On Monday [1 Dec 2014], Russian President\u00a0Vladimir Putin\u00a0clinched a groundbreaking deal with Turkish\u00a0President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan that will strengthen economic ties between the two nations and\u00a0make Turkey\u00a0the major hub for Russian gas in the region. Under the terms of the agreement, Russia will pump additional natural gas to locations in central Turkey and to a \u201chub at the Turkish-Greek border\u201d which will eventually\u00a0provide Putin with backdoor access to the lucrative EU market, although Turkey will serve as the critical intermediary. The move creates a de facto Russo-Turkey alliance that could shift the regional balance of power decisively in Moscow\u2019s favor, thus creating another formidable hurtle for Washington\u2019s \u201cpivot to Asia\u201d strategy.\u00a0 While the media is characterizing the change in plans (Putin has abandoned\u00a0the\u00a0South Stream pipeline project that would have transported gas to southern\u00a0Europe) as\u00a0a \u201cdiplomatic defeat\u201d for Russia, the opposite appears to be the case.\u00a0 Putin has once again outmaneuvered the US on both the energy and geopolitical fronts adding to his long list of policy triumphs. Here\u2019s a brief summary from Andrew Korybko at Sputnik News:<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia has abandoned the troubled South Stream project and will now be building its replacement with Turkey. This monumental decision signals that Ankara has made its choice to reject Euro-Atlanticsm and embrace Eurasian integration.<\/p>\n
In what may possibly be the biggest move towards multipolarity thus far,..Turkey, has done away with its former Euro-Atlantic ambitions. A year ago, none of this would have been foreseeable, but the absolute failure of the US\u2019 Mideast policy and the EU\u2019s energy one made this stunning reversal possible in under a year. Turkey is still anticipated to have some privileged relations with the West, but the entire nature of the relationship has forever changed as the country officially engages in pragmatic multipolarity.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s leadership made a major move by sealing such a colossal deal with Russia in such a sensitive political environment, and the old friendship can never be restored\u2026The reverberations are truly global.\u201d\u00a0 (\u201cCold Turkey: Ankara Buckles Against Western Pressure, Turns to Russia\u201d, Sputnik News)<\/p>\n
Korybko seems to be alone in grasping the magnitude of what happened in Ankara on Monday, although \u2013judging by the Obama administration\u2019s silence on the topic\u2013the gravity of the transaction is beginning to sink in.\u00a0 Grandmaster Vlad\u2019s latest move has caught US powerbrokers flat-footed and left them speechless. This is a scenario that no one had anticipated and, if it\u2019s not handled correctly, could turn out to be a real nightmare. Here\u2019s more on Monday\u2019s press conference from Russia Today:<\/p>\n
\u201cPutin said that Russia is ready to build a new pipeline to meet Turkey\u2019s growing gas demand, which may include a special hub on the Turkish-Greek border for customers in southern Europe.<\/p>\n
For now, the supply of Russian gas to Turkey will be raised by 3 billion cubic meters via the already operating Blue Stream pipeline\u2026Moscow will also reduce the gas price for Turkish customers by 6 percent from January 1, 2015, Putin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready to further reduce gas prices along with the implementation of our joint large-scale projects,\u201d he added.\u201d\u00a0 (\u201cPutin: Russia forced to withdraw from S. Stream project due to EU stance\u201d, RT)<\/p>\n
How can this happen? How can Putin waltz into Ankara, scribble his name on a few sheets of paper, and\u00a0abscond with a key US ally\u00a0right under Washington\u2019s nose?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t there anyone at the White House who\u2019s smart enough to anticipate a scenario like this or have they all been replaced with warmongering ding-dongs like Susan Rice and Samantha Powers?<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Obama administration\u00a0has been\u00a0doing everything\u00a0in its power\u00a0to control\u00a0the flow of gas from east to west and to\u00a0undermine Russian-EU economic integration. Now\u00a0it looks like the nimble Putin has found a way to\u00a0avoid the economic sanctions, (Turkey rejected sanctions on Russia)\u00a0\u00a0avoid US coercion and blackmail (which was used on\u00a0Bulgaria, Hungary, and Serbia), and avoid Washington\u2019s endless belligerence and hostility, and achieve his objectives at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0 But\u2013 then again\u2013 isn\u2019t that what you\u2019d expect from a level-headed martial arts pro like Putin?<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t beat you,\u201d says Bad Vlad.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll let you to beat yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, so he has. Just ask the\u00a0befuddled Obama who has yet to prevail in any of his encounters with Putin.<\/p>\n
