National Poetry Month...with a wildlife twist

<span style="font-family: inherit;">April is National Poetry Month! From the Poets.org website: "Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events."</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Poetry has held a place in many cultures for thousands of years.  The Japanese consider it an art, European authors have expressed political and cultural messages and feeling though poetry for centuries.  And, in America, many naturalists have used peotry to convey the beauty of the American landscape for generations.  Some examples include:</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Low-Anchored Cloud</em></span></strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em></em></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilY3-855Wwd2GvQAYQhkjxdap-hjAeG3PbzHbBZnok8HkMxRzJoFwya6Ahf9Qq-DjGRC3uB8bHEEmkRajNnfsP3cyWMDhfp0NU2grwSBYml6d6gDtociPy7kBBaKq7CYbXIsC247NUOIyD/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; height: 139px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 309px;"><img border="0" height="133" qda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilY3-855Wwd2GvQAYQhkjxdap-hjAeG3PbzHbBZnok8HkMxRzJoFwya6Ahf9Qq-DjGRC3uB8bHEEmkRajNnfsP3cyWMDhfp0NU2grwSBYml6d6gDtociPy7kBBaKq7CYbXIsC247NUOIyD/s200/images.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Low-anchored cloud, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Newfoundland air, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Fountain-head and source of rivers, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Dew-cloth, dream-drapery, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>And napkin spread by fays; </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Drifting meadow of the air, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Where bloom the daisied banks and violets, </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>And in whose fenny labyrinth </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>The bittern booms and heron wades; </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Spirit of lakes and seas and rivers, </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Bear only perfumes and the scent </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Of healing herbs to just men's fields!</em></span> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><strong><em>by Henry David Thoreau</em></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><strong>The Dalliance of the Eagles</strong></em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em></em></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhgJO3DkRrqbr3CqaNwrVwYfM3tEeW05kthb2nuP1Pxp5cetvWEkHaahvlcXbhNGIfAyN81rol5B0IXVBmko8xmID66jISoS3e7kjd53HBLwehwAVva-shLEJh5k9-_-Q2N5HWC59yVV7/s1600/imagesCAE0M8C3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" qda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhgJO3DkRrqbr3CqaNwrVwYfM3tEeW05kthb2nuP1Pxp5cetvWEkHaahvlcXbhNGIfAyN81rol5B0IXVBmko8xmID66jISoS3e7kjd53HBLwehwAVva-shLEJh5k9-_-Q2N5HWC59yVV7/s200/imagesCAE0M8C3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>The rushing amorous contact high in space together, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing, </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight, </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>She hers, he his, pursuing. </em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>by Walt Whitman</em></strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br /><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Writing and poetry are fantastic ways to help kids learn more about nature and wildlife.  And, as you can see in the above examples, poetry allows for beauty and expressiveness that can often be left out of regular narrative writing.  </span></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">One exercise that we've often done with students and adults is the Project WILD activity Animal Poetry.  <em> </em>The objective of this activity is to help students recognize and experience the inspirational value of wildlife through poetry.  The students spend time outside and imagine themselves as animals, then write poems about that experience.  </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some suggested poem formats include Haiku, which is a Japanese lyric verse form that has three unryhmed lines that have 5, 7 and 5 syllables.  Haiku traditionally and ideally presents a pair of contrasting images: one suggestive of time and place, the other a vivid but fleeting observation.  When they work together, the poem evokes mood and emotion.  An example follows: </span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The hawk soared over</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Spirit bird in my living</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Guide to harmony</span></em></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp7F4E-6ppjmI5cR7yZOHhlKTEN6P-4E2agb3n6cd6HkmDL7F0MUss24wzm0BM1b-Phi8VIM4q9Cn81GiDFdR0YrD7xfo4cqjIFHUYniKQwNLEPn0KJSdPsxoEUXOD8xg_DEjS9AgB6v-/s1600/imagesCASYON3N.