Republic of Georgia- Just Another Emergency

Much has been reported on the crisis and subsequent martial law emergency rule imposed in Pakistan, but not much has been reported on the latest imposition of martial law emergency rule in the Republic of Georgia. Troops on the streets, media shutdowns, ban on protests. Sadly, the common link in both of these cases is the fact the the United States has publicly backed both of these repressive measures. As Reuters reports,

The top U.S. official for the Caucasus praised Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Sunday for his leadership over the last 4 years, but suggested he lift a state of emergency and restore an independent media.

In contrast some Western countries have criticised Saakashvili for a violent crackdown on opposition protests and the muzzling critical media last week.

"The president of Georgia has shown remarkable leadership," said Matt Bryza, assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

"For democracy to move forward and for the people of Georgia to restore their faith in the process, obviously these steps (lifting the state of emergency and restoring freedom of the press) need to be taken," he told Reuters.

"We trust in Georgia, the people of Georgia, the leadership of Georgia."

Of course, this one small detail regarding the Republic of Georgia could have something to do with all of the happy talk: the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. According to Wikipedia:

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline) transports crude petroleum 1,768 kilometres (1,099 mi) from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It passes through Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, hence its name. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world (the longest being the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to central Europe). The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10, 2005 reached Ceyhan on May 28, 2006.

The construction of the BTC pipeline was one of the biggest engineering projects of the decade, and certainly one of the biggest to have occurred anywhere in western Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union. The construction was largely overseen by David Woodward, BP Azerbaijan Associate President and his understudy Michael Townshend, Executive Director of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project.

The Caspian Sea lies above one of the world's largest group of oil and gas fields , but its full potential was not exploited under the Soviet Union due to a lack of investment and modern technology. This changed with the independence in 1991 of the countries around the Caspian Sea, when the Western oil companies were able to begin investing in the local oil industry. Caspian Sea oil production is forecast to rise rapidly to a maximum of about 1.5 million barrels (240 000 m³) per day, roughly equivalent to the petroleum output of Mexico, with reserves in the region estimated at around 220 billion barrels (35 km³) of oil – enough to meet the entire world demand for oil for eight years. (It should be noted, though, that it has been suggested that this is a gross overestimate, with Azerbaijan's oil reserves estimated by some to be a mere 32 billion barrels—5.1 billion m³.)

Funny how when you scratch the surface of just about anything these days, oil and pipelines seem to be peeking out from under the ground.


Take a look at what is going on in Georgia today. Imagine waking up one day and finding this going on around you...

The Crisis in Pakistan

The first large scale demonstrations since the declaration of emergency rule in Pakistan by Musharraf broke out on Monday when thousands of lawyers took to the streets across Pakistan. Police used both tear gas and batons to break up the demonstrations.

The Washington Post reports:

The largest rally took place in the eastern city of Lahore, where lawyers and police battled each other at the city's High Court complex. Several lawyers were injured, and hundreds were arrested before the protesters were dispersed.

Lawyers vowed to continue their protests in the coming days.

"We are determined that until there is freedom for the judges and the overturn of emergency rule, this will war will continue," said Anwar Shaheen, a lawyer in Lahore. "They can't quiet us."

Skirmishes also took place in the western city of Peshawar and the southern city of Karachi. In Islamabad, hundreds of lawyers shouting "Go Musharraf, go!" and "Musharraf is a dog!" protested at the districts courts, but were blocked from taking their procession to the streets.

"He has held the whole nation of 160 million people hostage, just with the backing of the gun and the Western powers," said one protesting lawyer, M.S. Moghul.

This situation has the potential not only to grow inside of Pakistan itself, but perhaps even spread to other countries in the region. Over at TPM Cafe, Steve Clemons has a great article about this in which he states:

"The fact is that governance in a region that is ambivalent about America, Europe and the West in general is becoming more complicated everywhere in the Middle East and South Asia. And it is America's failure in Iraq, its unwillingness to deliver on Palestine, and its bellicosity and hubris that are motivating the Muslim street against those perceived to be aligned with American interests."

This is an issue that we all need to keep an eye on. It will be interesting in the next few days to see if the U.S. will acknowledge the desires of the Pakistani people (i.e. democracy) or throw their weight behind Musharraf.

Here's a clip regarding the situation there.