But why the silence? Why hasn\u2019t the White House issued a statement about the big Russian-Turkey gas deal that everyone\u2019s talking about?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll tell you why. It\u2019s because they don\u2019t know what the hell just hit them, that\u2019s why. They were completely blindsided by the announcement and can\u2019t quite figure out what it means for the issues that are\u00a0on the very top of their foreign policy agenda, like the pivot to Asia,\u00a0or the\u00a0wars in Syria and Ukraine,\u00a0or the much-ballyhooed gas pipeline from Qatar to the EU, that was supposed to transit\u2013 you guessed it\u2013\u00a0Turkey.\u00a0 Is that plan still in the works or\u00a0has the Putin-Erdogan alliance put the kibosh on that gem too?\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it, Putin has really knocked it out of the park this time. Team Obama is clearly out of its league and\u00a0has no idea of what\u2019s going on.\u00a0If Turkey turns\u00a0eastward and joins the growing Russian bloc, US policymakers are going to have to\u00a0scrap the better part of their strategic plans for the coming century\u00a0and go back to Square 1. What a\u00a0headache.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a good article in Wednesday\u2019s New York Times that summarizes Washington\u2019s ambivalence towards South Stream perfectly. Here\u2019s an excerpt:<\/p>\n
\u201cMoscow has long presented the project, proposed in 2007, as making good business sense because it would provide a new route for Russian gas to reach Europe. Washington and Brussels have opposed the project on the grounds that it was a vehicle for cementing Russian influence over southern Europe and for bypassing Ukraine, whose price disputes with Gazprom twice interrupted supplies to Europe in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s Surprise Call to Scrap South Stream Gas Pipeline Leaves Europe Reeling\u201d, New York Times)<\/p>\n
This has been the argument from the get-go, that selling gas to\u00a0people in the EU somehow strengthens Putin\u2019s maniacal grip on the continent.\u00a0What a joke.\u00a0Would you, dear reader, be willing turn off the heat, tear up your energy bill, and freeze to death in the dark to\u00a0prove to\u00a0your gas company that you\u2019re not willing to capitulate to\u00a0their tyrannical rule?<\/p>\n
Of course not, because the\u00a0idea is ridiculous. Just like blocking South Stream is ridiculous. Putin is selling gas, not tyranny.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want people clicking their heels and goosestepping to work. That\u2019s just propaganda from the people in the oil industry who lost the competition for supplying fuel to the EU. Call it sour grapes if you want,\u00a0because that\u2019s what it is. Their pipeline failed, (Nabucco) and Putin\u2019s won. End of story. It\u2019s called capitalism. Deal with it.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s another thing: The countries that South Stream would have served, do not have a back-up\u00a0supplier to meet their growing gas needs. So by following Washington\u2019s lead, they\u2019ve basically shot themselves in the foot. Analysts figure that any replacement for Russian gas will probably be 30 percent more expensive then they would have paid Gazprom.<\/p>\n
Hurrah for the US! Hurrah for stupidity!<\/p>\n
The US has been determined to sabotage South Stream from the very beginning, mainly because Washington wants its corporations and banks to control the flow of gas to the EU market through privately-owned pipelines in Ukraine. That way they can rake in bigger profits for their moneybags shareholders. Without going into too much detail about the various methods the US has used to torpedo the project, there\u2019s one story that\u2019s worth a look. This is from Zero Hedge:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026two months before the Ukraine government was overthrown the prime\u00a0 minister of Bulgaria, Plamen Oresharski,\u00a0 ordered a halt to work on the South Stream on the recommendation of the EU. The decision was announced after his talks with US senators.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time there is a request from the European Commission, after which we\u2019ve suspended the current works, I ordered it,\u201d Oresharski told journalists after meeting with John McCain, Chris Murphy and Ron Johnson during their visit to Bulgaria on Sunday. \u201cFurther proceedings will be decided after additional consultations with Brussels.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time McCain, commenting on the situation, said that \u201cBulgaria should solve the South Stream problems in collaboration with European colleagues,\u201d adding that in the current situation they would want \u201cless Russian involvement\u201d in the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica has decided that it wants to put itself in a position where it excludes anybody it doesn\u2019t like from countries where it thinks it might have an interest, and there is no economic rationality in this at all,\u201d (said)Ben Aris, editor of Business New Europe told RT.\u201d \u00a0(\u201cEurope Gives Bulgaria A Bank System Lifeline As Battle Over \u201cSouth Stream\u201d Pipeline Heats Up\u201d, Zero Hedge)<\/p>\n
