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Каспинфо декабрь 2000 |
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Название: Материалы на английском I Главные Пункты: * Турция опасается того, что Буш откажется от поддержки проекта трубопровода Баку-Джейхан. * Новый слоган ВР <Без нефти> означает лидерство в добыче газа, доставке чистых видов топлива в наиболее загрязненные точки планеты, производстве солнечной энергии - так ли это? * Продолжаются переговоры по экспорту казахской нефти на Украину. * Экологи предупреждают о грядущем обвале рынка икры. * Сообщение о семинаре КЭП <Приоритетные источники загрязнения Каспийского моря>. На основании итогов семинара КЭП разработает рекомендации и средства уменьшения загрязнения, а также посодействует 5 странам достичь соглашения при создании интегрированного плана по уменьшению загрязнения море. Контактная информация. * И другие сообщения (22.12.2000) Полный Текст Материалы на английском I МАТЕРИАЛЫ НА АНГЛИЙСКОМ ***** Turkey concerned Bush might drop Baku-Ceyhan pipeline plan 12/20/2000 Mideast Mirror (Copyright 2000) But the incoming U.S. administration is sure to uphold Washington's "strategic partnership" with Ankara, Mohammad Noureddin writes in al-Mustaqbal George W. Bush's administration will maintain the United States' "strategic partnership" with Turkey, but there is concern in Ankara that it will not be as enthusiastic as the outgoing Clinton administration about plans to transport Caspian Sea oil and gas to international markets via Turkey, according to Turkish affairs expert Mohammad Noureddin. Writing in the Beirut daily al-Mustaqbal, he notes that both Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney have links with American oil firms which believe that transporting the oil via Iran would be more economically viable than building a proposed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline at a cost of some $4 billion. BUSH SR & CLINTON: When the U.S. president-elect's name is mentioned, Turks immediately think of George Bush Sr, who was president from 1988 to 1992, Noureddin writes. For this was a "historic" period in terms of matters involving Turkey, not least the 1991 Gulf war and the situation that emerged in northern Iraq, heightening Ankara's Kurdish-related apprehensions. And when George Bush the father is mentioned, the other side of the American-Turkish coin of that time comes to Turkish minds, and that is the late president Turgut Ozal. The Turkish president had forged such a close relationship with his American counterpart that a hot line was set up between the White House and the presidential palace in Ankara for the first time and Bush became the first U.S. president in more than 30 years to visit Ankara. The Ozal-Bush era was one of full agreement between Ankara and Washington, and the two men were constantly in touch. Ozal -- unlike other Turkish leaders -- supported the use of force against Iraq, and this encouraged Bush to go ahead with Operation Desert Storm. Ozal's enthusiasm for the U.S.-led war against Iraq may have stemmed from his designs on the country, specifically its northern part. That Ozal aspired to annex northern Iraq to Turkey was confirmed in the memoirs of people who worked with him, such as the prime minister, defense minister and chief of General Staff at the time. When Bill Clinton succeeded Bush in 1992, Turkish-U.S. relations improved even further and were upgraded to a "strategic partnership," Noureddin continues. Clinton attached great importance to Turkey and its role in confronting Russia and Iran. He strove to promote a global economic role for Turkey through the proposed pipeline that would carry Caspian Sea oil from Baku in Azerbaijan to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan via Georgia, thus bypassing Russia and Iran. It was also thanks to pressure from the Clinton administration that the European Union (EU) agreed to accept Turkey as a candidate for membership at its December 1999 Helsinki summit. GEORGE W.: After the eight-year "golden" Clinton era and the defeat of his "heir" Al Gore by Republican George W. Bush, the question is being asked whether Turkish-American relations will remain as good under the incoming U.S. administration. Officials at the Turkish foreign ministry and other quarters dealing with foreign policy believe there is no simple answer to this question, says Noureddin. However, the general impression is that the "strategic partnership" between the two countries will continue, although differences may arise on some foreign policy issues. These circles believe there are differences between the Democrats' perception of Turkey and that of the Republicans, which is not to say that the latter attach less importance to Turkey. While George W. Bush's inexperience in international affairs may give an impression of ambiguity where future relations are concerned, the cabinet Bush is currently putting together should make up for that. Vice President-elect Cheney was defense secretary during the Gulf war and visited Turkey several times. Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, and Ankara is therefore no stranger to him. The same is true of Condoleezza Rice, who has been named national security adviser and who knows Turkey well. Paul Wolfowitz, who is tipped to become defense secretary, held a senior post at the Pentagon during the Gulf war. And Richard Armitage, another possible appointee as defense secretary, also served under Cheney when he held that post. Hence, most members of Bush's team are "friends" of Turkey and familiar with Turkish affairs. This is not to say that there will be no problems at all, Noureddin writes. The incoming administration is expected to continue to avoid colliding with Turkey on the Cyprus issue or exerting pressures that could embarrass Ankara. And it is likely to attach great importance to the issue of Ankara's position in the EU's new defense "identity," which makes no room for Turkey while enabling the EU to make use of NATO's resources -- something Turkey refuses by virtue of its NATO membership and EU candidacy. Hence, the new U.S. administration will have to step in and apply pressure so that Turkey will know where it stands in the European-NATO relationship. One cause of concern for Turkey is Bush's stand on the Balkans, chiefly Kosovo. During his election campaign, Bush said he would pull U.S. forces out of Kosovo and the Balkans, and he had earlier criticized NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia. Ankara fears the withdrawal of U.S. troops would undermine its influence in the Balkans. Iraq is a key issue for Turkey given that Bush is expected to take a tougher line in a bid to topple President Saddam Hussein. While Ozal was prepared to take part in the war against Iraq and even considered seizing its northern part, matters are different now. Ankara is forging close links with Baghdad and fears that chaos could result from a fresh large-scale military offensive against Iraq. The Turks expect the new U.S. president to take Turkey's interests, and the sensitivity of its position, into account when planning policy vis--vis Iraq. [The Turkish parliament has just extended for a further six months the mandate of U.S. and British aircraft that patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq. The warplanes fly out of the southern Turkish airbase at Incirlik in so-called Operation Northern Watch, which Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said was in the interests of Turkey.] PIPELINE: But the issue that most worries Turks is the future of plans to build a Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, Noureddin writes. The Clinton administration has been a staunch advocate of the project, and the leaders of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have signed agreements under U.S.-British auspices related to the proposed construction of the pipeline. The plan's main objective is twofold: to reduce Russia's influence in the Caucasus, and to undermine Iran's economic role. But although the plan is several years old and related agreements have been concluded, it remains ink on paper. The projected pipeline would cost 3-to-4 billion dollars and U.S. and British oil firms think it would not be economically viable. They prefer to transport Caspian oil and gas to world markets via Iran, where it would not cost more than $1 billion to complete existing pipelines and other infrastructure. [The Clinton administration has backed both the proposed Baku- Ceyhan oil pipeline and a gas route running across the Caspian seabed from Turkmenistan to Turkey via Azerbaijan.] The Bush-Cheney administration is likely to take a different view of the Baku-Ceyhan project and consider going for the Iranian route. The two men have direct links with American oil firms, which helped finance their campaign, and would therefore be expected to promote their interests. However, Turkish circles point out that directing the flow of energy from the Caspian via Iran would necessitate the normalization of, or at least an improvement in, relations between Washington and Tehran. Since this can't be done easily or quickly, the Baku-Ceyhan plan still has a chance, they argue. In short, differences on this or that issue notwithstanding, Turkey is expected to remain the United States' second major ally in the Middle East after Israel during the term of