Iran Receives Nuclear Fuel in Blow to U.S.

WASHINGTON — The United States lost a long battle when Russia, as it announced on Monday, delivered nuclear fuel to an Iranian power plant that is at the center of an international dispute over its nuclear program. Iran, for its part, confirmed on Monday plans to build a second such plant.
By HELENE COOPER
More.

Putin warns of Caspian Sea 'interference'

NVDL: Things getting tense, as bickering starts around the Caspian Sea. Iran, the US's pal Azerbaijan, and 3 other countries including Russia border this vital energy resource.

From the Independent.co.uk:
Leaders of Russia and Iran spoke out strongly today against outside interference in Caspian Sea affairs.

The warning came during a summit of the five nations bordering the inland sea that focused on ways to divide the region's substantial energy resources.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose trip to Tehran is the first by a Kremlin leader since the Second World War, warned that projects of energy pipelines crossing the Caspian could only be implemented if all five nations support them.

Mr Putin did not name any specific country, but his statement underlined Moscow's strong opposition to US-backed efforts to build pipelines to deliver Central Asian and Caspian hydrocarbons to the West bypassing Russia.

"Projects that may inflict serious environmental damage to the region cannot be implemented without prior discussion by all five Caspian nations," he said.

NVDL: Using the 'environment issue' to one's advantage, but only when it suits another agenda...

Mr Putin also emphasised the need for all Caspian nations to prohibit the use of their territory by any outside countries for use of military force against any nation in the region - a clear reference to long-standing rumours that the US might be planning to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any possible military action against Iran.

"We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian state," Mr Putin said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need to keep outsiders away from the Caspian.

"All Caspian nations agree on the main issue - that all aspects related to this sea must be settled exclusively by littoral nations," he said. "The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs to the Caspian states, therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and military forces here."
The legal status of the Caspian - believed to contain the world's third-largest energy reserves - has been in limbo since the 1991 Soviet collapse, leading to tension and conflicting claims to seabed oil deposits.

Iran, which shared the Caspian's resources equally with the Soviet Union, insists that each coastal nation receive an equal portion of the seabed. Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan want the division based on the length of each nation's shoreline, which would give Iran a smaller share.

Turkmenistan is also vying for the Caspian's resources. Mr Putin's visit took place despite warnings of amid hopes that a round of personal diplomacy could help offer a solution to an international stand-off on Iran's nuclear programme.

The Russian leader's trip was thrown into doubt when the Kremlin said on Sunday that he had been informed by Russian special services that suicide attackers might try to kill him in Tehran, but he shrugged off the warning.

Schizm

Take a careful look at this picture. It shows a soldier using a lever to pry open a crack. Not sure what the sign in the background says, but I'd guess it's Iran.

I was one of the few writers/bloggers/commentators, who decried the war in Iraq before it even started. I didn't support it from beginning, to middle, to now.

So let me be one of the first to say, I don't support the war in Iran. And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: but there isn't a war in Iran.

We'll see. Russia has already pulled out its technicians. The drum beat has already started. I guess it's hard to understand or believe or imagine the inevitability of it if you don't understand the Vonnegut Imperative. That the future will be one where only some countries have petroleum.

I think only a handful of people know this. Meanwhile in South Africa oil has recently risen by the highest margin ever, and is set to rise again, by 30 cents.

When I mentioned this to my father, he mentioned the exchange rate. Ah, but it's not R7.70 to the $, it's R7.07. It's actually strengthened a little.

I've given my father books and articles to read, but he prefers not to read them. It's a common reaction. Because once we know where we stand, we realise there really is very little we can do, except expect things to get a lot worse in our lifetimes. Not a nice thought.

But perhaps, I hope, we can look forward to a world, at the very least, with more bicycles in it.

For more information on the War On Iran, click on the title of this Post.

Or follow this link: http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20070405.htm