Dragana Trifković, Director General of the Center for geostrategic studies
The geopolitical struggle for resources has been talked about for decades. Many scientists at the end of the twentieth century warned that in the near future there would inevitably be conflict over the natural resources that are unevenly distributed on Earth. Despite excessive expectations of alternative renewable energy sources, our civilization has remained dependent on oil, gas and rare metals. Especially today's level of urbanization, acclimated comfort and technological dependence with the growth of the world population, requires enormous energy resources. Some regions are rich in energy, while others are scarce. Europe as a highly developed continent has completely exhausted its resource bases and thus become dependent on energy supplies. China and India, two major emerging powers, do not have enough energy for their needs. The countries of the Middle East, which are very rich in energy resources, have become unwillingly participants in the geopolitical struggle. In recent years, it has become apparent that wherever new oil or gas deposits are discovered, American "peacekeepers"appear. Why is that?
American doctrine
"Russia has too many natural resources. That's not fair, " Madeleine Albright, the former US Secretary of state, once said.
"The Russian economy is based on undeserved revenues from the extraction and sale of Natural Resources.", stated 2017. year Edward Lucaseditor of the British magazine The Economist.
These statements reflect the essence of the pretensions of the West, specifically Anglo-Americans, towards Russia. It is through this prism that we should observe the current geopolitical conflict that threatens to turn into a war of enormous proportions. Such an American direction is not affected by the circumstances whether Bush, Clinton, Obama, Biden or Trump are in the White House. It is unchangeable as long as the strategic documents of US foreign policy in which this direction is drawn are in force.
"Our main goal is to prevent the emergence of a new rival, both in the post-Soviet space and in any other place on the planet, that would pose a threat similar to the one that the USSR posed to our country. This provision is fundamental to the new defense strategy. We must try to prevent the emergence of hostile regional powers that could exercise global control in international relations with their resources,“ wrote the 1994-1999 set of strategic recommendations for U.S. foreign and defense policy, developed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and his assistant Scooter Libby in 1992. (note: in the final version, the doctrine has changed but the original version was printed in the New York Times). This doctrinethe Wolfowitz Doctrine is still in force in the United States.
Destroying Russia
The world's largest country by area, Russia, spans a vast area of Eastern Europe and northern Asia, occupying about 17.1 million square kilometers of land rich in natural resources such as oil, gas and rare metals. With the rest of Europe it forms a single whole of the Eurasian space that is naturally connected. But isn't this natural connection something that the Anglo-American powers don't like and see as threatening their own interests? If we interpret the current events correctly, we can certainly find answers.
Europe is currently in its worst crisis since the end of World War II. Increasingly, European states lack sovereignty and fall victim to U.S. foreign policy because of political elites who follow Washington's instructions unconditionally and their inability to resist the deadly embrace. For decades, European countries developed economically at the expense of the cheap energy they received from Russia. Ukraine made a huge profit from the transit of Russian gas through its territory. But due to corruption and the influence of external factors, she used this position to blackmail Russia. For this reason, Russia has decided to diversify supply routes and build new main pipelines to Europe, as well as to develop new technologies that will allow it to sell liquefied natural gas. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which expands the capacity of the existing Nord Stream to 110 billion m3 of gas per year, began construction in 2011. years. The following year, Russia began the construction of the South Stream strategic project with a planned capacity of 64 billion m3 of gas per year, which was of great interest to the Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece). However, this project was abandoned at the end of 2014. years, according to official information, due to the inability to comply with EU regulations. The same year, the war in Ukraine began, following an organized coup led by Washington.
Legalization of terrorism
Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated after a certain time, the South Stream was interrupted due to enormous pressure from the United States and Western European countries. So completely in line with Wolfowitz's foreign policy doctrine, American politicians have openly talked about wanting to prevent Russia's economic integration with its neighbors.
Prevented by the West from building the South Stream, Russia signed an agreement with Turkey on the construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline, with a capacity of 31.5 billion m3 per year. The pipeline began supplying Turkey and certain Balkan countries in 2020. it is currently the only gas pipeline between Russia and Europe in operation. Ukraine is 1. in January of the current year, it interrupted the transit of Russian gas through its territory and thus prevented the supply of Russian gas from the east to Europe. The fate of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines is known. End of 2019. during the presidency of Donald Trump, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was in the phase of completion with 93.5% readiness, but the work was halted due to the imposition of sanctions by the US administration. The investor of the project, the Russian company Gazprom, had to postpone the planned completion of the works until it found a solution for the underwater laying of pipes that was paralyzed by US sanctions. During 2020. in the year, Russia trained the Akademik Chersky ship to complete these works, but did not proceed with them as Trump demonstrated willingness to impose even greater sanctions against both Russia and European gas buyers. Work resumed after the 2021 change of government in the United States. years. Joe Biden said at the time that construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was "almost complete" and that imposing new sanctions against the project would be "counterproductive" to U.S. relations with Europe. After the start of the Russian special military operation in February 2022. in 2015, Germany suspended the certification of the pipeline and thus this project was suspended without even being put into operation. However, this was not enough as a message to Russia that all its strategic projects would be blocked. In September 2022. the year was completed diversion on both Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, in the territorial waters of Denmark and Sweden. A few months before that, the CIA had sent a warning to European countries, without giving specific information, that the Nord Stream pipeline could be the target of attacks during the conflict in Ukraine. It was the first time since World War II that a terrorist attack was carried out on a strategic international infrastructure.
So the United States, through political pressure on the EU, managed to stop all energy projects of Europe with Russia and thus to keep it under its influence. On the other hand, the invasion of the Middle East aims to establish control over energy resources in this region, as well as to build new alternative pipelines from the Middle East to Europe, which exclude Russia. Also, the Middle East is important for supplying China and India with energy, and the US plans to exert the same kind of pressure on these countries, as in the case of Europe. This means that in addition to political blackmail and threats of sanctions, they can use all other illegal methods such as subversive actions, conflict creation, the use of terrorist groups, etc. In addition, Donald Trump is apparently planning an invasion of the resource-rich Arctic, where Greenland is only the initial step in that direction. The potential shortage of Natural Resources leads to certain powers seeking control over energy-rich regions, prompting them to use military force, including the creation of military bases and coalitions designed to ensure energy dominance. In many regions, there has been a noticeable increase in internal conflicts initiated by external factors, as well as the use of terrorism that has taken on an international character. Many analysts believe that the fight against terrorism has been misused to create mechanisms by which highly developed countries take over the resources of smaller states.
Source: Center for Geostrategic Studies
10. January 2025.
Instructions:
https://dzen.ru/a/YpYNmtWp5Hno9kAP
https://www.thetimes.com/article/why-do-conservatives-fall-for-putin-s-lies-9jhjxbnqk
https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/pdf/2008-003-docs1-12.pdf
Nord Stream sabotage: What we know about explosions 1 year later-The Washington Post
