Kazakhstan will use the just-operational Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. This, of course, must add to how much Russia has to be be hating the thing. Not surprisingly, the Russian representative who was to attend the opening ceremony had to cancel because of illness.
In a related story, as Russia worries that the BTC pipeline will mean American troops on its border, it continues to grapple with its military decline.
Update: Blogrel has two posts on the BTC and some discussion about what it means for Armenia.
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Nathan Hamm – author of 2039 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.