But to briefly refresh your memories: On June 29, 2007, Mr. Bryza, cast a warning shot to the then prime minister Costas Karamanlis in a story that was featured in the Greek daily "TO VIMA" stating that Karamanlis should "not move ahead with the pipeline" project. (Meaning the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline). Karamanlis did not take any of this very seriously, and went about his business and several days later the former PM signed the agreement with (the then) Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin. This was obviously not appreciated by all those who supported Mr. Bryza.
Then low and behold... a whopping 170 fires suddenly and mysteriously began torching the Peloponnese on August 23, 2007. In case some of you don't know, there were many innocent people who lost their lives in these unprecedented fires and this region of Greece suffered a huge catastrophe. On the very same day, across the Aegean in Constantinople, Bryza was marrying his sweetheart, or Turkish journalist Zeyno Baran.
She too had coincidentally published a similar article in the March 14, 2007 edition of the US based NATIONAL REVIEW about the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, and had also warned about the dangers of the Greek, Bulgarian and Russian energy agreement.
They kind of kept it in the family so to speak.
Since then much has happened. Bryza came under attack by US politicians for being too Turko-friendly. At the time, and in accordance with reports, American President Barak Obama was ignoring repeated warnings that the candidate he was nominating as Ambassador to Azerbaijan in May 2010 had serious flaws. Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee accused Bryza of having a pro-Azerbaijani bias and questionable ties to Azeri officials. The Senators were troubled by reports that foreign officials had given Bryza lavish gifts at his Istanbul wedding, during which the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan had served as a groomsman.
In addition, Bryza's Turkish-born wife Zeyno Baran was accused of conflicts of interest while working on Caspian energy issues at a Washington think tank. She had also antagonized the Armenian-American community by testifying against recognition of the Armenian Genocide at a Senate Subcommittee hearing.
When Obama failed to take these concerns seriously, Senators Barbara Boxer (Dem.-CA) and Robert Menendez (Dem.-New Jersey) had no choice but to place a hold on Bryza’s nomination, effectively blocking his confirmation. Obama then compounded his error by appointing Bryza as Ambassador to Azerbaijan in late 2010 without Senate approval. The President seemed oblivious to the potential damage to his own reputation, the prestige of the United States, and US-Azeri relations, should the Senate not confirm Bryza’s nomination forcing him to leave his post and return to Washington upon expiration of his 12-month appointment.
Bryza’s temporary assignment was ending in December 2011 and Obama administration officials pressured Senators Boxer and Menendez to allow him to continue serving in Azerbaijan by confirming his nomination. The two Senators remained steadfast in opposing Bryza even though it is not easy for these Democratic politicians to turn down a request from the President of the United States who also happens to be the nominal leader of their own party.
The Senators were also pressured by the government of Azerbaijan and its powerful lobbying firms which went into overdrive to justify their exorbitant fees. Through their special connections they were able to get the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post to publish editorials attacking the Senators and the Armenian National Committee of America which had spearheaded a public campaign against this unqualified Ambassadorial nominee.
Not surprisingly, the Wall Street Journal heaped lavish praise on Bryza, calling him a “respected career foreign service officer,” and accused the two Senators of “kissing up to the Armenian-American lobby.”
The Washington Post was even nastier. Its editorial could be described as outright racist and anti-Armenian. Contrary to its claim of defending “the larger U.S. national interest,” the newspaper was actually advocating the confirmation of an Ambassador with questionable credentials who would weaken, rather than strengthen America’s interests. The Washington Post concluded its shameful editorial by accusing “oil-poor” and “isolated” Armenia as being the biggest "LOSER" in the Bryza controversy.
Of course we here at HellasFrappe disagree. This is an American issue and Armenia had no role in it. In fact, the biggest losers are those who lobbied long and hard for the confirmation of an ill-qualified Ambassador who was more intent on serving the interests of Baku in Washington than those of America in Azerbaijan.
