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Subject: POLITICS OF GAS PIPE LINE IN SOUTH - CENTRAL ASIA
chupooey    6/18/2006 10:39:44 AM
THE Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project has received a shot in the arm with the Russian president’s offer to participate in the venture. President Putin, who met the Pakistani and Iranian leaders at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this week, has said that the Russian agency Gazprom is willing to help the other IPI partners in what he has described as a “completely realisable” scheme. Russia’s backing for this project is of significance not just from the technological and economic points of view. It has wider political and strategic implications for international relations, especially in Central and South Asia. The IPI, which envisages a 2,600 kilometre gas pipeline linking Iran’s south Pars gas fields with Pakistan and then extends to India, is of vital importance to both Pakistan and India given their growing need for energy for their rapidly growing economies. The seven billion-dollar pipeline is expected to meet their needs quite substantially. But it is not clear what will be the source of financing the project which is to be constructed in three stages with each country being responsible for the pipeline passing through its own territory. Since Mr Putin did not elaborate on Gazprom’s role, it is not possible to comment on that aspect. But Russia’s interest in the IPI carries unmistakable political significance, especially if it is remembered that the Bush administration has been strongly opposed to this project. The basic cause of America’s displeasure is the dismal state of its relations with Iran which has not changed since 1979 when the Iranian revolution, with its anti-imperialist orientation and the hostage incident, led to a serious breach between the two countries. More recently, the Iranian nuclear programme, which provides for uranium enrichment, has drawn a hostile reaction from the US. If it had its way, America would have had more sanctions imposed on Tehran. Not surprisingly, Washington has brought pressure to bear on India and Pakistan to abandon the project which has far-reaching geostrategic implications for this region. Along with other gas pipeline projects, the IPI will create an energy network that will link a number of countries together. As experience has shown, this kind of grouping of nations for economic cooperation leads to political bonding of them as well. This is what worries American because it will then find it hard to browbeat such powerful groupings. Russia’s entry into the energy network in the region that is being created will send a strong message to the United States. The days when it could act unilaterally in a unipolar world with its own limitations are now drawing to a close. With other powers - in this case Russia, Iran, Pakistan, India and China - closing ranks it is inevitable that they will resist the US hegemony to protect their own interests if the need arises. History is known to proceed in cycles and a shift in the post-cold war pattern of international relations was inevitable. But the Bush administration, with its hamhanded and unilateralist methods, has expedited the process of change. The IPI is a manifestation of a reaction setting in. Countries that have been bulldozed by the world’s only superpower are now regrouping to mount a resistance. This countervailing process has already begun to be seen and felt in the Iranian nuclear crisis - mercifully, in the interest of world peace. As Russia and China assert themselves and prop up the regional countries, the United States will be compelled to rethink its approach to world affairs. (an article from daily DAWN- Pakistan)
 
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