 'amazed' that the United States, as Agence France Presse reported, would meet with Chechens, 'whose direct links with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are being proven with constantly emerging, irrefutable evidence' ... Chechnya has always been seen here as a rerun of Kosovo, which itself was a rerun of Afghanistan.... Consider Kosovo: The U.S. is currently brokering a deal on the distribution of power. Leaders of the three leading Kosovo Albanian parties recently met the head of the U.S. office in Pristina, John Menzies, and it was proposed that the job of prime minister should go to Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK). Thaci is the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Its links to Islamic terrorism and bin Laden have been amply documented.... The KLA-NLA terrorists are funded by U.S. military aid, the UN peacekeeping budget, Al Qaeda and by drug trafficking and prostitution. If everything goes according to plan, their leader is about to be appointed prime minister thanks to U.S. efforts. O what a lovely war! Now on to Central Asia..... Washington now has 13 bases in nine countries ringing Afghanistan and in the Gulf..... Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz says the bases will serve to facilitate cooperation and training with the local military. In other words, the U.S. will, as in the Balkans, play the Islamists and anti-Islamists off against each other and reduce the countries to abject dependence. If the fates of Kosovo and Macedonia are anything to go by, the Soviet Union era will soon seem like a glorious one. "
TAKI'S TOP DRAWER
New York Press, 6 February 2002

"Of the many issues baffling Western observers about Russia's intervention in Chechnya, the question of timing -- why now? -- has gone unanswered. The reason is simple: oil. Chechnya, as many correspondents have noted, has considerable oil reserves of its own that Moscow clearly wants to hold onto. But this would not explain the timing. Indeed, oil production in Chechnya has been dropping drastically -- by some 71 percent since 1991. Much more significant is the fact that control of Chechnya enables Russia to control the flow of natural resources, mainly oil and gas, from its former Soviet republics. The small mountain region sits astride a critical pipeline that links the oil-rich republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (on the landlocked Caspian Sea) with the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. Over recent months, a series of seemingly unrelated developments threatened to eliminate that strategic leverage, upping the ante on Yeltsin as he sought to contain the Chechnya movement for independence. Last September, in a deal that went virtually unnoticed except by a few oil executives in the West, Azerbaijan signed what it called 'the deal of the century' -- an $8 billion oil deal with a broad consortium of Western oil companies. The contract, worked out over months of hard bargaining, called for building a new pipeline that would skirt Russia to channel Azeri oil through Turkey or Iran to Western buyers. Although Moscow managed to strongarm its way into a 10 percent cut of the deal, it stands to gain far greater control of both the licensing fees and the spigot if Kazakh oil flows along the existing pipeline from the landlocked Caspian Sea through a Russian-controlled Chechnya to the West. Another important deal is soon to be signed among Kazakhstan, Russia and a Western consortium led by British Gas to develop the giant Karachaganak natural gas field in Kazakhstan. Originally, this plan -- which comes on the heels of even larger deals Kazakhstan signed with Chevron and other U.S. firms to develop its vast oil fields -- did not include direct Russian participation. But Moscow has made it evident it wants equity participation in all energy export deals planned by its former republics. Upcoming negotiations will focus on the terms for Gazprom's -- Russia's state-owned natural gas company -- participation, and arrangements for transporting the Kazakh gas and liquid condensate across Russian territory. All told, these foreign deals with Central Asian states that border Chechnya total nearly $28 billion, far too much money for a cash-strapped Russia to ignore for the sake of risking another blotch on its inglorious record on human rights. Yeltsin has cited numerous other factors to explain the military imbroglio in Chechnya, ranging from the domino effect it could have on other republics, to Chechen criminality to the dreaded spread of Islam through the Caucasus and Central Asia. But more clues have surfaced recently pointing to the oil imperative. Yeltsin recently named a former Soviet oil minister, Salambek Hajjiev, as head of the so-called Chechen 'Government of National Rebirth' and has vowed to install him once the rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudayev is subdued. In a letter dated Dec. 21, 1994, written by Yeltsin's increasingly influential bodyguard, Gen. Alexander Korzhakov, to Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin, Korzhakov warned against giving Westerners too much control of Russia's raw materials. He further instructed the prime minister to review his recent agreements with the World Bank aimed at liberalizing oil exports on the grounds that they would prove 'profitable to the World Bank, but not for Russia.' Until now, the general's letter -- mysteriously leaked to the press -- was treated as a bizarre act in Russia's palace politics. But with Yeltsin's bodyguard assuming a kind of Rasputin role, his missive looks more and more like the smoking gun behind the Chechen invasion. At the least, it reveals the premium Yeltsin places on retaining control of oil flowing from all the former Soviet republics."
What does Russia see in Chechnya? Oil
By Andrew Meier
Date: January 20, 1995