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" qda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp7F4E-6ppjmI5cR7yZOHhlKTEN6P-4E2agb3n6cd6HkmDL7F0MUss24wzm0BM1b-Phi8VIM4q9Cn81GiDFdR0YrD7xfo4cqjIFHUYniKQwNLEPn0KJSdPsxoEUXOD8xg_DEjS9AgB6v-/s200/imagesCASYON3N.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Any guesses on what species of hawk this is?</td></tr></tbody></table> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Another suggested format is Cinquain.  This is an American derived format that is comprised of five unrhyming lines of, respectively, two, four, six, eight and two syllables or words.  Each line has a purpose and number of syllables or words as follows: line 1 is a title of two syllables (words), line 2 is a description of the title in 4 syllables (words), line 3 is a descriptive action in 6 syllables (words), line 4 is a description of a feeling in 8 syllables (words) , and line 5 is another word for the title in two syllables or words.  An example follows:</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Bobcat</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Vital, quiet</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Moving swiftly to live</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Endangered by human patterns</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Near lost</em></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEwQd7R-B8B241EpKD5QTEaQ5kEnOKDmXI5ntFA9S5amlx3CzTk8Bqf1ZR-JBpqKdUXqWd9HLJ0ltWAkslB7gR892zIP_lTaOgJEK-oI-eNH1uDtFDgMkd9sZl7pUDyEAJoy6NZZenx_V/s1600/imagesCA5XCJ7V.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" qda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEwQd7R-B8B241EpKD5QTEaQ5kEnOKDmXI5ntFA9S5amlx3CzTk8Bqf1ZR-JBpqKdUXqWd9HLJ0ltWAkslB7gR892zIP_lTaOgJEK-oI-eNH1uDtFDgMkd9sZl7pUDyEAJoy6NZZenx_V/s200/imagesCA5XCJ7V.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">And finally, Diamante is a poem that can be used with students.  It is a poem shaped in the form of a diamond.  It can be used to show that words are related through shades of meaning from one extreme to an opposite extreme, following a pattern of parts of speech like this:</span><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">noun</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">adjective  adjective</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">participle  participle  participle</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">noun  noun  noun  noun</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">participle  participle  participle</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">adjective  adjective</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: inherit;">noun</span></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you are having trouble remembering what a participle is, it is word that functions as a verb, but ends in ing or ed.  So you might be "carrying" something, carrying is a participle.  An example of a Diamante follows:</span></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">egg</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">light bright</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">living stretching growing</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">bird beak wing flight</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">soaring seeing seeking</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">feathered fluid</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">crow</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxatD1QXQ4HiiS-WiqZn7v3X5m8M97xW4_OtMkfmEYAYhqd9NBrHMeGXz3LOvCJGcDB2px-XckQg-Who-pol08H0R6Cr7QpNX3y9Kmf1i2UV7mzCQEhhi0hUcM507xmssgZcSRAzItcGt/s1600/imagesCAK1PMNO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" qda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxatD1QXQ4HiiS-WiqZn7v3X5m8M97xW4_OtMkfmEYAYhqd9NBrHMeGXz3LOvCJGcDB2px-XckQg-Who-pol08H0R6Cr7QpNX3y9Kmf1i2UV7mzCQEhhi0hUcM507xmssgZcSRAzItcGt/s200/imagesCAK1PMNO.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Students can take their completed poems and type them or print them neatly and then display them with their focus animal, either illustrated or with a photograph.  Some follow-up questions to ask the students after their lesson could be a discussion on why some people say they would not want to live in a world without animals, would they want to live in a world without animals, what kinds of wildlife would they want to see regularly, and why.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, enjoy April as National Poetry Month. And take your kids outside to find all that nature has to offer for inspiration.  There is no shortage no matter where you are.  You just have to look for it!</span></div><br /><em><br /></em><br /><em><br /></em><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><br /></em></div><em><br /></em><br /><em><br /></em><br /><em><br /></em><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><br /></em></div><em><br /></em>

