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A Turkish energy ministry official confirmed that the BTC pipeline blast was a terrorist act. But what’s more, Russia’s international politics advisor to the Russian Duma declared the pipeline “dead” and that it would never operate again. An adviser to the Russian parliament also claimed the closed pipeline would not be opened again and declared the line is “dead”. “The world and countries in the region have seen that not NATO, but Russia is the only one who could secure the energy routes,” Alexander Dugin, international politics advisor to the Russia’s Duma, told Turkish Cumhuriyet daily. “In this context, regarding...

More than 30 Iraq and Persian Gulf War veterans have entered congressional races across the country as Democrats, hoping to capitalize on their military experience to topple the incumbent Republican majority. In Colorado, two former military men, Jay Fawcett and Bill Winter, are vying for the House seats of two strong, entrenched Republicans: Rep. Joel Hefley of the 5th Congressional District and Rep. Tom Tancredo of the 6th Congressional District, respectively. "Do we understand military and foreign affairs? You bet," Fawcett said. "Most of us have been to the point where you get a direct dose of military and foreign...

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A crucial plank of U.S. policy in the oil-rich Caspian region settles into place today as a wide range of commercial banks and international financial institutions sign up to finance the first major non- Russian oil-export pipeline from an area of the former Soviet Union, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported. After a steady drumbeat of loan approvals valued at $600 million from U.S., European and Japanese multilateral lenders and state export-credit institutions, 15 commercial banks on Friday signed their agreement to raise an additional $1 billion toward the project's $3.6 billion total cost. The major investors in...

TBILISI - US troops in Georgia will remain there forever, said US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles, Channel One reported. According to Mr. Miles, the presence of American troops is necessary to provide security for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project. At the same time, Mr. Miles expressed regret that Russia created obstacles to an American presence in Georgia. However, this contradicts the statement made by the newly-elected Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Mr. Saakashvili said at a press conference on January 12 that Georgia would not allow the United States to build military bases in Georgia. Perhaps, Georgia’s policy change was...

<p>Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc expects that the revolution in Georgia will have no bearing on a planned $3.6 billion oil pipeline that crosses the country, said Chief Executive Officer Lord Browne.</p> <p>A BP-led group is building a 1 million barrel-a-day capacity pipeline from Baku, Azerbaijan, that will cross Georgia and Turkey, ending at Ceyhan, on the Mediterranean Sea.</p>

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a total loan of $250 million for a multibillion dollar Caspian oil export pipeline, the bank said in a statement Tuesday. The EBRD's loan comes in addition to a $250 million financing package from the World Bank (news - web sites)'s International Finance Corp., which was approved Nov. 4. The $3.6-billion oil pipeline will travel some 1,700 kilometers from giant offshore Caspian oil fields near Baku in Azerbaijan across the Azeri desert, through Georgia and eastern Turkey before it terminates at the Turkish Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan where...

WASHINGTON - The World Bank (news - web sites) agreed Tuesday to provide $250 million in financing for a $3.6 billion pipeline that would bring oil from the Caspian Sea region through Turkey to Western markets. While the loan is only a small fraction of the cost of the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, the financing has been viewed as crucial for the project to attract private financial support. The executive board of the International Finance Corp., the World Bank's private investment arm, approved the financing despite requests by some environmentalists and human rights groups that a decision be postponed until some...

LONDON - Critics of a U.S.-backed plan to build a pipeline transporting Caspian Sea oil to Western consumers are urging the World Bank (news - web sites)'s private investment arm to delay a decision on whether to help finance the $3.6 billion project. Environmentalists and human rights groups contend the pipeline, which would carry crude from Azerbaijan to Turkey's coast, endangers villages and wildlife in its path, and could spark conflict in a region already seething with ethnic tensions. The International Finance Corp., the World Bank's Washington-based private investment arm, was to have made a decision this week on lending...

The World Bank plans to recommend support for a $4bn (£2.4bn) pipeline through central Asia, according to a leaked internal report. Campaign groups reacted with fury to news that the bank's commercial arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), believes that its 173 country members should agree a $300m loan. BTC, a consortium led by the British oil giant BP, is building a 1,090-mile pipeline from the Caspian through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Mediterranean. But the project, which aims to allow the West to tap into vast oil reserves without going through the Middle East, has encountered objections from...

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The World Bank (news - web sites) is approaching approval for a strategic crude pipeline linking Caspian oilfields to the world market, with a final decision due later this month, a top official told Reuters on Friday. The Bank is holding its final discussions on funding the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline and initial indications are the project meets the group's stringent environmental and transparency standards, Rashad Kaldany, head of energy for the bank and its investment arm International Finance Corp (IFC.UL) said in an interview. A positive World Bank verdict would unlock funds from other multilateral...