"U.S. post-Cold War era foreign policy has designated Central Asia and the Caucasus as a 'strategic area.' Yet this policy no longer consists of containing the 'spread of communism', but rather in preventing Russia and China from becoming competing capitalist powers . In this regard, the U.S. has increased its military presence along the entire 40th parallel, extending from Bosnia and Kosovo to the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of which have entered into bilateral military agreements with Washington. The 1999 war in Yugoslavia and the subsequent outbreak of war in Chechnya in September 1999 was a crucial turning point in Russian-American relations. It also marked a rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing, and the signing of several military cooperation agreements between Russia and China. U.S. covert support to the two main Chechen rebel groups (through Pakistan’s ISI) was known to the Russian government and military. (For further details, see Chapter II.) However, it had previously never been made public or raised at the diplomatic level. In November 1999, the Russian Defence Minister, Igor Sergueyev, formally accused Washington of supporting the Chechen rebels. Following a meeting held behind closed doors with Russia’s military high command, Sergueyev declared that: 'The national interests of the United States require that the military conflict in the Caucasus [Chechnya] be a fire, provoked as a result of outside forces', while adding that 'the West’s policy constitutes a challenge launched to Russia with the ultimate aim of weakening her international position and of excluding her from geo-strategic areas'. In the wake of the 1999 Chechen war, a new 'National Security Doctrine' was formulated and signed into law by Acting President Vladimir Putin, in early 2000. Barely acknowledged by the international media, a critical shift in East-West relations had occurred. The document reasserted the building of a strong Russian State, the concurrent growth of the Military, as well as the reintroduction of State controls over foreign capital. The document carefully spelled out what it described as ' fundamental threats' to Russia’s national security and sovereignty. More specifically, it referred to 'the strengthening of military-political blocs and alliances' [namely GUUAM], as well as to 'NATO’s eastward expansion' while underscoring 'the possible emergence of foreign military bases and major military presences in the immediate proximity of Russian borders.' The document confirms that 'international terrorism is waging an open campaign to destabilize Russia.' While not referring explicitly to CIA covert activities in support of armed terrorist groups, such as the Chechen rebels, it nonetheless calls for appropriate 'actions to avert and intercept intelligence and subversive activities by foreign states against the Russian Federation.' The cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy has been to encourage — under the disguise of 'peace-keeping' and so-called 'conflict resolution' — the formation of small pro-U.S. States which lie strategically at the hub of the Caspian Sea basin, which contains vast oil and gas reserves...."
The Anglo-American Military Axis
Centre For Research On Globalisation, 10 March 2003

"Russia's main pipeline route transits through Chechnya and Dagestan. Despite Washington's perfunctory condemnation of Islamic terrorism, the indirect beneficiaries of the Chechen war are the Anglo-American oil conglomerates which are vying for control over oil resources and pipeline corridors out of the Caspian Sea basin. The two main Chechen rebel armies (respectively led by Commander Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab) estimated at 35,000 strong were supported by Pakistan's ISI, which also played a key role in organizing and training the Chechen rebel army......Following his training and indoctrination stint, Basayev was assigned to lead the assault against Russian federal troops in the first Chechen war in 1995. His organization had also developed extensive links to criminal syndicates in Moscow as well as ties to Albanian organized crime and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In 1997-98, according to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) 'Chechen warlords started buying up real estate in Kosovo... through several real estate firms registered as a cover in Yugoslavia'.Basayev's organisation has also been involved in a number of rackets including narcotics, illegal tapping and sabotage of Russia's oil pipelines, kidnapping, prostitution, trade in counterfeit dollars and the smuggling of nuclear materials..."
Who Is Osama Bin Laden?
Centre for Research on Globalisation, 12 September 2001

