MILITARY ESCALATION AROUND IRAN THREATES WITH INVOLVEMENT OF WHOLE CENTRAL ASIA

In a timely decision, Azerbaijan recently (mid-March) granted NATO the permission to use two of its military bases and an airport to "back up its peace-keeping operation in Afghanistan" including support for NATO's "supply route to Afghanistan". NATO's special envoy Robert Simmons insists that the agreement has nothing to do with U.S. plans to wage aerial bombardments on Iran. Media sources in Baku have intimated that this timely agreement is directly related to ongoing U.S.-Israeli-NATO war plans. Its timing coincides with U.S. naval deployments and war games in the Persian Gulf. The airport and two military bases are slated to be "modernized to meet NATO standards". Washington has confirmed in this regard that it would "support the modernization of a military airport in the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed between Azerbaijan and NATO. Azerbaijan is also strategic in view of its maritime border with Iran in the Caspian sea. In this regard, the U.S. Navy is involved in supporting the Azeri Navy, in the area of training. There is also an agreement to provide U.S. support to refurbish Azeri warships in the Caspian sea. The U.S. sponsored Caspian Guard Initiative was launched in 2003 to "coordinate activities in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan with those of U.S. Central Command and other U.S. government agencies to enhance Caspian security." The initiative was implemented under the cover of preventing narcotics trafficking and counter- terrorism, Its ultimate objective, however, is to provide USCENTCOM with a strategic naval corridor in the Caspian sea basin. The U.S. has also participated in joint Naval exercises with the Azeri Army’s 641st Special Warfare Naval Unit, headquartered at the Azeri Naval Station outside Baku. More generally, both the U.S. and NATO are in the process of deepening their military cooperation with Azerbaijan. In recent developments, military-political consultations between the U.S. and Azerbaijan are scheduled to be held in Washington in the second half of April, according to a U.S. Embassy source in Baku. The timing of these consultations is crucial. They coincide chronologically with a process of advanced military planning. Azerbaijan could be the object of retaliatory strikes by Iran, if the country's military bases are used by NATO-U.S. forces as a launch pad for waging war on Iran. Media sources in Baku have suggested that retaliatory bombings by Iran could include Azeri oil fields and oil and gas pipelines. The strategic Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which links the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean could also be a target. The Baku Ceyan pipeline is controlled by an Anglo-American consortium led by British Petroleum (BP), Global Research reports.

<< | Home |

Translate

RSS © Panarmenian

Headlines for April 18, 2007

MURDER OF ARMENIAN DISCLOSED IN MOSCOW
The Moscow law enforcers have disclosed the slaying of 46-year-old Karen Abrahamyan, committed Monday in the southwest of Moscow. The police said the assassination was committed in Kedrov street at about ...
RA ARMED FORCES PREVENT ANY PROVOCATION OF AZERI SIDE
The Armenian armed forces are in constant readiness and will not allow any provocation from the Azeri side during the parliamentary election campaign in Armenia, chief of the RA armed forces’ headquarters, ...
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION HUGE TEST FOR ARMENIA’S DEMOCRACY, OSKANIAN SAYS
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian who is currently on a working visit in Austria, has addressed the OSCE Permanent Council. The Minister’s speech was dedicated to the OSCE reforms, activities ...
PALLONE AND KNOLLENBERG URGED PRESIDENT BUSH TO REAFFIRM U.S. RECORD ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), for sending a letter today, urging President George W. Bush to reaffirm the United ...
KARABAKH CONFLICT SIDES HAVE NEVER BEEN SO CLOSE TO RESOLUTION
He said Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian referred to the subject during the session of the OSCE Permanent Council. “Minister Oskanian said the document being negotiated at present is a very realistic ...
JOINT EFFORT-2007 TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA
Joint effort- 2007, the exercise of the U.S. European Command will be held in Armenia April 27 - May 10 on the ground of the Aviation Institute after Khanferyants, RA Defense Minister’s Spokesman, colonel ...
ROSE ROTH SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS WILL DISCUSS CAUCASUS-NATO-EU RELATIONS
The NATO PA Roth-Roth seminar starting in Tbilisi April 19 will focus on conflicts in the South Caucasus and Georgia’s integration into the European family. Besides, the attendees will discuss NATO and ...
REFUSAL OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN PACE MEETING IS RESPONSE TO AZERIS’ ACTIVITIES
“Meetings should make sense. Empty and fruitless meetings are avail and we cannot pretend as if we are holding talks,” Tigran Torosian, the RA NA Speaker and head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation ...
58 PERCENT OF ARMENIA’S POPULATION DISTRUST U.S.
According to a survey conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, most of world’s population think the U.S. fails to perform the role of the world leader. The survey ...
KARABAKH CONFLICT CAN BE RESOLVED THROUGH PEACE AND DIALOGUE ONLY
When joining the Council of Europe both Armenia and Azerbaijan undertook to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict peacefully. Thereupon we state that the conflict can be resolved through peace and dialogue ...
PACE PRESIDENT GOING TO VISIT KARABAKH
“Meetings between the Armenian and Azeri delegations in PACE with the purpose to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict are worth appraisal, PACE Rene van der Linden said. The sides’ persistence in their ...
AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA AND TURKEY GOING TO UNIFY ENERGY SYSTEMS
Energy departments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are discussing the expedience of elaborating a project for unifying the energy systems of three states, Azerenergy Vice President Marlen Askerov said. ...
RA LEADER VOICED HOPE FOR SOONEST RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS IN MIDDLE EAST
Armenia supports the stance of Arab states in all international institutions, RA President Robert Kocharian said during a visit to Egypt. He also voiced hope for soonest resolution of the conflicts in ...
RUSSIAN FRONTIER TROOPS NOT GOING TO QUIT ARMENIA
“The presence of the Russian frontier troops in Armenia is out of question, said lieutenant general Sergey Bondarev, the commander of the frontier department of the RF Federal Security Service in Armenia. ...
TURKISH NATIONALISTS PROTEST AGAINST CIRCULATION OF BIBLE
Three people were killed and two injured as result of attack on a publishing house in the northeast of Turkey, Reuters reports with a reference to Dogan local news agency. Those injured were taken to ...
MILITARY ESCALATION AROUND IRAN THREATES WITH INVOLVEMENT OF WHOLE CENTRAL ASIA
In a timely decision, Azerbaijan recently (mid-March) granted NATO the permission to use two of its military bases and an airport to "back up its peace-keeping operation in Afghanistan" including support ...