Published: November 10, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War - Moscow Welcomes Rumsfeld Departure - Enables Cooperation
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - MOSCOW WATCH - Caucasus - Caspian Theatre: Washington - Moscow - Sukhumi - Tskhinvili/Tbilisi - Baku - Tehran; Russia DM Ivanov Welcomes Rumsfeld Departure - Increased Relations between Russia - US Defense Ministries - Confronting Iranian Challenges on Energy Front - Caucasus - Caspian
Night Watch: MOSCOW - Readers of crossfirewar.com know that I suspected there were serious joint concerns between U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they met in Moscow recently. Dr. Rice mentioned afterwards they had discussed the Trans-Caucasus, which is the most strategic crossroads of enery pipelines in the world. They may also have been comparing notes on Iran's wargames maneuvers and Tehran's blatant support of Tbilisi in its ongoing military standoff with Moscow. As crossfirewar.com has stated constantly the energy interests of the West-Russia are linked. Industrial concerns in the West have been depending on Moscow to continue to guarantee easy access to raw materials all over Central Asia for more than a century. The Cold War disrupted none of that commerce, which financed the Soviet economy. [
RIA]
With Tehran having completed military preparations to take its foreign policy to the next stage beyond the occasional terrorist attack, and to (f)allout warfare, Washington has now acknowledged it needs a Secretary of Defense whose priority is not reforming or re-structuring the Pentagon or a military makeover, but whose sense of mission is the war against terrorism and the need to attack the center of the terrorism - Iran. News agencies have admitted that Donald Rumsfeld's real sense of purpose was not the war in Iraq, an obvious trap, but pursuing his vision of America's military in the future. Iraq he did not take seriously. He laughed about it during press conferences and complained about "Iranian meddling" as if that was all Tehran was doing, just meddling, instead of realizing Tehran had run rings around them and was in virtual control of the country.
I don't think Rumsfeld ever gave the Caucasus-Caspian theatre a second thought maybe never even a first one. Fortunately the energy industry has and also Russia Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who stated after Rumsfeld's departure, "I hope for further constructive development of relations between the Russian and US defense ministries. Both ministries should defend national interests and meet challenges and threats facing both countries."
An obstacle to that has just been removed. Rumsfeld's replacement is former CIA director Robert Gates. I assume he is familar with the demands of the energy industry and its need to retain access to the Caucasus - Caspian, the energy front. The next obstacles to be removed are Tehran's close economic and miltary relations with Baku, Azerbaijan's capital and of course Tehran's support of Tbilisi, Georgia. Before this month is over fighting in the region could begin more intensely than ever took place in the northern Caucasus in and around Chechnya.
It is no coincidence that Rumsfeld's departure is so soon after the Pentagon Chairman of U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace had a four day working visit to Russia, which was definitely used to expand Washington-Moscow' s planning of combined operations. The Pentagon's role will probably be to provide massive air support.
Night Watch Information Service
http://www.crossfirewar.com
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