the Bush administration, says Noureddin. Suffice it to remember that the close relationship has outlived successive administrations in Washington and a variety of governments, not to mention military coups, in Ankara. Copyright 2000 Mideast Mirror ***** BP: Beyond Petroleum or Beyond Preposterous? By Kenny Bruno Special to Corporate Watch December 14, 2000 British Petroleum's recent ad campaign with the theme of "Beyond Petroleum," led us to think about more appropriate phrases for the company's re-branding: British Petroleum: Beyond Pompous, Beyond Protest, Beyond Pretension, Beyond Preposterous, Beyond Platitudes, Beyond Posturing, Beyond Presumptuous, Beyond Propaganda... Beyond Belief. Recently BP, the world's second largest oil company and one of the world's largest corporations, advertised its new identity as a leader in moving the world "Beyond Petroleum." Such leadership would benefit the world's climate and many of its communities immensely, according to British Petroleum. Sound too good to be true? Let's see. BP says Beyond Petroleum means "being a global leader in producing the cleanest burning fossil fuel: Natural Gas." It's true that natural gas is not petroleum, but is it true that gas is a radical improvement over oil for our climate? In theory, natural gas emits somewhat less carbon dioxide than oil for the same energy produced. But when fugitive emissions, or leaks, are counted, the difference is slim to none. For the climate, natural gas is at best an incremental improvement over oil, and at worst a distraction from the real challenge of moving our societies away from fossil fuels. That challenge is what is meant by "moving beyond petroleum" when used by environmental groups. Rainforest Action Network, for example, says their Beyond Oil campaign works to "move our societies out of our devastating dependence on fossil fuels and into renewable energy options..." BP's re-branding as the "Beyond Petroleum" company is perhaps the ultimate co-optation of environmentalists' language and message. Even apart from the twisting of language, BP's suggestion that producing more natural gas is somehow akin to global leadership is preposterous. Make that Beyond Preposterous. BP's claim to be "the largest producer of solar energy in the world" is a little more serious. But being #1 for BP is so easy. It was achieved by spending $45 million to buy the Solarex solar energy corporation. That's a tiny fraction of the $26.5 billion it spent to buy ARCO in order to increase BP's production capacity for...oil. BP will spend $5 billion over five years for oil exploration in Alaska alone. And, according to one group of BP shareholders, BP spent more on their new eco-friendly logo last year than on renewable energy. When a company spends more on advertising its environmental friendliness than on environmental actions, that's greenwash. Speaking of greenwash, BP's Herald Tribune ad (pictured here) is a bizarre classic of the genre. It is difficult to guess what their ad firm was trying to convey with the picture of partially submerged trees. Perhaps its just an unusual nature photo, or perhaps its meant to remind us of the frightening potential for rising sea levels and flooding from global warming. Or perhaps it's a Freudian slip, an unintentional reminder that BP's massive fossil fuel production is responsible for a substantial portion of global carbon emissions, and therefore, climate change. The ambiguity continues with the copy, "...starting a journey that will take the world's expectations of energy beyond what anyone can see today." Pretentious stuff for a company serving mainly oil and gas, with just a sliver of solar on the side. Make that Beyond Pretentious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ad Text Beyond... - means being a global leader in producing the cleanest burning fossil fuel. Natural Gas. - means being the first company to introduce cleaner burning fuels to many of the world's most polluted cities. - means being the largest producer of solar energy in the world. - means starting a journey that will take a world's expectations of energy beyond what anyone can see today. International Herald Tribune 11/15/2000 ***** RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 240, Part I, 13 December 2000 DISPUTE OVER EXPORT OF KAZAKH OIL TO UKRAINE CONTINUES. The office of Kazakhstan's Minister of Energy, Industry and Trade, Vladimir Shkolnik, issued a statement on 12 December accusing Nurlan Balghymbaev, who is the president of the state oil company KazakhOil, of violating the law by refusing to make the company's transactions public, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. Shkolnik also took issue with