- India and China Compete for Burma’s Resources
- Distrust of Venezuela military growing
- Gas pipeline explodes in Turkish rebel region
Three very interesting items which have barely been noticed by the mainstream media. While these events take place in widely separated parts of the world, they all affect the same energy market. The bombing in Turkey is a sign that the Kurds could begin a major campaign against energy infrastructure in Turkey, which has growing importance as a transit point for oil and gas from Iran, the Middle East and the Central Asia to Europe, especially since the Kurds have a secure base in Northern Iraq. The vulnerability of Turkey’s pipelines is probably a major factor in the Turkish threats and Iranian attacks against Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Hugo Chavez has become a hero to many on the left, and commands more respect in the radical parts of the “Arab street” than any Middle Eastern leader except Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah. Yet his governments autocratic rule has made increasingly unpopular in Venezuela itself. It isn’t hard to see why, given the gruesome stories of massacres. It seems that leftists are willing to overlook anything as long as you oppose the US…
And the situation in Burma, with ethnic instability, international drug gangs and great power rivalry – combined with long-held grievances and a reliance on primary resources – has the potential to explode. All the ingredients are there for a long, complex and bloody civil war – one of Mary Kaldor’s New Wars.