National Poetry Month...with a wildlife twist

April is National Poetry Month! From the Poets.org website: "Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Mont...

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Have you thought about joining Microsoft's Partners in Learning Network?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br />Currently I am busy running a course for teachers that includes four of the Microsoft Free tools, namely AutoCollage, Windows Live Movie Maker, Songsmith and Photostory 3. These tools are fantastic to use for technology integration and can be obtained free by  joining the Partners in Learning Network, and downloading them. Have you taken a look at the new Partners in Learning Network? It really is quite amazing and has a wealth of resources available for teachers. Some of the functionalities of the old network are not yet available such as creating a group, and uploading documents to the group folder, but I am sure they’ll be available in time. If you would like to take a look here are some screenshots to help you.   </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpAIWAtxAayK3wd_kBxtdKjuHixRnvWBSZE7z_mAMIJUYWfG4a3CNtOtery2w-lWwoQUVwwA1FtdJq2y92oByD6vyxgBxX5-bJTukJizP6h6EB0Xj07lgbw4SmMC_xkgIwDhSXqj8xCNM/s1600-h/image%25255B31%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fSYFc7UaK17gjC_6zJsKznR7hUUzVXZgYVQfvUoSiEl0CXgcSUpC75bEhQXXDtVpvWpUFLgmnrHWOuzRekb1_w5TTDbyaVgwluY_aJDq-EG-IjLnmgmzZjDlF_ilIylAdEAmlG35THg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The address is <a href="http://www.pil-network.com/">http://www.pil-network.com/</a></span></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIObJwMqsKQa9fJri_k-aM9igDdHXueZtN690qw3rdVkTCr6f6QbD8txbJoKfr4f1922rwT4DS4EOJgv_v3PgsKo19ncyMZIUq7DDhhVax5yNZFuW3kJbgdTNFPgbTEI37Y6d6lqNixo/s1600-h/image%25255B32%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ggRRaAPvYhfxIowAVZjF7xM4u98GjUaOOTPWMbQkk2q1YPV3HfoW47TlFUyMa77uVdXiOYuC7S7_pdL7usrJEw4N5gRyDsbLmJEB1B27fGWphVnPqAdTDS-GVrPbodSbY52ZWaCN3JE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQJrqk2Xdi7ScbSqeK56n-f5dZyBWXVujJ999MMQrsoRuKLXG2C-QK_xpuU5NgSTKlnsK7bnk4BwnwKhjSaQ903TRn4kD5b4b5B9pB92GZ90ZysFNM2m5yE-koAYlBF9eEhssVPmtTOY/s1600-h/image%25255B10%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Xqxi-Z6GmGvWVz3Rr6JgW4cgPaTTLePbXWhCU-acM9gVo17C-qPQXu7oE3Ab49yoRcDYsj_Qgui-Dkg3vC2lADuXavVfuRd3tbbEVtZ2mx60ca5z2-y4Cr_a5Cb0IFxnfgaqq2yQ6iQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-IHTt-FwWS8Gx_47o-6RmgGayE9tGdea8EBFNEWJ2ODOmb8uvXJOU0vP6YrTxJTn88qzdJm2FPfvLXKLViglwvtwMBOcnKtuvetIVojC4LjfYJX_GUQgkOJvFuIJEcGk6Ivftkc39COI/s1600-h/image%25255B30%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnNUGsYe9yUZ4OPbMB9YsQlMDCnwDNBfK6POhUex_0Dn34QfHjU08pJLjfMhwv45twp6FmjUrPzOOdoaULdBMC2vcTom_I6X8YPbgve9HFSYrDcy3yl41uIYBRFKYUZ4-HnmKVQ4Pzrsg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Enjoy! I am going to take another good look around right now!</span></div></div>

Microsoft Have you thought about joining Microsoft's Partners in Learning Network?

Submitted by Fiona Beal Currently I am busy running a course for teachers that includes four of the Microsoft Free tools, namely AutoCollage...

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SYRIA: FULL OUT PROPAGANDA WAR