Newer information also revealed that Bryza and the Turkish lobby in the US apparently exerted a lot of pressure on the Karamanlis government for its pro-Russian stance (or a planned energy cooperation agreement between Athens and Moscow). He rather wanted Turkey to be a major benefactor of this, after all his inlaws have to have something to be proud of.
Till this day, Bryza continues to exert pressure on Greece whenever he can. Why? Simple: The Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, and the South-Stream pipeline would render Turkey's energy role in the region as totally useless! That is why!
But we will talk about this in more detail a little further down and explain why he Bryza wants Turkey to be a dominant force in the region, and why he continues to block Greece from ever joining the new European energy map.
Firstly, let us get to the latest developments which include his speech at the 2nd Annual Frankfurt Gas Forum in Germany.
Bryza, a former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, gave a wide-ranging tour of Europe's energy security scene and offered his perspectives on energy projects involved in the Southern Corridor. However the Gas Forum also focused on natural gas developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, something which was reflected in his remarks.
In his opinion, natural gas developments in the region could exert positive effects upon tense political situations among countries in the region, like between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus, or possibly even renew relations between Israel and Turkey.
Meaning that our national issues will never be resolved unless Greece and Cyprus bow their heads to Turkey!
On the subject of Eastern Mediterranean gas, he said that while policies in the region needed to be more aligned for investments to happen, if the economics were lined up they could “feed back into the politics” and create breakthroughs that would have positive impacts upon investments in the region.
In other words, if Greece and Cyprus does not bow its head to Turkey then we will never get out of the crisis either!
Expanding further he explained that the Eastern Mediterranean is a terrific example of how politics first need to line up –in this case Turkish relations with Israel, and Turkish relations with Cyprus – to enable the investments to happen. And here is where he said the incredible -which has made many people very skeptical about the real reasons behind the Memorandums of Shame, as well as Bryza's role in all of this-.
But if and when the investments happen, "I think we'll see some dramatic, even historic, breakthroughs on the Cyprus question and the restoration of the special relationship between Turkey and Israel that, in the late 1990s, was a strategic partnership that involved, not only military cooperation, but extensive intelligence sharing as well.”
In his opinion -which is obviously lobbying on behalf of Turkish interests- for Israel to sell its gas to markets like Egypt would be difficult while permitting for onshore LNG could prove impossible given the environmental and security concerns. If not LNG onshore, he said there were two other options: Cyprus or a floating liquid natural gas terminal, which could address some of the political issues surrounding Turkey-Israel and the Cyprus question (but that would not create significant political breakthroughs).
“Prime Minister Netanyahu would like, not only to use the natural gas to revolutionize the Israeli economy in many ways, develop new industries that are energy intensive, first and foremost ensure that Israel is self sufficient in natural gas for years to come, but I think he also wants to use natural gas exports as a way to improve Israel's relations with key neighbors,” he said, explaining that he thought some Israeli natural gas would be exported to Jordan, and some to the Palestinian territories.He continued:
“But if you're thinking about how to get the most geopolitical payoff for a natural gas export scheme to one of Israel's neighbors, I would argue that Turkey is the place you want to look – a country with great aspirations in the region, problematic at times, especially towards Israel. But if the natural gas exports could be used to restore a strategic partnership between Israel and Turkey, that would be a tremendous benefit for Israel.”But he didn't stop there. He said that the most compelling way to get this gas to the market was to build a pipeline to Turkey, which he described as being easy. Luckily he realized that in order for this to happen the permission of the government of Cyprus was needed because it is a sovereign nation, but let's say a new Annan plan suddenly surfaced... would this be one of the clauses?
Well there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. This is why Mr. Bryza continually threatened Costas Karamanlis through his associates. This is why all those opposed to suspicious settlements such as the Annan Plan were only endorsed by people such as George Papandreou -let us not forget that he has been conducting 'secret diplomacy' with Turkey for well over a decade now and from what we see, he is enjoying a very comfortable life because of it-.