"From the start of the Beslan hostage crisis, President Putin drew clear parallels with 9/11. He asked the United Nations Security Council to condemn the siege under Resolution 1373, which Washington pushed through on September 28, 2001.... Sergei Lavrov, his Foreign Minister, asked Britain and the US to extradite prominent Chechen separatists. Driving the point home, Mr Lavrov even met Rudolph Giuliani, who was Mayor of New York in September 2001. But, say analysts, the parallels end there....  The Kremlin accuses Britain and the US of double standards for granting political asylum to Chechen rebel representatives and advocating negotiations with moderate separatist leaders. Several hundred people joined a rally outside the British Embassy yesterday demanding that Britain extradite the rebel representative Akhmed Zakayev, who was granted asylum last year. 'Blair, prove that you are against terrorism! Extradite Zakayev!' read one banner. Another rally was held at the US Embassy to demand the extradition of the Chechen separatist, Ilyas Akhmadov."
Siege fallout deepens Russia's rift with the West
London Times, 11 September 2004

"Russia summoned Washington's envoy on Friday to protest a U.S. television network's airing of an interview with a Chechen rebel leader that threatened to add to strains between the two countries. In the interview, broadcast by ABC on Thursday night, warlord Shamil Basayev accused Russia of killing thousands of civilians and defended his own raids -- the bloodiest of the 10-year Chechen war -- as part of a struggle for independence. 'We invited the deputy chief of mission to express our views over the broadcasting of an interview with a terrorist. ... We expressed our strong indignation,' a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. 'The TV channel has shown outrageous neglect of the standards of responsible journalism and general human values.' The United States condemned Basayev as a terrorist but said it could not dictate what interviews U.S. networks aired. 'This is a constitutional right of an American media outlet to broadcast an interview, and we did not have any role to play in the decision to air the interview,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. Washington has criticized some Arab media for interviews with militants and, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, asked U.S. networks to consider whether statements by al Qaeda leaders contained hidden messages before broadcasting them..... Basayev organized the attack on a school in Beslan in September, when 330 hostages -- more than half of them children -- died after a three-day siege. The warlord, who has spearheaded Chechen resistance for a decade and has a $10 million price on his head, has also sent hostage-takers and suicide bombers into Moscow and other Russian towns in operations that have killed hundreds.Russia accuses him of links to al Qaeda and says the Chechen war is part of the global struggle against terrorism.It is quick to criticize any Western sympathy for the Chechen cause as proof of "double standards" in the fight, and has previously slammed the United States and Britain for refusing to extradite rebels. 'These notorious double standards and double approaches continue to exist. ... Undoubtedly, this sours our cooperation (with the United States) and gives a boost to terrorist activists,' Anatoly Safonov, President Vladimir Putin's special representative for the war against terrorism, told Interfax news agency.... Basayev happily admitted he was a terrorist in the ABC interview, but said the Russians were worse. 'If they are the keepers of constitutional order, if they are anti-terrorists then I spit on all these agreements and nice words,' he said."
Russia summons U.S. envoy over Basayev interview
Reuters, 29 July 2005

An empire's fraying edge
Feb 10th 2005 | BESLAN, NALCHIK, NAZRAN AND VLADIKAVKAZ
From The Economist print edition
The creeping destabilisation of the north Caucasus, and what it means for the future of Russia

"The Caucasus is among the most vital regions of the world for the United States, said Commander of the United States European Command James Jones..... At the hearings in the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services on March 1 General Jones presented an analytical report on the current and future military strategic interests of the United States in the world. 'Caucasus is increasingly important for our interests,' he said. This region is a key one in the process of spreading democracy and market economy to the countries of Central and Southeast Asia, Mr. Johns said. In the coming five years Caspian oil running across the Caucasus may account for 25% of the world increase in oil production, he said. It has been estimated by the U.S. military that the Caucasian oil and gas will ensure a diversification of the energy sources for Europe, the general said, according to a RIA Novosti report."
U.S. Commander-in-Chief in Europe: Caucasus is vital for U.S.
Pravda, 4 March 2005

