In Caspian, US-Led Security Workshop Targets 'Purple' Menace

TERRORWARS

by Simon Ostrovsky
Baku (AFP) Oct 13, 2005
A handful of countries on Russia's southern flank face a weapons proliferation threat from "Purple," a theocratic republic on the Caspian Sea that sponsors terrorism and has a covert nuclear weapons program.

This at least is the basis of a fictitious scenario at the heart of a three-day security workshop sponsored this week by the United States in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan including all Caspian and Black Sea littoral states, with the exceptions of Russia and Iran.

In the "Black Sea and Caspian Sea Maritime Nonproliferation Conference," an indoor exercise which began Tuesday in Baku, the theocratic government of "Purple" has used oil profits to obtain nuclear arms under cover of a peaceful nuclear energy program, drawing US sanctions in the process.

Delegates to the conference insist that the scenario, although it has a familiar ring about it, has no existing country in mind. But a "player handbook" distributed to participants and obtained by AFP makes clear it bears more than a few glaring similarities to the real thing.

"It's clear, they're talking about Iran," said Azad Isazade, an independent military analyst based in Baku.

The oil-rich Caspian region is of strategic interest to the United States both as a source of energy and of security threats from poorly secured Soviet-era weapons in demand in the Middle East, US officials have said.

At the conference, naval officers from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the United States "explore new avenues to cooperate" in "preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and other illicit trafficking by sea," the handbook said.

Russia, at the northern end of the Caspian, shares these interests but stayed away from the Baku workshop "so as not to irritate Iran," with which Moscow has close economic ties, particularly in the field of nuclear power, Isazade said.

Azerbaijan has been at pains to reassure Iran that its growing military cooperation with the United States was not a threat.

The handbook's text "doesn't mean that specifically Iran is the country that poses a threat to the whole Caspian region," said Farkhad Talizade, deputy commander of Azerbaijan's border guard service.

US officials also insisted Iran was not being targeted in the exercise.

"We've got a generic threat that is named generically and is not oriented to any country," said US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Currier.

Washington however has not limited itself to theoretical training exercises in the oil-rich Caspian region.

The US has undertaken the construction of two radar installations near Iran's northern border and south of Russia and has encouraged both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to beef up their sea defenses in order to counter "transnational threats" in the region.

Washington has spent some 30 million dollars on upgrading Azerbaijan's coastguard with a radar system, personnel training and repair of ships and recently said it wanted to spend 135 million dollars to improve Azerbaijan's and Kazakhstan's sea forces.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

THE STANS

Kazakh Oil May Be Bigger Than Kuwait

Washington (UPI) Oct 03, 2005
Kazakhstan's president says his country in a few years will be a bigger oil exporter than Kuwait and a major asset to U.S. global interests.

Tajikistan Banks On Russia For Defense

Dushanbe, Tajikistan (UPI) July 1, 2005
In an effort to increase its national security, Tajikistan is putting all it's eggs in one basket, or rather in two baskets - Russia's and the former Soviet republics - in more of what seems like a commensal relationship for Russia than a gesture of good will.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.