No pipeline shoot!
This is the headline the Globe and Mail gives a CP story:
In any case, what the hell is going on? Is "pipeline" a dirty word (especially one regarding which US companies will only have a subsidiary role) ? And so what if the CF somehow played some role in protecting a pipeline that will benefit Afstan. What total Halliburton-hating hooey. And, by the way, there are no plans for any oil pipeline through Afstan; but who cares about facts when there's a boogey-man (where are you, Dick?) to be feared?
Not in Afghanistan to guard pipelines, MacKay saysNo kidding. This is the meat of the story, near the end:
...Not that CP is any better--the style of its story carries the suggestion, as in the Globe headline, that the minister may be, horrors, covering something up. The first paragraph (note that inaccurate "being built"):
The proposed pipeline would run through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Construction is scheduled to start in 2010, one year before Canada's Afghan mission is expected to end...
Defence Minister Peter MacKay insisted Wednesday that Canadian troops are not in Afghanistan to guard a new natural gas pipeline being built through the southern part of the country...What are the odds that: a) the pipeline's construction will not slip; and b) anybody is building parts of it in Kandahar before our scheduled departure from the area?
In any case, what the hell is going on? Is "pipeline" a dirty word (especially one regarding which US companies will only have a subsidiary role) ? And so what if the CF somehow played some role in protecting a pipeline that will benefit Afstan. What total Halliburton-hating hooey. And, by the way, there are no plans for any oil pipeline through Afstan; but who cares about facts when there's a boogey-man (where are you, Dick?) to be feared?
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 4:19 p.m.
2 Comments:
Mark,
You have to read your international business section more as there is a push by Indian and Pakistan to buy Iran gas. This line will problably be built without US involement.
Here is a newspaper clip from the "Independent Bangladesh"
India to join Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline
Monday, 31 March 2008
Ahead of the visit of US President George Bush, India has decided to join the US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline to import natural gas to meet the fuel needs of its growing economy, reports PTI.
New Delhi, earlier this month participated for the first time as an “observer” in the 9th meeting of the steering committee of the TAP project and has since decided to join the 3.5-billion dollar project.
“We have 90-days to get necessary official approvals to join the project. Once approved by the Cabinet, the project will be renamed TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline),” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told PTI here.
Officials said the pipeline from Turkmenistan would be more easier to implement than the Iran-Pakistan-India line as it already had the backing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Moreover, unlike IPI, the project does not run the risk of being blacklisted for participation by US and European financers and companies. US has been encouraging Pakistan to abandon the IPI project and consider TAP for meeting its gas needs. The Bush administration accuses Tehran of harbouring nuclear weapon ambitions and has called for its isolation.
The proposed natural gas pipeline would stretch from the Turkmenistan/Afghanistan border in southeastern Turkmenistan to Multan, Pakistan (790 miles, 1,271 kilometers), with a 400-mile (640-kilometer) extension to India. Estimated cost of the project is 2.9 billion dollars for the segment to Pakistan and an additional 600 million dollars for the extension to India.
The pipeline would offer a much-needed financial boost to war-ravaged Afghanistan in form of transit fee. “Ofcourse there are security implications but once Afghans see huge economic benefits flow in the form of jobs and multi-million dollar transit fee, they will ensure the pipeline is safe,” an official said.
http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200803313829/business/india-to-join-turkmenistan-afghanistan-pakistan-gas-pipeline.html
don: I'm well aware of the Iranian angle, which the US dislikes.
Mark
Ottawa
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