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Report: Russia expanding influence in Middle East as U.S. retreats

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, June 7, 2001

WASHINGTON Ñ Russia has expanded its sphere of influence in the Middle East in a drive that threatens Israel and Turkey, a new report says.

The report says Moscow is achieving control of major sources of oil and natural gas and is reversing the gains made by the United States since the 1991 Gulf war. The report by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies said Russia is also attempting to control the world price of oil.

The United States, the report said, has refused to confront Moscow's renewed global aspirations. Instead, the previous Clinton administration supported Gulf regimes and the Arab-Israeli peace process, Middle East Newsline reported.

The Russian policy focuses on relations with Iran and is meant to contain militant Islam in the nearby Caucasus and Central Asia. Russia has developed Iranian energy reserves and offered advanced weapons and technology in exchange for Teheran's agreement to serve as a route for any proposed energy pipeline from the Caspian.

"Perhaps more than any other issue," said the report, authored by strategist Ilan Berman, "Moscow's concerted quest for domination of the Caspian Basin, and its machinations to this end in the Persian Gulf, illustrate the degree of importance it attaches to the Middle East. Russia's Caspian policy is clear: to project its power over the oil-rich nations of the Caucusus to exclude any strategic presence there, and to impose its own security environment over the area."

The report said Moscow's exploitation of the Caspian could place Russia and its allies as the world's wealthiest oil exporters. Such control could allow Moscow to rival the power of Gulf Arab oil and natural gas producers and set world energy prices.

Iran's military buildup does not pose a threat to Russia, the report said. It said weapons bought by Teheran are insufficient for attack and Moscow is capable and willing to take preemptive measures.

At the same time, Russia has revived its relationship with longtime clients as Iraq, Libya and Syria. Moscow has also invested heavily in Iraq's efforts to develop oil reserves in the south as Russian arms sales to the Middle East comprise 15 percent of its total military exports.

The achievements recorded by Moscow has weakened Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the region. The report said Russia's growing relations with Iran and its neighbors have undermined Ankara's strategic relationship with Israel.

"Should it continue to diminish U.S. influence," the report said, "Russia could succeed in creating an anti-American, anti-NATO regional grouping that would dramatically upset the regional balance of power and place Western interests and regional Western allies Ñ like Turkey and Israel Ñ in jeopardy."

Thursday, June 7, 2001

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