North Caucasus: At a glance

British And American Covert Operations In Chechnya

"The Clinton administration followed up by providing strong support to the KLA, even though it was known that the KLA supported the Muslim mujahadeen. Despite that knowledge, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had the KLA removed from the State Department list of terrorists. This action paved the way for the United States to provide the KLA with needed logistical support. At the same time, the KLA also received support from Iran and Usama bin Laden, along with 'Islamic holy warriors' who were jihad veterans from Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Swiss journalist Richard Labeviere, in his book, 'Dollars for Terror,' said that the international Islamic networks linked to bin Laden received help from U.S. intelligence community. Indeed, Chechen sources claim that U.S. intelligence also aided them in their opposition to Russia. Given that U.S. policy in the post-Cold War period has not only been anti-Russian but anti-Iranian, the United States worked closely with Pakistan's predominantly Sunni Inter-Services Intelligence organization. Through ISI, the United States recruited Sunni mujahadeen by staging them in Chechnya to fight in Bosnia and later in Kosovo."
Michael Maloof, Post 9/11 Pentagon Counterterrorism Adviser
Iran subversion in Balkans
G2 Bulletin, 25 September 2006

"As the intelligence newsletter Stratfor -- which Time magazine ranked as the nation's top intelligence site in 2003, and which Barron's described as 'a private quasi-CIA' -- pointed out a few months ago, with Ukraine now firmly in the West's orbit, America, with NATO and the EU, has managed to succeed exactly where Hitler and Napoleon failed: it has dismantled the Russian empire, leaving the rump state exposed, weakened and essentially at the West's mercy....  In the wake of the Beslan massacre in September, 2004, in which hundreds of children were killed during a Chechen separatist seizure of a school in southern Russia, President Putin went on television and blamed certain foreign powers for supporting the terrorists with the aim of defanging Russia for good, breaking it apart, and seizing its valuable resources. He did not name the United States, but it was clear whom he meant. .....Stratfor, whose politics could be described as something between patriotic-American and realpolitik, agreed. According to its Kremlin sources, Putin specifically named the U.S. and Great Britain during private meetings. And as Stratfor noted in its April report, there is plenty of evidence to support the Kremlin's claim. In the first place, while Muslim separatist militants from other conflict zones are shunned and even violently pursued by the U.S., the Chechen separatist representatives are routinely given haven and official voice in both the U.K. and America. ... As Stratfor notes, the British connection to the Chechen separatists goes farther back. 'During the first Chechen war -- from 1994 to 1996 -- retired U.K. special forces officers trained British Muslim recruits in British territory to fight in Chechnya,' Stratfor claims, echoing reports out of Russia. 'Some militants who attended that training and were later captured told the Russian government.' After Chechnya gained de facto independence, a scandal apparently erupted in Russia-U.K. relations when de-mining instructors from a private security firm, which included American ex-military personnel, were caught 'training Chechen militants how to launch mine and bombing attacks against Russian troops,' according to Stratfor.."
Dividing Russia
AlterNet, 29 June 2005

"Why would a group of leading American neo-conservatives, dedicated to fighting Islamic terror, have climbed into bed with Chechen rebels linked to al-Qaeda? The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC), which includes Pentagon supremo Richard Perle, says the conflict between Russia and Chechnya is about Chechen nationalism, not terrorism.  The ACPC savaged Russia for the atrocities its forces have committed in the Caucuses, said President Vladimir Putin was 'ridiculous', claimed Russia was more 'morally' to blame for the bloodshed than Chechen separatists and played down links between al-Qaeda and the 'Chechen resistance'. The ACPC's support for the Chechen cause seems bizarre, as many of its members are among the most outspoken US policymakers who have made it clear that Islamist terror must be wiped out. But the organisation has tried to broker peace talks between Russia and Chechen separatists. The ACPC includes many leaders of the neo-conservative think-tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which advocates American domination of the world.... ACPC executive director Glen Howard said the continuation of the 'brutalising tactics' of Russian forces would only lead to 'the resistance employing more brutal tactics' like the assault on School Number One in Beslan...... The nurturing of Chechen fighters against Russia recalls America's support for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan - an act that went on to spawn al-Qaeda and the Taliban.... Howard said hardliners like Richard Perle were backing Chechnya as they 'understood what it feels like to be under the Russian yolk'.  Some critics believe the support for the Chechens may be a cold war hangover or part of a policy to keep Russia weak through bloodletting in the Caucuses.... According to Howard, due to the vast energy resources in the Caucuses, the West, which is heavily dependent on foreign energy, has strategic interests in the area to which it cannot afford to turn a blind eye."
US neo-cons: Kremlin is 'morally' to blame for the school massacre
Sunday Herald - 12 September 2004

