Okey dokey so I'm watching this Georgia Russia conflict business go down and I'm thinking to myself, "Gee whiz, I wonder what the actual reason for Russia invading Georgia is?" I heard a very passing mention on NPR about OIL! and I thought, "Yeah, that's gotta be it. There's shitloads of oil somewhere." Actually, I was already thinking that.

So a little google search brings me this bit of infomation from Global Security.ORG>

As it turns out, it's not so much about oil that's there, but the control of the flow of oil through there, namely a pipeline called the  Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that transports oil from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish port city of Ceyhan. The agreement to build the pipeline was signed in Istanbul on on 18 Nov. 1999 and was called the Istanbul Declaration.

According to the article from Global Security.ORG, which is not dated but was clearly written before construction on the pipeline began in 2002, "The success of these projects would end an almost century-old Russian stranglehold on the oil and gas resources of the Caspian. The new pipelines are clearly is meant to weaken the influence of Russia in the region and therefore are regarded as hostile by the Russian Government."

This pipeline, as it would happen, passes through the disputed regions of Abkhazia and Ossetia. Another very helpful article about the pipeline is here.

An ominous prediction from GloablSecurity.org, probably made in 1999:

"Moscow might choose to cause more trouble in the Caucasus. It has fomented rebellions in the past and can do so again. Georgia, through which the new pipeline would pass, is particularly vulnerable. It blamed Moscow for backing the secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia"

You don't say. So yeah, Cenk, I'm sure Russia's in the right. Sure.