Yanar Dag

Photo found: http://i5.pbase.com/u44/ltobias/large/28405271.NeueBilderinternetjpgCRW_4276.jpg

Yanar Dag is a small village just north of Baku Azerbaijan. Here flames naturally burn out of the limestone cliffs. People have come here for thousands of years to see the 'holy fires'. During the Middle ages, Zoroastrian pilgrims (worshipers of fire) would travel the Azerbaijan from Persia to see these flames (Kleveman 15).

There is a temple that was built, also north of Baku, called Atashgah. where there is an "eternal fire ablaze right in the middle of the prayer room" (Kleveman 15). There used to be a natural flow of gas to this temple, but now it is piped in to keep the flame burning.



Photo URL: http://www.sputnik.in-baku.com/inbimg/Ateshkah5.jpg

Other info from: Kleveman, Lutz. "The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia". Grove Press: New York. 2003.

Gassy Dreams

http://www.rferl.org/specials/gallery/ca-pipelines/Natural-gas-pipeline.gif

Turkmenistan, a land-locked country, has the 4th largest natural gas reserves in the world. This fact has done little for their economy because transporting the gas out of the country poses an expensive and risky venture. Currently they are able to pipe gas out through Russia, but that leaves them entirely dependent--and undesirable situation to say the least.

One year ago, on Feb 14th, 2006 officials from Pakistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan met to discuss building a pipeline that could benefit all three struggling countries. This pipeline has been a pipe dream since the 90's when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. A portion of the proposed pipeline would cross Afghanistan soil, and with the volatility and lack of security it was too risky to pursue. With continued issues in Afghanistan, even after the "fall" of the Taliban--there is still not enough security to follow through with the proposal.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/02/b8cadc86-b102-44ea-bce5-6d68c87b6ec9.html

This proposed pipeline has yet to become a reality. The death of Saparmurat Niyazov (the Turkmenistan Leader) has thrown this deal up in the air. Other pipelines were considered to cross Turkey heading to Europe, but with the EU and Turkey relations it remains an iffy idea.

Turkmenistan is the 2nd largest natural gas producer in Central Asia, 2nd only to Russia. Russia is also unsure of what will happen now. Russia and Turkmenistan had just signed a 3 year agreement on gas exports into Russia, who then sells the gas in lucrative markets taking the majority of the profit for themselves. Will the new leader maintain the agreement recently signed, or will they follow a different path. With politics up in the air it remains to be seen as of yet.

Here are some excellent articles on the subject:

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/080C63AE-3F1D-4460-A2DC-E43EC7472CAB.html

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/37535B5A-B825-49B1-8F17-863414835E50.html

Will energy win this war?

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/afghanistan_rel83.jpg

According to the Afghan Online Press (http://www.aopnews.com/today.html) roughly 10% of Afghanis have electricity available. Today the British military announced that it cleared a hydroelectric plant of Taliban militants. Afghanistan hopes that the recovery of this resource will provide electricity to an additional 1.8 million civilians. Considering that the population (2006 estimate) is approximately 31 million, this achievement would make electricity available to an additional 5.8% of the population. The Afghan government hopes to win the support of the "regular Afghani" by improving their lives. They hope that offering more services will help to increase loyalty to the government.

Living conditions in Afghanistan are some of the worst in the world. Throw that in the pot with massive opium production and the displaced Taliban supporters, and you are going to need to be providing a lot of services to bring people around. Approximately 53% of Afghani's live below poverty level and life expectancy is only 45-46 years old!

The road to success for this impoverished country will likely be long and tumultuous. But I do think that the government has one thing right, you cannot win the support of your people if you do not find a way to make their lives more comfortable. Providing them with energy, health services, or jobs is a good idea. . . one that will take many baby steps, but hopefully build a proper foundation for a successful social and economic system.

I used the AOP article: British Troops Clear Taliban Base at Major Afghan Hydropower Dam.
Dated Feb 6, 2007
as well as the CIA World Factbook