"Over the years, some dissidents suspected by foreign governments of involvement in terrorist acts have been protected by the British government for one reason or another from deportation or extradition.... In the past, terrorism experts say, Britain benefited significantly from its willingness to extend at least conditional hospitality to a wide range of Arab dissidents and opposition figures .... Mustafa Alani, a terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense Studies, a London think tank, said [Anas] al-Liby was probably left in legal limbo by the British government, allowing him to be used or discarded as circumstances permitted.... According to a renegade officer for the British intelligence service MI5, David Shayler, British intelligence plotted with Islamic extremists [including al-Liby] to assassinate Gaddafi in early 1996..."
Britain a Refuge for Mideast Dissidents - Some With Suspected Ties to Bin Laden Resist Extradition
Washington Post, 7 October 2001

"As several UK university campuses are on alert to guard against extremist Muslim groups, possible connections with the Hamburg students involved in US terrorist attacks are emerging. Student leaders warned this week that several campuses are being targeted by the Al-Muhajiroun...leading figures have claimed that around 1,800 British Muslims take part in 'military service' each year, recruited at mosques and university campuses across the country.... The Al-Muhajiroun was formed in 1996 as breakaway group of the Hizb ut Tahrir, itself a militant Muslim organisation banned from UK universities. The Al-Muhajiroun attracted Hizb at-Tahrir's more radical college and university-based supporters.... It is thought that the Al-Muhajiroun sends young Muslim men from Britain to 'holy war' training camps, including those run by Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect wanted in connection with the US terrorist attacks. The military camps are normally run by Muslim soldiers who have defected from their national armies. They train the recruits as well as providing them with free food and board. The route the recruits take to the military camps from countries like Britain are complicated, full of stops and changes to prevent authorities from tracing them. The camps are situated in remote areas of Pakistan, often in the mountainous areas near the Afghan border. Afterwards, some recruits volunteer for active service in regions like Kosovo, Chechnya and Kashmir, while others return to Britain to help recruit others to the cause. Earlier this year Russian officials called on Britain to ban the organisation under the Terrorism Act. They claimed that 'mercenaries' from the London School of Economics had been recruited to fight in Chechnya in a 'holy war' against the Russian army in the Caucasus."
Muslim student group linked to terrorist attacks
Guardian, 19 September 2001

"During an interview on Fox TV this summer, the former US federal prosecutor John Loftus reported that British intelligence had used the al-Muhajiroun group in London to recruit Islamist militants with British passports for the war against the Serbs in Kosovo. Since July Scotland Yard has been interested in an alleged member of al-Muhajiroun, Haroon Rashid Aswat, who some sources have suggested could have been behind the London bombings."
Britain now faces its own blowback
Guardian, 10 September 2005

"Now we knew about this guy Aswat. Back in 1999 he came to America. The Justice Department wanted to indict him in Seattle because him and his buddy were trying to set up a terrorist training school in Oregon... we've just learned that the headquarters of the US Justice Department ordered the Seattle prosecutors not to touch Aswat... apparently Aswat was working for British intelligence."
Interview with former US Federal Prosecutor John Loftus
Fox TV, 29 July 2005

