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.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2974 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan is the Founding Editor and Publisher of Registan.net, which he launched 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 private and government clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural and political factors shape risks and opportunities and how organizations can adjust their strategic and operational plans to account for these variables. Nathan is currently seeking research, analysis, and consulting opportunities. He can be contacted via Twitter or email.
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