Article by Luis Carapinha, member of the International Department
It is said that in politics there are no coincidences. And that was for sure, the taking place of two major initiatives in the active East front, under the EU, in Prague, in the eve of the 64th anniversary of the victory over the Nazi-Fascism, marking the 9th of May, within the late URSS countries. The Oriental Partnership Summit, which took place on the 7th May, through which Brussels wishes to join six ex-soviet republics ( Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Georgia, Moldavia and Ukraine) and the energetic mini-summit, pompously designated as " The South Corridor – new Silk Route", which took place the following day, and which central issue is the Nabucco gas pipeline, an old USA and EU project, in order to guarantee alternative supplies to Russia, from the Caspian countries and Central Asia oil beds.
One must recall, that in all this energetic corridors’ tortuous geography, dictated by political and geostrategic imperialism deepest purposes and not by the so-called economic rationality criteria – it is notorious that Iran, one of the world great oil producers, is excluded from the map -, one of the key-countries for the "free-circulation" is precisely Georgia, where, in the same week, NATO, begun military exercises, which will be extended till the 1st of June. One must only deduct if such a long military permanence within the Caucasian republic, when the August war in South Ossetia is still well alive in our memory, has the purpose of holding the weakened Saakashivili regime, in Tbilisi or, on the contrary, ensure a controlled transition for the man or woman who will follow from an installed opposition, repeating the 2003 events, which sacrificed Shevarnadze, the previous vassal.
From the EU came multiplied benign and even altruistic character guarantees of the "oriental partnership", which waves at the six associated countries, with the thin amount of 600 million € till 2013, just as the explanations rejecting any kind of " bloc mentality" or the purpose of establishing spheres of influence…Nevertheless, the joint-statement itself, during the 7th May summit, reveals the contrary. Among the central axles of the Brussels oriental partnership, one can reckon the tutelary cooperation in the "Democracy and good administration", "Integration and economic convergence with the EU sectoral policies" and the [ill-fated] "Energetic security".
Washington and Brussels’ obstinacy in the crucial crescendo energetic chapter touches the irrational edges, on insisting in a pipeline for which no suppliers exist. The Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan ‘s refusal on signing the "South corridor" agreement, demonstrating once more, the preferential option in the North and East direction connections, turns Nabucco into a phantom-project.
Amid the imperialism pattern there are multiple fronts that cross over on what concerns the Caucase corridors. Within a vaster level, one of the main purposes of the "assault towards the East", is penetrating the Russian capitalism energetic domain throughout the post-soviet space and limit its European projection, and at the same time, deepen the " sanitary circle" and the USA’s and NATO’s offensive military ring, which closes up round Russia’s boarders, not giving up the unconfessable purpose of a change of power, which might give place to an opening up to the free resource exploitation of which the III Reich proclaimed to be its "vital space".
Iran’s isolation and the change of regime, together with the Middle East "control" issue, such as the war for the Central Asia hegemony, and the pressure on China and its energetic supply sources, are other of the sensitive factors within an accelerated resettling of forces context, the global and deep systemic capitalism crisis.
The attempt of "geopolitics obscurity" of the conflicts in progress, with the aim of excluding or subverting the workers’ and peoples ‘struggle, is not therefore, innocent. Just as someone has said "geopolitics is nothing but imperialist expansion ideology".