investorpolitico

War in Ukraine, war in Iraq (soon Syria) and tit for tat in the China Sea disputes have one thing in common, energy infrastructure.

I was wondering myself why the US, with the newfound treasure of shale gas, are going back to the Middle East.

Moreover, in the US, the oil coming from the Middle East is just 25.6% of their needs.

The motivation is energy infrastructure. The US is trying to decrease European dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Ukraine is a gas pipeline crossover. The US is sponsoring the Baku-Tblisi-Cehyan pipeline and  another two that bypass Russia (Russia is pushing for the Southstream pipeline (Bulgaria, Serbia ending in Italy).

China is importing 80% of its energy from the Strait of Malacca, which is a perfect choke point.

China pushed for a Pakistan-Iran pipeline, but was blocked by the pressures of the Saudis in Pakistan. Still China is pushing for a pipeline in Burma and some Pakistanis port facilities.

And naturally China is now building a pipeline with Russia and trying to create its own reserves in the China Sea.

Also, with the pipelines, comes the “payment issue”. Once the pipeline is in place, you can decide what payments are accepted.

Naturally Russia and China specially are pushing towards the de-dollarisation. It is the fact that the US Dollar is the reserve currency of the world that allowed the US to run a massive deficit practically without consequences.

So it is all linked and has nothing to do with humanitarian issues.

Update 12 September

President Obama expanded the war against Islamic State in Syria. For a strange coincidence there is a pipeline Qatar – Mediterranean Sea that needs to go through Syria to free Europe from the Russian energy dependence. Another piece in the Cold War Reloaded.

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