Obama Prepares Georgia for Iran war: Analyst

Source: PressTV

A researcher says in his recent meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Barack Obama discussed the use of the Eurasian country’s soil for a strike on Iran.

“On January 30 US President Barack Obama met with his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili in the Oval Office at the White House for an unprecedented private meeting between the heads of state, a tête-à-tête initiated by Washington,” Rick Rozoff wrote on Stop NATO website on Friday.

Rozoff, who has been involved in anti-war and anti-interventionist work in various capacities for 40 years, added that though the details of the meeting were not divulged, there has been speculation that Obama summoned the “ambitious and erratic” Georgian leader to Washington to propose “a quid pro quo.”

The deal, the journalist said, involved the “use of Georgian territory for American attacks on Iran in exchange for the US exercising its not inconsiderable influence in Georgia - with a population of only 4.7 million the third largest recipient of American foreign aid - to assist in securing Saakashvili’s reelection in the next year’s presidential poll.”

After his meeting with Obama, Saakashvili also reportedly met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, leading members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus, and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.

Last week Georgian Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia announced the imminent arrival of a delegation of American military experts, asserting US-Georgia military relations were entering “an entirely new phase.”

Furthermore, a member of Georgian opposition disclosed in January that the United States is financing the construction of facilities in Georgia to prepare the grounds for “a military conflict with Iran.”

CONFRONTATION BETWEEN MILITARY BLOCS: The Eurasian "Triple Alliance." The Strategic Importance of Iran for Russia and China

Source: Strategic Culture Foundation
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Despite areas of difference and rivalries between Moscow and Tehran, ties between the two countries, based on common interests, have developed significantly.

Both Russia and Iran are both major energy exporters, they have deeply seated interests in the South Caucasus. They are both firmly opposed to NATO's missile shield, with a view to preventing the U.S. and E.U. from controlling the energy corridors around the Caspian Sea Basin.

Moscow and Tehran's bilateral ties are also part of a broader and overlapping alliance involving Armenia, Tajikistan, Belarus, Syria, and Venezuela. Yet, above all things, both republics are also two of Washington’s main geo-strategic targets.

The Eurasian Triple Alliance: The Strategic Importance of Iran for Russia and China 

China, the Russian Federation, and Iran are widely considered to be allies and partners. Together the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran form a strategic barrier directed against U.S. expansionism. The three countries form a "triple alliance," which constitutes the core of a Eurasian coalition directed against U.S. encroachment into Eurasia and its quest for global hegemony.

While China confronts U.S. encroachment in East Asia and the Pacific, Iran and Russia respectively confront the U.S. led coalition in Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. All three countries are threatened in Central Asia and are wary of the U.S. and NATO military presence in Afghanistan.

Iran can be characterized as a geo-strategic pivot. The geo-political equation in Eurasia very much hinges on the structure of Iran's political alliances. Were Iran to become an ally of the United States, this would seriously hamper or even destabilize Russia and China. This also pertains to Iran's ethno-cultural, linguistic, economic, religious, and geo-political links to the Caucasus and Central Asia.

America Threatens China: What Lies Behind the U.S. "Return to Asia" Strategy?

Source: China Military Online
Lin Zhiyuan

What is behind US 'Return-to-Asia' strategy?
Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

-The American overall strategy toward China is giving the same priority to cooperation and prevention, but intensifying "security rebalancing" efforts on China, taking comprehensive measures to suppress China, and instigating its allies to pay, contribute and appear to restrain China.

-Some thinkers of the U.S. Navy are quite interested in the English geographer Halford Mackinder's "Heartland" theory. Mackinder said "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World Island (Eurasia)."

Mackinder's followers have applied this strategy to Asia, and believed that controlling South China Sea will make the U.S. air force and navy command East Asia, and consequently command the "World Island".

-Currently, the situation in Europe is under American control, and the situation in the Middle East is beneficial to the United States. The world's geographic center is transferring from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the Asia-Pacific region has become the world's political and economic center.

Recently, the PLA Daily interviewed Lin Zhiyuan, an expert on U.S. issues at the Department of World Military Research under the Academy of Military Sciences on the U.S. strategy to "return to Asia."

Reporter: While talking about Asia recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "The United States is back," making it clear that the United States has paid more attention to the Asian-Pacific region than ever, and it will shift its strategic focus to Asia in the future. What do you think of the move?

Lin Zhiyuan: It aims to fully restore U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States implements a global strategy, which has respective focuses on deployment.

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States started to shift its strategic focus to Asia. However, the American focus on Asia was always interrupted by some major events, such as Asia’s financial crisis and the war on terrorism. Especially over the past 10 years, the United States paid all attention to anti-terrorism and got entangled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but made slow progress in Asia.

Corbett Report Interviews Pepe Escobar

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

Pepe Escobar, roving correspondent for the Asia Times Online, joins us once again for an in-depth discussion of “Pipelinestan,” the network of pipelines hardwiring the countries of Central Asia, Russia, and Europe in a strange and intricate energy corridor dance. We discuss some of the main pipelines and projects in the Caspian Basin and what these mean for the geopolitics of Eurasia.