Here's some serious fodder for the tinfoil hat posse:
Short Version:
Long Version:
Secretary of State Colin Powell plans to attend the inauguration of Georgia's new president, Mikhail Saakashvilli, this weekend, offering Saakashvilli a symbolic stamp of U.S. approval. In addition to the planned festivities of singers, acrobats, dancing bears and a military parade, Powell may be stepping into the beginning of a civil war set off by the new president.
Sources close to the president of a small Georgian republic, the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, say the Adjarans have uncovered a secret plot by Saakashvilli to seize the republic and its port capitol of Batumi in the aftermath of Sunday's inaugural celebration. Adjarans believe that as soon as Powell leaves Georgia the new president intends to strike against them.
The Adjarans, 400,000 citizens with no army but many guns, this week encouraged their police, customs and border guards, about 5,000 in all, to repel what they fear will be an invasion. A friend of the Adjaran president, a former U.S. intelligence officer with wide international connections, Chet Nagle, flew from Istanbul, Turkey, this week and delivered a letter yesterday from Adjaran President Aslan Abashidze to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asking for his support to "prevent the tragedy of civil war." Georgia has an army of some 30,000 troops, lots of equipment, and U.S. military trainers and equipment, including some advanced attack helicopters.
But it gets even more interesting when coupled with
this little tidbit:
Head of Emergency Situations Department at Georgia's autonomous Black Sea region of Adjara was shot to death on Jan. 18 in Batumi, Georgia's on-line magazine Civil Georgia reported.
Temur Inaishvili was shot in the head by unknown gunmen and the reason for his murder is not clear yet, Adjara's Interior Minister, Jemal Gogitidze said. Gogitidze added that this was the second attack on Inaishvili. The first incident caused the death of his mother.
Now throw
this into the mix and you've got an edge-of-your-seat thriller in the making:
For more than 100 years, the Port of Batumi in Adjara has been central to the east-west trade in petroleum. An intrinsic part of today's oil transport network is the Batumi Oil Transport Facility. It's modern storage tanks which connect with the railroad network and the modern oil handling capabilities of the port, provide a cost efficient and flexible system for it's customers. American oil companies, including Chevron and Anadarko, have been long time users of this complex.
As we all know, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice served on the board of directors for Chevron (verify at
whitehouse.gov). That's a pretty strong tie right there. But there's more (isn't there always?). Check
this out:
When President Bush served as a director of an energy company 12 years ago, he approved the creation of an off-balance-sheet partnership that reduced the company's debts and improved earnings in a transaction similar to those that led to the collapse of Enron Corp.
As a director of Harken Energy Corp. in 1990, Bush, who had sold his own oil business to Harken and was retained as a consultant, made the motion at a board meeting to negotiate the transfer of struggling Harken assets into a partnership with Harvard University's investment arm, Harvard Management Co. Inc.
The name of the entity created by that transfer?
The Harken Anadarko Partnership.
This whole thing stinks. All I'm saying is if things get interesting in the Caspian region next week, don't be surprised.