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFcRpDuSpnWyDbqMqS4dpLgxfY-2zPK-8uKIR9E9O4zGxi07gN6sPoE8Erc0HUXqtxUA7lL_RHw1CNKVNThaojPF2I0I9HD4BBE1FUXn1A-1Mx3lKjWId-Y0xqFlV783dzIHX_E69FPeyN/s1600/4216812412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFcRpDuSpnWyDbqMqS4dpLgxfY-2zPK-8uKIR9E9O4zGxi07gN6sPoE8Erc0HUXqtxUA7lL_RHw1CNKVNThaojPF2I0I9HD4BBE1FUXn1A-1Mx3lKjWId-Y0xqFlV783dzIHX_E69FPeyN/s320/4216812412.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">EASTERN STANCE ON SYRIA versus </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WESTERN STANCE </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">‘West uses Syria to hit China, Russia and Iran’</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Via RT</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;">Syria is nothing but a pawn in a global geopolitical game, set to be sacrificed in order to curb the expansion of China, Russia and Iran, political analyst Jamal Wakim tells RT.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">­As the international community warily waits to see whether Kofi Annan’s ceasefire plan is going to work in Syria, Lebanese International University professor Jamal Wakim believes the West has still not given up its intention to topple President Bashar Al-Assad. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Reports on clashes between Syrian government troops and rebels on the Turkish border may signal that the Syrian opposition wants to discredit Annan’s initiative. This would allow Washington more freedom from the compromise on Syria it has struck with Moscow,  Wakim points out. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Furthermore, a conflict with Turkey would help bypass the UN Security Council, where Russia can block any attempt to intervene into Syria, he notes. NATO principles say that attacking one NATO member means attacking the whole bloc, and retaliation would be proportional to this rule. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">But, according to Wakim, the Syrian conflict has more to it than just toppling another “dictator,” who has been running the country for twelve years. <br /><i><br /><em>“This is an attempt to take over all of the Middle East and block Russia, China and Iran inside the continent, denying them access to the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean,”</em></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Wakim told RT. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><em>“There is an alliance between so-called maritime powers: the US, the Western Europe and Turkey. They are trying to hold back Russia, China and Iran off international trade routes and thus get better bargaining positions. This would also hamper the economic growth of the three countries and affect their role in global politics,” </em>adds the professor.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">With the Arab Spring advance, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran have lost their access to Mediterranean waters through Libya and Yemen and other places, says Wakim. <em>“Syria is all that is left for them. That is how the ferocity of the US attack on the country can be explained.”</em></span><br /><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WESTERN STANCE ON SYRIA </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">US weighs limited military action against Assad. Turkey may join</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">via DEBKA<i>file</i> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Turkish air force choppers above Syria border</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Tuesday night, April 10, after Damascus skipped the truce laid down in the UN-Arab envoy Kofi Annan’s plan and escalated its attacks on the Syrian population, a change of tone was detected in the Obama administration.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">debkafile’s Washington sources report that, although President Barack Obama is still flat against broad US military intervention in Syria, administration circles feel America could no longer stay aloof from what is happening there. They are thinking in terms of limited military action to show Bashar Assad and the heads of his regime and army the first American red lines against his brutal crackdown. One plan under discussion is for a US air strike against an Assad regime and/or military target would be enough to dent morale in Damascus and demonstrate to his loyal troops and the Syrian opposition that the Syrian ruler is far from infallible.<br />This lesson might corner Assad into complying with Annan’s six-point peace plan, especially the ceasefire and withdrawal of armored troops from Syrian cities, which he ducked Tuesday.<br />The pretext Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem offered Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for missing the deadline, our Moscow sources report, was that when the soldiers are pulled out of the cities, rebel forces will move into the evacuated areas; the anti-Assad uprising would flare up again at full strength across Syria.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Moallem appealed to his host to persuade the Americans to continue to abstain from military action in Syria and defend the need for Syrian units to remain in the main cities, even against a complaint by Annan to the UN Security Council accusing Damascus of flouting an agreed plan.<br /> In consideration of this side play in Moscow, Annan was cautious in his comments to reporters on his visit to a Syrian refugee camp in southern Turkey, saying it was too soon to declare his plan a failure. He explained that the Syrian regime had not taken issue with a single one of his six proposals and the situation could improve once UN observers were on the ground. Annan offered Assad another two days up until Thursday, April 12, to implement the agreed ceasefire.<br />Talking to reporters In Moscow alongside Moallem, Lavrov proposed that UN observers move into Syria without delay. The team could be enlisted mainly from the UNDOF (United Nations Disengagement Observer Force) serving on the Syrian-Israeli Golan border. The Syrian minister was not in favor of the plan.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Tuesday night, the UN Security Council called on Bashar Assad to meet the Thursday deadline for a truce. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the council would meet Thursday to hear Annan’s report.<br />She spoke after consulting with Lavrov.<br />The Lavrov proposal would redeploy the main body of the Golan UN force, which maintains a liaison office in Damascus, in positions for enforcing the truce between Syrian and rebel forces in Syria’s main embattled cities, preferably by April 12. The UN 1,000-strong force has two battalions, one Austrian and one Philippine, and a small Croatian unit.<br />Our intelligence sources report that Assad objects to the plan because it would be tantamount to internationalizing the civil war raging in Syria and pave the way for rebels and protesters against his regime to gain UN protection.<br />Convinced that the Syrian ruler would never allow himself to be pushed into accepting UN intervention, the Americans continue to keep limited military intervention on the table.<br />They will let it simmer there until the Six-Power nuclear talks with Iran beginning Saturday, April 14, in Istanbul are well under way, so as not to give Tehran pretexts for toughening its bargaining position or pulling out of the negotiations.<br />Turkey too is moving closer than ever before to real military action, not just empty words. Armed Turkish assault helicopters flew Tuesday over the Syrian border. They were there to warn Damascus that if Syrian soldiers again fired across the border into Syrian refugee camps as they did Monday, April 9, they would be targeted by the Turkish gunships.<br />Sources in Ankara reminded local and Arab media of the existence of the mutual defense cooperation pact known as the “Adana agreement” which Turkey and Syria concluded in 1998.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Article 1 states that "Syria, on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, will not permit any activity that emanates from its territory aimed at jeopardizing the security and stability of Turkey."<br />Under this article, Ankara feels Turkish military intervention in Syria is legitimate. This reminder was offered the media, our military sources confirm, to provide the legal grounding for a potential Turkish military move across its border into Syria.</span></span></div>

SYRIA: FULL OUT PROPAGANDA WAR

EASTERN STANCE ON SYRIA versus WESTERN STANCE ‘West uses Syria to hit China, Russia and Iran’ Via RT Syria is nothing but a pawn in a globa...

