Oleaginous Geopolitics in SW Asia and the Burgas-Alexandroupolis Oil Pipeline

Author: M. Myrianthis
Publisher: Institute of International Relations
Date: December 1996 ISBN: 960-85476-2-8

In recent times, argues the author, new policies, such as oil diplomacy, have shaped the strategies and tactics of the Great Powers. The modern variations of oil diplomacy include pipeline politics, i.e. the geopolitical correlation of various strategic factors that affect pipeline routing and the transportation of oil or natural gas from the oil fields to the consuming markets. In the first part of this paper an attempt has been made to put forward the argument that the two landmarks of the geopolitical evolution of Southwest Asia are closely connected to the collapse of two empires, namely the Ottoman empire (1900-1922) and the Soviet Union (1980-92). In both cases the oil factor played a major part, and although it may not have shaped the evolution of events toward the collapse, it has certainly accelerated it.