Let me get this straight: Madman McCain\u00a0strolls into town and immediately starts ordering people around\u00a0telling them he\u00a0wants\u00a0 \u201cless Russian involvement\u201d, and that\u2019s enough to bring South Stream to a screeching halt? Is that what you\u2019re telling me?<\/p>\n
Yep. Sure sounds like it.<\/p>\n
Does that help you see what\u2019s really going here? This isn\u2019t about Putin. It\u2019s about gas,\u00a0and who\u2019s going to profit from that gas, and in whose currency that gas will\u00a0be denominated. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about. The rest of the nonsense about \u201cRussian involvement\u201d or terrorism or human rights or national sovereignty is just gibberish. The people who run this country (like McCain), don\u2019t care about that kind of stuff.\u00a0 What they care about is money; money and power. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
So what are they going to do now?\u00a0 How\u00a0are the big powerboys in Washington going to\u00a0express their rage\u00a0over\u00a0this new threat\u00a0created by\u00a0Putin and Erdogan?<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t take a genius to figure that one out, after all, we\u2019ve seen it a million times before.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re going to go after Erdogan hammer and tongs. That\u2019s what they always do, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
The only reason they haven\u2019t\u00a0started in\u00a0already is because they\u2019re getting their propaganda ducks in a row, which\u00a0usually takes a day or two. But as soon as that\u2019s\u00a0taken care of, they\u2019ll start dismantling\u00a0old Recep\u00a0one excruciating headline at a time.\u00a0Erdogan\u00a0is going to be\u00a0the\u00a0new Hitler and the greatest threat to humanity the world has ever seen.\u00a0\u00a0You can bet on it.<\/p>\n
Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds thinks that Washington has had-it-in for Erdogan a long time now, dating back to a\u00a0 dust up he had with the CIA a\u00a0few years\u00a0back. In any event, she gives a pretty good account of what we can expect now that Erdogan is on Washington\u2019s enemies list.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a clip from her post at Boiling Frogs:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know what happens to those puppets when they end up in a rift with the CIA. Don\u2019t we? The rift always brings expiration. Once a puppet is considered expired, then lo and behold, all of a sudden, the reversal branding and marketing begins: All old skeletons are dug out of the deep closets and leaked to the media. His previously overlooked human rights violations are looked at and scrutinized under a microscope. The terrorist card is brought into the equation. And the list goes on\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026 All Empire-installed puppets and regimes must commit to the Empire\u2019s commandments\u2026.Thou shall not violate the Imperial commandments. Because if you do, thou shall be disgraced, exposed, uninstalled, and may even be given death. All you have to do is look at the past century\u2019s history. See what happens when an installed puppet gets too confident and inflicted with hubris, and ignores one or more commandments. This is when they are reborn as dictators, despots, torturers, and yes, terrorists. This is when their backyards get dug up to find a few grams of weapons of mass destruction.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n
No matter how we look at it Erdogan\u2019s days are numbered \u2026 Anyone who ever dares to be this reckless will be punished and made an example for all other installed-puppets\u2026\u201d\u00a0 (\u201cTurkish PM Erdogan: The Speedy Transformation of an Imperial Puppet\u201d, BFP)<\/p>\n
So there\u00a0it is.\u00a0That\u2019s what you can expect\u00a0by the end of the week when the media starts their full-throttle demonizing of Erdogan, the man who dared to\u00a0act independently\u00a0and put the interests of his own people above those of the Washington mob bosses.\u00a0 As anyone who\u2019s followed US foreign policy for the last 60 years will tell you; that\u2019s a big no-no.<\/p>\n
____________________________<\/p>\n
Mike Whitney<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to\u00a0<\/em>Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion<\/a>\u00a0(AK Press).\u00a0Hopeless is also available in a\u00a0Kindle edition<\/a>.\u00a0He can be reached at\u00a0fergiewhitney@msn.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n