FEB. 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tengizchevroil, the Chevron-lead Kazakhstan oil producer, plans to invest $5b to $6b over the next five years to maintain production levels, Bloomberg quoted general-director Tim Miller as saying. Tengiz, near Atyrau on the Caspian Sea coast, is Kazakhstan largest oil producing field.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Attacks against Israeli targets in Georgia, India and Thailand and an acrimonious row between Baku and Tehran have thrown a spotlight over the relationship between the South Caucasus and Iran.
The same day that Georgian security forces disarmed a car bomb in Tbilisi another exploded in Delhi, injuring an Israeli woman (Feb. 13). Israel has blamed Iran for both attacks and another in Bangkok the following day.
Three weeks earlier the authorities in Baku arrested two Iranians for conspiring to assassinate Israeli diplomats, although Iran denied the charges.
The South Caucasus has a complex, fluid relationship with Iran.
Over the past year, much to the irritation of the US, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia have strengthened ties with Iran. Gas deals have been made, railway and air links solidified, visa regulations waived and military delegations hosted. Private business and trade links have also surged.
But behind these strengthening connections relations often remain strained.
Azerbaijan has built up good links with Israel and Georgia’s main backer is the US. Both are Iran’s sworn enemy. Armenia has more cordial ties with Iran but it also needs to be flexible.
The South Caucasus countries have to deal with their powerful neighbour but they are also wary.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has signed a waiver allowing the US to give Uzbekistan non-lethal military aid despite concerns over its human rights record, news agencies reported. Ms Clinton signed the waiver on Jan. 18. Uzbekistan is a vital cog in the US supply chain to its forces in Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 76, published on Feb. 9 2012)
FEB. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At the annual Munich Security Conference, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan would not succumb to a Middle East-style uprising because of its strong economic growth. Last year police in Baku quashed a series of anti-government demonstrations and some analysts have said it may be vulnerable to an uprising.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 76, published on Feb. 9 2012)
JAN. 31 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili travelled to Washington to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House. No major agreements were concluded but the visit was symbolically important to Mr Saakashvili who has been steering Georgia towards the West since he became leader after a revolution in 2003.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
FEB. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, visited Fiji to boost relations between the countries. Media speculated that the real purpose of the trip, the first by a Russian foreign minister to the Pacific island nation, was to persuade Fiji to support the independence of the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
JAN. 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces in Azerbaijan arrested two Iranians for plotting to kill prominent foreigners, including Israel’s ambassador in Baku, officials said. Azerbaijani officials said the two men had links to Iran’s intelligence service. The arrests further strain already tense Azerbaijan-Iran relations.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
JAN. 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have long been strained but a row over hackers’ attacks on official websites in both countries has eroded trust still further.
Despite their shared religion, the two Shia Muslim neighbours take a different approach to Islam. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is wary of fundamentalist Muslims. Iran considers them a source of strength.
Add Israel into the mix and Azerbaijan-Iran relations become potent.
Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, counts Azerbaijan as a friendly force and buys a large amount of oil from Azerbaijan. With an eye on Armenia and the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan is re-arming and likes to tap into Israel’s military expertise.
Last year it emerged that Israel and Azerbaijan were jointly developing military drones.
All this makes Iran wary and it has recently been building diplomatic and economic relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan’s sworn enemy.
Over the last year there have been a number of shootouts on the Azerbaijan-Iran border that have killed a handful of soldiers. These potentially dangerous incidents generally dissipated after a spot of diplomacy but the hacker attacks could do more serious damage.
On Jan. 16, 2012 a number of government websites in Azerbaijan were hacked into and defaced with anti-Semitic messages. The next day, hackers turned their attention to Iran.
Both sides have reacted angrily. An already fragile relationship has soured further.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 74, published on Jan. 26 2012)
JAN. 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – France’s parliament voted to make the denial of genocide of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks in eastern Turkey at the end of World War I a crime. Armenia’s foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian, said “this day will be written in gold”. Turkey threatened France with reprisals.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 74, published on Jan. 26 2012)
JAN. 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan started to receive extra military aid from Russia designed to bolster is defences along its southern border before NATO withdraws from Afghanistan in 2014. The Central Asian states are worried about the Taliban moving north once NATO leaves Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 73, published on Jan. 19 2012)