Eastern Mediterrnenan NATO/ Pipelineistan - reconfigured

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Sunday, September 9, 2018 10:20 PM

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I thought this was a very interesting article. Basically, the USA is seeking alternatives both to Turkey as a NATO ally, and to (Russian) pipeline gas supplies to southern Europe via Turkey.

The USA is may be planning on an Israeli-Greek-Cypriot configuration: Greece and Cyprus are both NATO members which have received attention from the USA military lately, and the USA just built its first-ever military base in Israel. Also, there is a newly-discovered (past 7 years or so) gas field under the eastern Mediterranean, which could supply southern Europe, which Israel is interested in exploiting. This would come undone, should the long-suffering Greek population ever rise up from its knees.

Here are the relevant parts of the article and some insightful comments

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It was reported in May that the US military had started to operate MQ-9 aerial vehicles out of Greece’s Larissa military base. That same month, the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was one of the American ships making a port call. Greece’s Souda Bay naval base is being used to support US operations in Syria. US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt has often cited the strategic significance of the ports of Alexandroupolis and Thessaloniki.

...There can be no doubt that Ankara’s dispute with Cyprus and Israel over drilling rights in the Mediterranean was also on the agenda of the talks during Gen. Dunford’s visit, although no comments were made to the media in regard to this issue. Greece wants to transform Alexandroupoli into a hub for the gas being exported from Israel and Cyprus to Europe. The pipeline’s approximate length is between 1,300 to 2,000 kilometers, and it will begin in Israel and cross through the territories of Cyprus, Crete and Greece to eventually end in Italy. The hub will also have a rail link to Bulgaria. A floating LNG reception, storage, and regasification unit will be part of this project, to make it possible to bring in US LNG supplies.

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A "pipe dream" if there ever was one! USA LNG supplies are likely to be 20-50% higher in price than locally-piped gas. Why anyone would keep beating/ invest in this dead horse in beyond me.

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The planned route of the EastMed pipeline, a project supported by the EU, will bypass Turkey, despite the increased cost. Ankara will hardly sit idly by and watch this turn of events. Turkey claims that part of the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus is under Turkish jurisdiction. According to Turkey’s President Erdogan, the “Eastern Mediterranean faces a security threat should Cyprus continue its unilateral operations of offshore oil and gas exploration in the region.” The countries involved in the project may need US protection and help in order for this to come to fruition.

For the US, strengthening its relations with Greece means expanding support for the emerging Greece-Israel-Cyprus Eastern Mediterranean Alliance (EMA) that has been driven by the discovery of hydrocarbons in Israeli and Cypriot [and Syrian, Lebanese, and Egyptian] waters and by opposition to Turkey. As Ambassador Pyatt put it, “Americans are back in a really big way.”

A year ago the US opened its first permanent military base in Israel run by the US military's European Command (EUCOM). Officially, the primary mission of the air-defense facility located inside the Israeli Air Force's Mashabim air base, west of the towns of Dimona and Yerucham, is to detect and warn of a possible ballistic missile attack from Iran. This is part of a broader process as a new military alliance with its own infrastructure emerges.

In 2015, Greece and Israel signed a military cooperation agreement. Bilateral and trilateral military drills, such as Nobel Dina, a multinational joint air and sea exercise conducted under the partnership of Greece, Israel, and the United States, have become routine. In March 2014, Israel opened a new military attaché office in Greece to signify this ever-closer relationship.

... Of all the members of the

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