Gori cathedral (view from the Gori Fortress) WIKIPEDIA

 

 

 

 

The railway bridge has been exploded by Russians in Kaspi, Georgia today. As a result the railroad does nor function anymore and civilians are not able to move on the trritory from West to east and vice versa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media is not publishing this????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RUSSIAN OCCUPATION ARMY EXPLODED THE RAILWAY BRIDGE IN THE KASPI DISTRICT

** UPDATE **

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia

Despite the international community???s efforts and the signing of documents on cessation of hostilities, the Russian Federation???s armed forces continue military actions against Georgia, destroying civilian infrastructure.

On 16 August 2008 troops of the Russian occupation army mined and exploded the Metekhi-Grakali span of the railway bridge in the Kaspi district. This subversive-terrorist act resulted in the severing of railway links between the east and west of Georgia and connections with Georgia???s seaports. Moreover, the bridge used to provide a route for refugees from the Russian-occupied territories into safe places.

Russia is pursuing deliberate policy aimed at undermining Georgia???s statehood, including through bringing about humanitarian catastrophe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia calls on the international community and friend countries to take urgent measures to avert humanitarian catastrophe in Georgia and prevent destruction of Georgia???s statehood.

Tbilisi, 16 August 2008



For further information, please contact:

Nato Chikovani, Press Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia: +995.77.507.726

MAP Showing Railway
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/place/CmrptcSYCJqUU6x5

 

 

 

Gives background info..

 

some excerpts-

 

"...Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan...

...Aware of Moscow’s sensitivity on the oil question, Israel offered Russia a stake in the project but was rejected....

...Last year, the Georgian president commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics. They also offer instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel...."

 

 

I'm thinking...

US will not launch an attack on Iran...  not in this age of proxy war.

I imagine we are downplaying Georgia because Europe is very dependant on Russia energywise.  No move is a good move there. France is ok due to nuky plants every 30 miles.  Ukraine is very brave to stand with Georgia.   Russia's game is to drive folks nuts until they do something off the wall in anger. 

 

 

 

 

 

(sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline)

is a crude oil pipeline that covers 1,768 kilometres (1,099 mi) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, hence its name. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world after the Druzhba pipeline. The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10,

 

 

Even before its completion, the BTC pipeline was affecting the world's oil politics. The South Caucasus, previously seen as Russia's backyard, is now a region of great strategic significance to other great powers. The U.S. and other Western nations have consequently become much more closely involved in the affairs of the three nations through which oil will flow. Some have criticized this degree of western involvement in the South Caucasus, arguing that it has led to an unhealthy dependence on undemocratic leaders.^{[citation needed]} The countries themselves though have been trying to use the involvement as a counterbalance to Russian and Iranian economic and military dominance in the region.^[15][22] It is seen similarly by Russian specialists claiming that the pipeline is aimed to weaken the Russian influence in the Caucasus. The Russian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev even stated that the United States and other Western countries are planning to settle their soldiers in Caucasus on the pretext of instability in regions where the pipeline passes through.^[23]

The project also constitutes an important leg of the East-West energy corridor, gaining Turkey greater geopolitical importance. The BTC pipeline also supports Georgia's independence from Russian influence. Former President Eduard Shevardnadze, one of the architects and initiators of the project, saw the construction of the pipeline through Georgian territory as a certain guarantee for the country's future economic and political security and stability. This view has been fully shared by his successor President Mikhail Saakashvili. "All strategic contracts in Georgia, especially the contract for the Caspian pipeline are a matter of survival for the Georgian state," he told reporters on 26 November 2003.^[24]

[edit] Economics

Although some have touted the BTC pipeline as potentially removing the dependence of the US and other Western nations on oil from the Middle East, in reality it doesn't change global dependence on Middle Eastern oil as it supplies only 1% of global demand during its first stage.^{[citation needed]} However, the pipeline diversifies the global oil supply and so ensures, to an extent, against a failure in supply elsewhere. Critics of the pipeline—particularly Russia—are skeptical about its economic prospects and see this as politically motivated.^[25]

Construction of the BTC pipeline has contributed significantly to the economies of the host countries. In the first half of 2007, a year after the completion and launch of BTC pipeline as the main export route for Azerbaijani oil, the real GDP growth of Azerbaijan hit a record of 35%.^[26] Substantial transit fees accrue to Georgia and Turkey. For Georgia the transit fees are expected to produce an average of US$62.5 million per year.^[22] Turkey is expected to receive approximately US$200 million in transit fees per year in the initial years of operation, with the possibility of increasing to US$290 million per year from year 17 to year 40. Turkey is also benefitting from an increase in economic activity in eastern Anatolia, including increased importance of the port of Ceyhan, which had experienced significant reductions of activities since the 1991 Gulf War.^[27] The reduction of oil tanker traffic on the Bosphorus will contribute to greater security for Istanbul.^[28]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan_Pipeline#Possible_transhipment_via_Israel}

 

 

and here we are on the other side...

Azerbaijan is a member of the United Nations; the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; NATO's Partnership for Peace; Euro-Atlantic Partnership; World Health Organization; CFE Treaty member state; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; the Council of Europe; the Community of Democracies; the International Monetary Fund; and the World Bank.
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BP Oil Co. Sangachal Terminal

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http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9006674&contentId=7015100

 

 

Wikipedia

 

The Sangachal Terminal

is large industrial complex consisting of a Natural gas processing Plant and Oil production plant. It is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of Baku, Azerbaijan.

The terminal is operated by a BP led consortium and is one of the largest oil and gas facilities in the world. Others involved in the terminal are partners from AIOC, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Shah Deniz and South Caucasus Pipeline projects. The terminal receives oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field and natural gas from the Shah Deniz gas field. The oil is exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean coast and via the Baku-Supsa Pipeline and the Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline to Black Sea coast. Total production is expected to reach more than 800,000 barrels per day (127,000 m³/d) in 2007, and around one million barrels a day by 2009.

 

 

The Trans/Caspian gas pipeline would run under the Caspian Sea from Türkmenbaşy to the Sangachal Terminal, where it would connect with the existing pipeline to Erzurum in Turkey, which in turn would be connected to the Nabucco pipeline,

 

thus taking natural gas from Turkmenistan to Central Eaurope.

 

 

 

 

 

Caspian Sea Oil and Natural Gas Export Routes

 

a good read here- older but interesting background.

 

 

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Wikipedia

 

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline)

is a crude oil pipeline that covers 1,768 kilometres (1,099 mi) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, hence its name. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world after the Druzhba pipeline. The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10, 2005 reached Ceyhan on May 28, 2006.[1

 

Remember this on August 11th?