Cheney Urges Energy Export Routes That Bypass Russia
ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 5 Ñ A day after chastising Moscow for its use of oil and natural gas as “tools for intimidation and blackmail,” Vice President Dick Cheney visited Kazakhstan today to promote export routes that bypass Russia and directly supply the West.
With his comments, Mr. Cheney waded into a messy geopolitical struggle for energy and influence in the countries of the former Soviet Union, rapidly developing into one of the world’s largest producing regions.
The United States backs efforts to weaken Russia’s grip by building new export routes for the enormous energy reserves of Central Asia, much of which now must pass through Russian territory to reach ports in the Black Sea or pipelines to Europe.
Mr. Cheney’s visit to Kazakhstan, on Russia’s southern rim, highlighted the balancing of United States interests, trying to counter Russian dominance in energy matters in the region by cozying up to states like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan that have spotty human rights records and limited democracy Ñ and plenty of oil.
nytimes.com
Cheney et al have been at these machinations for years: whatever he’s ‘wading into’ is his same old s—.