Bryza also said something else that should not go unnoticed. He said that territorial delineations and allowing pipelines to pass through them could be ambiguous, but said that although conditions can be imposed on those pipelines passing through their territorial waters, such situations created risks.
“How do you obtain Cypriot permission for a pipeline to cross its territory before you come up with a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem – which I don't think is possible. What I do believe, is that energy investments could catalyze that breakthrough.”This meant, according to Mr. Bryza, that one helped Cyprus obtain an LNG terminal, which it had identified as a national priority. The problem was there clearly weren't enough proven reserves right now on Cyprus – it needed two LNG trains, he said.
He said that everyone has their fingers crossed that Cyprus in coming years is going to discover much more gas, and because of this, "two trains will be viable".
"Cyprus will be happy if we generate income to help it with its financial difficulties, but those revenues are not going to flow for at least 10 years.”If everything worked out perfectly, he explained, one wouldn't see revenues flowing to the Cypriot treasury until 10 or 11 years from now. He offered a solution.
“Perhaps there's a way to take advantage of the fact that the same companies – Noble, Delek and Avner Oil – are developing Israel's Leviathan field, as are developing Cyprus' Aphroditefield (or Plot 12).So is there a way, perhaps, to channel some of the early revenues from a pipeline from Israel to Turkey back into financing and risk reduction for an LNG facility on Cyprus?” he asked.
“And could there be even some some excess gas, after a pipeline were developed from Israel to Turkey, that could also be used to help develop the LNG facility? Or could there be compressed natural gas, which provides a way to ramp up production in the early years, in smaller volumes, without much commercial risk really and allow for there to be a pipeline from Israel to Turkey?”Intergovernmental agreements, he said, were needed, among Cyprus, Turkey and Israel.
He admitted, “It's a tall order of course. It probably will require outside political leadership akin to what the US did regarding the BTC pipeline.
“Right now, I don't think the US nor the EU are willing to jump in, but I also know that there is a genuine desire in Washington to create a breakthrough on both the Cyprus question and on Turkey-Israel relations before the municipal elections that take place in Turkey this March.”(Get ready Cyprus... Things are about to change!)
This, of course, depended on the Turkish Prime Minister, who would have to decide whether he would play to the “less positive forces in Turkish politics, who like to take swipes at Israel and like to take swipes at Cyprus. Ultimately, only one man is going to decide whether or not Turkey is going to push for this breakthrough,” explained Matthew Bryza at the 2nd Annual Frankfurt Gas Forum.
Some may argue that Bryza's statements are random, but were they? And here is where it really gets interesting!
Bryza is very chummy, chummy with multi-billionaire George Soros, as well as with Turkish companies that operate in the energy sector, so is it safe to assume that his statements are random?
We don't think so. We think they are clear warnings. And if you don't believe us about his affiliation with
S.Arabia-George Soros, then it would please you to know that Bryza's relationship with Soros was exposed in 2008 by the leader of Georgia's opposition Labor Party Mr. Salwa Natelasvili who had accused the then Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili of being a puppet of the multi-billionaire. At the time Natelasvili had argued that Bryza was a supporting pillar of Soros and the Georgian politician had even demanded that Bryza leave the country.
(It should be reiterated that at the time Bryza held the position of US secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs when these official statements were made.)
And just to clear that last argument: Natelasvili's accusations are not that far-fetched, because it is well known that George Soros' network maintains very close relations with the Saakashvili regime. According to reports, this network had apparently financed a series of methodical "democratic revolutions" such as the "Rose Revolution" in Adjara, which sought to weaken the autonomous regions of Georgia in a pledge to satisfy Soros greed.
(After all, Soros is well known for his pseudo revolutions, look at the Arab Spring, where he worked with S.Arabia and Qatar and forced regime change in the Middle East and N.Africa giving the illusion that he was bringing democracy, when we all know it was only about controlling the oil rights in these countries).