"As a potential mastermind of the London attacks, Aswat has connections and a past that are almost too neat a fit. Now 31, he was brought up in Dewsbury, near Leeds, where Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the London bombers, lived. He left the area 10 years ago and is believed to have travelled to training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is said to have told investigators in Zambia that he was once a bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden. When Aswat returned to Britain he attended the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, which was a hotbed of radicalism in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Reda Hassaine, an Algerian journalist who worked as an informant for the British and French security services, witnessed Aswat recruiting young men at the mosque to the cause of Al-Qaeda.... Aswat also showed potential recruits videotapes of the mujaheddin in action in Bosnia and Chechnya.... Senior Whitehall officials also deny 'any knowledge' that he might be an agent for either MI5 or MI6."
Tangled web that still leaves worrying loose ends
Sunday Times, 31 July 2005

Covert Operations And The 'Covenant Of Security'

"Britain had tolerated the presence of hardline Islamists in a stance that angered France, Spain and European countries. In return, radicals preached that Muslims lived in Britain under a 'covenant of security' meaning that no jihadi attacks would occur here."
Islamist cleric declared war on Britain six months ago
London Times, 12 July 2005

Omar Bakri Muhammed addresses an al-Muhajiroun rally in Trafalgar Square, London (Abu-Hamza, right) The British Government ran a 'Covenant Of Security' with radical Islamic groups like Al-Muhajiroun leaving them free to recruit for terrorist missions abroad as long as they did not attack targets in Britain. During the 1990s British intelligence used al-Muhajiroun to carry out attacks against Serbia as part of strategy  to dismember the former Yugolsavia. Al-Muhajiroun withdrew from the covenant following the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003, leaving it free to support attacks on the United Kingdom such as those carried out in July 2005.

"It is becoming clear that al-Muhajiroun (ALM), the group formed by Bakri in London less than a decade ago, has played a pivotal role in radicalising young Britons who have gone on to wreak terror in Britain and across the world.... Last November Bakri announced that ALM was disbanding. Three months later he said the 'covenant of security' was no longer in force. Experts note that the London bombings followed four months later." Terror links of the Tottenham Ayatollah London Times, 24 July 2005

"A sophisticated internet sting has provided fresh evidence linking Abu Hamza, the British radical Islamic cleric, to terror camps, claim anti-terrorist police. Hamza is said to have been so convinced by a British undercover investigator posing as an extremist website operator that he allegedly sent him several secret propaganda films designed to attract new recruits. The videos were used, say investigators, to convince British Muslims to undergo jihad training at camps in Afghanistan and Bosnia. The tapes and e-mails were obtained by Glen Jenvey, a 38-year-old freelance counterintelligence investigator from Wiltshire, over a period of more than a year. As the evidence flowed in, Jenvey forwarded it to the FBI, which is now building a case to extradite Hamza to America. Last week Scotland Yard confirmed that anti-terrorist branch officers had taken a statement from Jenvey and sent a copy to the FBI. The evidence is being marshalled by US government prosecutors in New York, where Hamza is part of a grand jury investigation into a plot to provide weapons training to American mujaheddin on a cattle ranch in Bly, Oregon.... One tape starts by showing a training camp in Bosnia and scenes of urban combat training. Jihad anthems play in the background and a voice in English says: Make ready to continue to terrorise the enemy of Allah. The tape later cuts to Hamza speaking to a private audience in London about so-called suicide bombers. He appears to use the Koran to justify the tactic. It is to inflict suffering, it is in the time, in the methodology of suicide, it is there and at its peak, says Hamza. In another tape, three British volunteers are interviewed in Bosnia about their experiences. All three urge Muslims at home to undergo jihad training and criticise those who are content to merely donate money or lend moral support.  The first volunteer identifies himself as being from north London. He says he is a third-year medical student at Birmingham University. Hiding his face behind a black scarf, he holds an assault rifle aloft as he speaks to the camera and talks about the satisfaction of seeing hundreds of dead bodies in Bosnia.  Another tape opens with scenes of what appears to be a massacre of Serbian civilians in a village in Bosnia. The camera roves around the scene, focusing on corpses that litter the ground. Some of the bodies are being taken away on stretchers by distraught relatives. A jihad anthem plays in the background.... Jenvey continued to monitor Hamza’s website. In April this year he noticed a film showing Russian soldiers being blown up by Chechnyan terrorists.... According to court papers, Hamza provided letters of introduction or sponsorship for people to enter Al-Qaeda camps. The documents say he sent two emissaries to help Ujaama set up the Bly training camp. Despite his activities, Hamza is still at liberty in Britain..."
Web sting links Hamza to terror camps
Sunday Times, 21 July 2003