Balghymbaev's assertion in the parliament last week that the export of Kazakh crude for refining at Ukraine's Kherson oil refinery is legal. He again called for a halt to such exports. LF CORRECTION: "RFE/RL Newsline" on 6 December incorrectly quoted Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev as expressing his opposition to the export of Kazakh crude to Ukraine. The Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Trade had argued in a letter to Toqaev last month that such exports are not rational. ***** Environmentalists Warn of Collapse in Caviar Market Tue Dec 5 14:02:20 2000 GMT GENEVA (Reuters) - Poaching and illegal trade, mostly controlled by the Russian mafia, threatens the sturgeon's very survival and could herald the collapse of the international caviar market, the World Wide Fund for Nature warned Tuesday. The Swiss-based conservation group called for countries around the Caspian Sea -- mainly Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia -- to clamp down on overfishing in the basin, which accounts for 60 percent of the world's caviar supply. It also urged caviar-producing countries to spell out their restocking and other control measures for the large fresh water fish when independent scientists meet next week in the United States to review annual global export quotas. "Illegal fishing and trade, most of which is controlled by the Russian mafia, is threatening the very existence of the sturgeon and unless urgent action is taken to combat this illegal activity, caviar will become a thing of the past," said Alexander Shestakov, program officer at WWF-Russia. Russian police and border guards have found more than 70 tons of sturgeon entangled in illegal nets this year, estimated to be only a "small fraction" of the illegal catch along the Volga Delta which feeds into the Caspian, WWF said. Shestakov said: "This is the last chance for countries to tackle the sturgeon crisis. Unless clear answers are provided by exporting countries on their sturgeon management efforts, an international ban on caviar could be introduced within six months for the most endangered species." WWF STOP SHORT OF SEEKING BAN But the WWF stopped short of calling for an international ban on caviar or a fishing moratorium, saying it awaited the "scientific verdict" from the meeting being held from Dec 11-15 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Scientists will review compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a treaty protecting 30,000 animal and plant species including sturgeon. The world's seven caviar-exporting countries, which have signed up for voluntary export quotas totaling 239 tons this year, will be in the dock: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania and the Russian Federation. Iran and Russia accounted for the lion's share of exports, about 90 tons each, followed by Kazakhstan at 36.5 tons, according to WWF. Sturgeon is also caught on the Chinese side of the Amur River and in the Danube River in Eastern Europe. "The major problem is in the Caspian Sea because of unstable regimes. The whole control system has collapsed," Caroline Raymakers of TRAFFIC-WWF, which monitors trade in endangered species, told Reuters. "In Iran, sturgeon fishing is a state monopoly, as it was in the former Soviet Union, so the control is much better. That doesn't mean there isn't corruption," she added. CAVIAR AVERAGES $2,000 A KILO The best incentive for governments to protect sturgeon should be the whopping price the so-called "black pearls" command on the international export market, according to the WWF. "We definitely think the ban could be the best way to go but it is premature because the value of international trade is still governments' best incentive to protect the species," Raymakers said. The warning was issued in the run-up to Christmas holidays, when sales of caviar -- made from the unfertilized eggs removed from the female sturgeon -- are heaviest. Caviar retails from $800 to $5,000 per kilo in importing countries, averaging some $2,000 per kilo, according to WWF. But the average price on the Russian market is about $50 per kilo. Last year, the world's largest caviar trading countries imported 263 tons of the delicacy. The 15 member states of the European Union topped the list at 130 tons, followed by the United States (99 tons) and Japan (35 tons), WWF said. Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content or maintenance releases or similar, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters Sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. ***** The Survival of The Caviar-Producing Sturgeon Is Threatened Financial Times, December 2, 2000 By David Stern and Stefan Wagstyl Taslam Ahmedov plunges a finger into a mound of caviar on his market stall, pulls out some silvery-black eggs and says: "Please, taste it." Around him stand other fishermen offering plastic bagfuls of caviar and bloodied slices of the sturgeon from which they were taken. This is Neftchala market on the shores of the Caspian Sea, in Azerbaijan, where fishermen sell their catch on a dozen battered metal-covered tables under a corrugated roof. At Dollars 20 (Pounds 14) a kilo, the caviar is cheap. But it is also illegal and it could be endangering the future of the sturgeon. So much fish is now being pulled from the Caspian that stocks may already have reached danger levels. Stuart Gunn, manager of the Caspian Environment Programme, a multinational scheme financed by the United Nations and the European Union, warns: "We don't know. But we may already have passed the point of no return." Indeed, the international community is so concerned that it is trying to improve the safeguards on the sturgeon at a meeting this month of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), the Geneva-based intergovernmental body. The fishermen claim that the sturgeon's decline is caused mainly by industrial pollution, principally from the Caspian's crumbling Soviet-era oil wells. But a report by Mr Gunn's unit, completed this year, concluded: "The total sturgeon population is rapidly being affected by overfishing, most of which is illegal." The main beneficiaries of this poaching are not the impoverished fishermen but Russian, Azeri and other traders who buy their catch and smuggle it into the shops and restaurants of the west. Mr Gunn says the only way to guard the sturgeon is to "to hit the whole chain". The sturgeon's decline dates from the collapse of the Soviet Union, which for decades controlled the caviar trade jointly with Iran. Iran has continued to keep a tight hold over the southern Caspian. But Russia, Azerbaijan and the other Soviet successor states have failed to enforce tough anti-poaching laws. The issue will be on the agenda of a visit that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, plans to make to Azerbaijan early next year. The official caviar output in the former Soviet Union has dropped 90 per cent since the 1980s, to about 200 tonnes a year. The official Iranian catch has also fallen but only by about 15 per cent, to just over 100 tonnes. Poachers have more than made up the difference. Andrei Urnov, head of a Caspian working group at the Russian foreign ministry, says about 5,000 tonnes a year of caviar is now being harvested, compared with 2,000 tonnes in Soviet times. The activities of individual fishermen are dwarfed by those of organised gangs in speedboats armed with machine guns. They are particularly active in Russian waters, especially around the estuary of the Volga, the Caspian's biggest river, which attracts the largest concentration of caviar-laden fish. Damir Katunin, deputy director of the Caspian Fisheries Institute in Astrakhan in Russia, says law enforcement officials simply cannot contend with the poachers. "They have high-powered boats with 100-horsepower engines. Police here cannot compete with that." Tariyel Mammedli, deputy chairman of Azerbalyk, the Azeri state fishing concern, says that poaching in Azerbaijan remains largely un-organised but in Russia an entire mafia has grown up around the caviar industry. Mr Mammedli exaggerates the difference because, in Azerbaijan, too, big profits are mostly made by wholesale traders who buy caviar from fishermen and smuggle shipments through Russia, Turkey and Dubai. Last year, Azeri customs seized 940kg of Russian caviar in a single shipment, worth more than Dollars 1m in the west. Given the degree of state control in the Azeri economy, trading on this scale would be difficult without complicit officials. The Neftchala fishermen say the authorities, including the police, know what goes on but do not stop it. hey add that senior officials in Baku, the Azerbaijan capital, are also aware of the trade - but they decline to give any names. The profits are huge. A kilo of caviar is offered in the markets of Baku and Moscow for Dollars 100. In London, Russian traders sell it to restaurants for up to Dollars 750 a kilo. This is still a bargain - the London wholesale price for legal imports is about Pounds 1,500 a kilo and the retail price in luxury stores is Pounds 2,900. Once the caviar reaches the restaurant table or the shop cabinet, the smuggled and the official product look very similar. The traders have no trouble procuring the same jars and distinctive lids as the official packagers. However, cross-border shipments are legal only if covered by licences