Aside from his Turkish wife, Bryza also holds very strong relations with other extremely influential officials in Ankara. When he was relieved of his diplomatic duties, the Turkish hydrocarbon company "Turcas Petrol" recruited him (June 2012) and we all know that the latter company maintains "privileged" relations with Azerbaijan and specifically the State-owned SOCAR company.
Some may recall that on December 21st, 2013 Greece agreed to sell the operator of its natural gas grid operator to the Azerbaijan's state energy company, in a 400-million-euro deal that drives forward the faltering Greek privatisation program.
Well... Guess who the sole bidder was? You guessed it, it was SOCAR! In fact it was the only bidder for a 66 percent stake in Greece's DESFA, in a tender that was held last June. SOCAR wants to use DESFA to increase its footprint in southeast Europe.
At the same time, Bryza also works as a consultant on business and democratic development, and is a board member of several private companies in Turkey. And obviously in a ploy to exert political pressure wherever he wants to, Bryza managed to also get appointed as the Director of the International Centre for Defense Studies, a Tallinn-based think tank. (March 1, 2012 ).
His wife, Zeyno Baran, who had also published an article in the well known "National Review" slamming the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project holds similar positions. She is the Director of the Center for Eurasian Policy and a Senior
Fellow at the Hudson Institute, which is a think tank located in Washington DC. She is also a Turkish American scholar on issues ranging from US-Turkey relations, Islamist ideology and energy security in Europe and Asia.
A match made in (energy) heaven!
Don't be fooled. They might be throwing ideas about pipelines running through Turkey from Cyprus, and trying to mend relations between Israel and Ankara, but this couple had (and still have) one mission and one mission and that is to totally block Greece from ever joining the new European energy map. In fact the two separate interests that support this couple have one common goal which is to totally exclude Greece from ever developing its energy potential, as well as taking part in the pipeline race.
Notice how all the talk about exploring and exploiting our natural wealth is subsiding in the mainstream news?
Think Ellada Think!
Greece and Cyprus are faced with unprecedented challenges in the weeks and months ahead. On the one hand they are battling
against the forces of Soros because they want to get their hands on property in the region -Greece's mineral wealthy regions, and Cyprus' rich waters- and on the other hand they are battling against pressure to bow to Turkey who we all know wants to strengthen its position even further in the region.
Will the forces against Greece and Cyprus win? It depends on the people. The more noise we make as nations, the more we discuss these issues amongst ourselves, at a local, state and national level, the harder it will be for these dark interests to materialize their plans.
So brew up a cup of coffee Frappers and start making some noise!
Also read:
SPECIAL REPORT - Setting The Record Straight On Greece's Natural Reserves & Who Betrayed Greece! (VIDEOS)
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/12/special-report-setting-record-straight.html
SPECIAL REPORT - The Tale Of Sex, Marriage And Natural Gas Pipelines Continues....
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/04/special-report-tale-of-sex-marriage-and.html
MEGA BOMB On Sunday - The Tale Of Sex, Marriage, Natural Gas Pipelines Continues....
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/04/mega-bomb-on-sunday-tale-of-sex.html
SPECIAL REPORT - US: Cyprus Natural Gas Via Turkey Not Greece! - "Yes" to Nabucco "No" to TAP!
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/02/special-report-us-cyprus-natural-gas-in.html
Sources:
- http://geopolitics-gr.blogspot.gr/2013/12/eastern-mediterranean-gas-economics.html
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/21/greece-privatisation-gas-idUSL6N0K00AQ20131221
- http://olympia.gr/2013/04/15/%CE%BF-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%
- http://www.newsbomb.gr/politikh/story/298276/to-toyrkofilo-lompi-ekvi
- http://www.hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/02/special-report-us-cyprus-
- http://www.newsbomb.gr/politikh/story/283856/mplokarei-toys-agogoys-stin-
- http://www.newsbomb.gr/politikh/story/283519/o-skoteinos-rolos-toy-mathioy-
- http://www.parapolitika.gr/ArticleDetails/tabid/63/ArticleID/577809/O-Karamanlis-