"Earlier this year Russian officials called on Britain to ban Al-Muhajiroun under the Terrorism Act. They claimed that 'mercenaries' from the London School of Economics had been recruited to fight in Chechnya against the Russian army. Al-Muhajiroun representatives say that five Muslim students and graduates have left Manchester of their own accord in the past year to train and fight with militia groups in Chechnya and Palestine."
Campuses wary of extremist Muslim group
Guardian, 18 September 2001

"As several UK university campuses are on alert to guard against extremist Muslim groups, possible connections with the Hamburg students involved in US terrorist attacks are emerging. Student leaders warned this week that several campuses are being targeted by the Al-Muhajiroun...leading figures have claimed that around 1,800 British Muslims take part in 'military service' each year, recruited at mosques and university campuses across the country.... The Al-Muhajiroun was formed in 1996 as breakaway group of the Hizb ut Tahrir, itself a militant Muslim organisation banned from UK universities. The Al-Muhajiroun attracted Hizb at-Tahrir's more radical college and university-based supporters.... It is thought that the Al-Muhajiroun sends young Muslim men from Britain to 'holy war' training camps, including those run by Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect wanted in connection with the US terrorist attacks. The military camps are normally run by Muslim soldiers who have defected from their national armies. They train the recruits as well as providing them with free food and board. The route the recruits take to the military camps from countries like Britain are complicated, full of stops and changes to prevent authorities from tracing them. The camps are situated in remote areas of Pakistan, often in the mountainous areas near the Afghan border. Afterwards, some recruits volunteer for active service in regions like Kosovo, Chechnya and Kashmir, while others return to Britain to help recruit others to the cause. Earlier this year Russian officials called on Britain to ban the organisation under the Terrorism Act. They claimed that 'mercenaries' from the London School of Economics had been recruited to fight in Chechnya in a 'holy war' against the Russian army in the Caucasus."
Muslim student group linked to terrorist attacks
Guardian, 19 September 2001

Why Would MI6 Encourage Such Recruiting?
Why Would The British Government Not Ban Al-Muhajiroon After 9/11?

"In the spring a close colleague of President Vladimir Putin of Russia labeled Al-Muhajiroun an agency for recruiting Muslim students in London to fight against Russian troops in Chechnya."
British Student Union Enforces Ban Against Campus Activities by Militant Islamic Group
Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 September 2001

Because The War On Terror Is Bogus

"One group that no longer feels the need to conceal its intentions is Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT) ...  Based in Britain and claiming to be active in 40 countries, a recent Heritage Foundation report described the group as an 'emerging threat to U.S. interests.' The group has been banned in Germany and many other countries for its extreme views and is listed as a terrorist organization in Russia.  In June, Russia's Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, arrested 51 HUT members in a raid in Moscow and recovered a cache of weapons and explosives. The group's founding leader is the radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad, who now heads a hard-line Islamic group in Britain called Al Muhajiroun, which has been dubbed the 'north London Taliban.' Muhammad is a key supporter of bin Laden and regularly shares platforms at meetings with Abu Hamza al-Masri, a fellow cleric who is wanted as a terrorist suspect in the United States. The group is active in 30 British cities and its members often boast about their recruitment activity. It is known in the intelligence community to be a prime supplier of foreign recruits to al Qaeda. 'Sure, [the Al Muhajiroun] are a major recruiter for terrorists. It is common knowledge among counterterrorism operatives and agents that they are a front for bin Laden,' said a U.S. government security and defense analyst. 'There are clear al Qaeda ties by way of religious, criminal and foreign mujahideen links. Al Muhajiroun, being the bin Laden front in the UK, essentially connects all the dots.'"
Al Qaeda uses Web sites to draw recruits, spread propaganda
Washington Times, 10 September 2003

Why Does The Anglo-American World Want The Islamists To Break Chechnya Away From Russia?
It's Oil (As usual) Stupid