| Topic: |
Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
| User: |
"Foaming at the Mouth Psychotic" |
| Date: |
27 Jan 2006 04:39:43 PM |
| Object: |
U.S. tells India to back off Syria oil deal |
U.S. tells India to back off Syria oil deal
Siddharth Varadarajan
Aide memoirehanded over to Ministry
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A strategically significant venture for India
"Today, it is Iran and Syria, tomorrow it may be Sudan or Myanmar or
Venezuela."
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NEW DELHI: Taking strong exception to India's recent decision to buy a
Syrian oilfield in partnership with China, the United States has asked
the Manmohan Singh Government to "reconsider" its proposed investment.
A demarche to this effect was made earlier this month and an aide
memoire outlining Washington's objections handed over to the Ministry
of External Affairs by senior diplomats here. In December last, ONGC
Videsh Ltd (OVL) and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
teamed up to purchase a 37 per cent stake in the al-Furat oil and gas
fields from Petro-Canada for $573 million.
The mature fields, jointly run by Shell, have proven reserves of 300
million barrels of oil equivalent. Indian officials consider the Syrian
venture to be of enormous strategic significance, both for the value of
the underlying assets and the role it will play in cementing the
China-India partnership for acquiring oil and gas equities in third
countries.
The U.S. aide memoire, a copy of which is in the possession of The
Hindu, says: "The United States strongly opposes such investments in
Syrian resources."
Pointing out that the United Nations Security Council unanimously
passed two resolutions, UNSCR 1636 and 1644, "mandating complete
cooperation by the government of Syria with the U.N.'s investigation
into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri,"
the U.S. note says: "Now is not the time to send mixed messages to the
SARG [Syrian Arab Republic Government] either through investment deals
or through any form of economic or political reward to the Damascus
regime."
"Reconsider decision"
The U.S. is concerned that "the Syrian regime will seek to exploit news
of any FDI at the moment as evidence that it is not isolated and
therefore not comply with its UNSCR obligations." It adds bluntly: "We
ask that you reconsider this decision to extend such a significant
amount of investment in Syria".
It is not known whether the U.S. embassy in Beijing presented a similar
note to the Chinese Government. Indian officials say the U.S. has been
told that the Syrian investment will proceed as planned.
Coming on the heels of the Bush administration's opposition to gas
imports from Iran, the demand is likely to intensify fears that
Washington is leveraging its offer of civil nuclear cooperation to curb
India's attempts to diversify its sources of energy.
"We are being told whom to do business with and where we should stay
away from," a senior Indian official told The Hindu. "Today, it is Iran
and Syria, tomorrow it may be Sudan or Myanmar or Venezuela or
someplace else. At stake is not just our energy security but also our
right to take decisions by ourselves."
The aide memoire says the U.S. encourages India "to send the Syrian
Government a tough message that the international community - in
which your nation plays a crucial and growing role - expects Syria to
improve its behaviour before other states can resume normal dealings
with it."
Conditions for Syria
Among the conditions the U.S. would like fulfilled before India gets
involved in Syria are:
"Syria must cease its interference into Lebanese affairs, cooperate
fully with UNIIC Mehlis's investigation [into Hariri's assassination],
prevent the use of its territory by those supporting terrorism and the
insurgency in Iraq, expel Palestinian rejectionist groups and take
tangible steps to improve its domestic human rights record."
http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/28/stories/2006012813250100.htm
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: U.S. tells India to back off Syria oil deal |
28 Jan 2006 05:13:03 PM |
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Oh no NOT a scramble for Dwindling Resources, oh well, War it is.
LB
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