issued by Cites. Restaurateurs in London, Paris, New York and elsewhere could easily stem the flow of illegal caviar by refusing to buy from traders without licences. The dearth of official supplies has contributed to a 70 per cent price increase this year for legally imported caviar, according to W G White, a London trading company. "People could ask in restaurants where the caviar comes from but not many people do," says Laura Morris-King, sales director. "Contraband is now the name of the game." Airlines, the world's biggest caviar-buyers, are starting to wonder what could possibly replace sturgeon eggs in their first-class cabins. If Mr Gunn and other environmentalists are right, they may not have long before they have to make up their minds. The mighty sturgeon could be reduced to a scientific curiosity. ****** Programme Coordination Unit Room 108, 3rd entrance Government Building 40 Uzeir Hadjibeyov St. Baku 370016, Azerbaijan Tel.: +994 12 97 17 85 +994 12 93 80 03 Fax: +994 12 97 17 86 E-mail: caspian@caspian.in-baku.com Web: http://www.caspianenvironment.org/ Press - release 200/200.3/006 04 December 2000 Experts of the Caspian Environment Programme determine "Priority Pollution Sources in the Caspian Sea" The Caspian Centre for Pollution Control (one of the 12 Caspian Environment Programme thematic centres) will hold a 2-day workshop in Baku on 5-6 December, attended by specialists from state environmental committees and research institutions from all 5 Caspian countries. The Azerbaijani NGOs engaged in pollution monitoring and information analysis are also invited to participate in the event. The Caspian Centre for Pollution Control has been engaged for the past two and half years in investigating the sources of pollution of the sea and their causes. This effort is part of the overall CEP programme that should result in agreement by the 5 states on the means to jointly improve management of the Caspian environment. The workshop will discuss the relative importance of the many pollution issues, including discharges to the sea of inadequately treated sewage, oily waste water, persistent pollutants such as metals, pesticides and radioactivity and lated environmental problems. The most appropriate means of controlling pollution will be discussed, not only waste treatment, but also the introduction of cleaner production technologies, which will lower the health risk. The analysis of causes and results of pollution will then be an important input to the overall analysis of the environmental management of the sea, development of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis*, National Action Plans and Strategic Environmental Action Plans. As part of the future collaboration in assessing and reducing pollution, the Pollution Control Centre proposed the establishment of a comprehensive set of reference laboratories, which will ensure that information is based on common standards. A short presentation will be made on their proposals, as well as a presentation of Ecotox (World Bank trust project) on the interim results of a study into the toxic effects of pollution on higher predators such as sturgeon, bony fish and seals. Having identified the most important sources of pollution, CEP will recommend means to reduce them and will assist the states to agree on an integrated pollution reduction plan. Contact persons: Arne Yensen, the Caspian Environment Programme, CRTC for Pollution Control, Caspian Inspection Building, 3 Hudu Mamedov St., Baku, Azerbaijan E-mail: caspian@control.baku.az Phone / Fax: + (99412) 472788, 472788 Elina Farmanova, the Caspian Environment Programme, Programme Coordination Unit, Room 108, Government Building, 40 Uzeir Gadjibekov Street, Baku 370016 Azerbaijan, E-mail: efarmanova@caspian.in-baku.com Phone: + (99412) 97 17 85, 93 80 03 Fax: + (99412) 97 17 86 ***** RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 247, Part I, 22 December 2000 IRAN'S CASPIAN ENVOY VISITS KAZAKHSTAN. During talks in Astana on 21 December with Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Toqaev, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani said that while there are grounds for a rapprochement between the five Caspian littoral states with regard to the sea's legal status, Iran will not moderate its position, Interfax reported. Russia and Kazakhstan proposed dividing the seabed into national sectors according to the modified median line, while Tehran advocates joint use of the sea's resources or its division into equal sectors. Iran's sector accounts for only 14 percent of the sea. Ahani also noted the potential for expanding trade and bilateral relations, especially in the science and technology spheres. LF |