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CHINA ENTERS THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN "ENERGY ARENA"

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CHINA, RUSSIA, USA, TURKEY, ISRAEL, GREECE AND THE UK, ALL IN FOR CYPRUS’S NATURAL RESOURCE BONANZA  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CHINA’S third largest national oil company, CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) has presented to Cyprus its plans for the construction of an LNG plant to process and export the now confirmed offshore hydrocarbon reserves.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A senior delegation from CNOOC presented their views on how to proceed with an LNG terminal here. According to known sources, CNOOC proposed to have an LNG plant up and running within just 48 months from the start of construction and that the Chinese giants were considering an outright buyout of Noble and Delek, partners in the Israeli gas prospects.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The CNOOC Group is a state-owned oil company, fully owned by the government of the People’s Republic of China. It has become China’s dominant producer of liquefied natural gas in the past few years, and is the first company to bring LNG to China, with the completion of its Dapeng LNG Terminal in Guangdong.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In June 2005, CNOOC made an all-cash $18.5 billion offer to buy American oil company Unocal Corporation, topping an earlier bid by ChevronTexaco. It subsequently withdrew its bid, citing political tension inside the United States.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Based on recent developments the establishment of a Cyprus national oil company is top priority and set up a corporation which will be the strategic partner of all the companies and will be involved in matters of local infrastructure as well as the distribution of natural gas to the world market.</span></span></div>

CHINA ENTERS THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN "ENERGY ARENA"

CHINA, RUSSIA, USA, TURKEY, ISRAEL, GREECE AND THE UK, ALL IN FOR CYPRUS’S NATURAL RESOURCE BONANZA  CHINA’S third largest national oil com...

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THE COMPLEXITY OF EASTERN MED ENERGY “GAMES”

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href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj6HP58SoJpX-2Anp3ngfdHnd3KHXK_5-LU7lIG3Na7C9Eu3Q89EqOoNVykF6GBNCsMxY2K9-Z2wHdQ9pVPnXa3FoVu7CoOBysjdzHjzsPkCuty0e9A_8l0C42Cc37fM181y7KqaJBR0iY/s1600/6a00d8341c630a53ef01348863b47c970c-600wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj6HP58SoJpX-2Anp3ngfdHnd3KHXK_5-LU7lIG3Na7C9Eu3Q89EqOoNVykF6GBNCsMxY2K9-Z2wHdQ9pVPnXa3FoVu7CoOBysjdzHjzsPkCuty0e9A_8l0C42Cc37fM181y7KqaJBR0iY/s400/6a00d8341c630a53ef01348863b47c970c-600wi.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">ENERGY HOTSPOT: EASTERN MED</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGpCJ99yKVMPKU-PCap9ZLFqkf-dytjUAWz4LuEEL7Gx5Vjharz7rEuiNsmhwkfCjXKScM9kjaLFXGRyh7SjLWP2jnwQ53BGmdvDnTgDbAngOh96BwUbzn9_z9i0vEHqYUh-BQrzCTMU1y/s1600/cyp_oil_and_gas_drilling_72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGpCJ99yKVMPKU-PCap9ZLFqkf-dytjUAWz4LuEEL7Gx5Vjharz7rEuiNsmhwkfCjXKScM9kjaLFXGRyh7SjLWP2jnwQ53BGmdvDnTgDbAngOh96BwUbzn9_z9i0vEHqYUh-BQrzCTMU1y/s320/cyp_oil_and_gas_drilling_72.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYPRUS, with its recent oil and gas findings must have struck a jackpot one would assume, and the numbers and expert views seem to concur with this assumption. The gas findings also triggered a major geopolitical shift in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA, creating new alliances between ISRAEL, CYPRUS and GREECE, as well as RUSSIA’S stance on gas supply to TURKEY, for energy is one of the cornerstones of the RUSSO-TURKISH relationship.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RUSSIA provides approximately 58 percent of TURKEY’S natural gas supplies, making it TURKEY'S largest natural gas supplier. Ankara has long sought ways to reduce its dependence on RUSSIAN natural gas, since Moscow traditionally uses its energy supplies as political leverage with many of its customers. For its part, RUSSIA wants to keep TURKEY tied to it through energy and to prevent other suppliers from helping Ankara diversify its natural gas sources. Thus, RUSSIA wants to increase its leverage in its energy relationship with TURKEY. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TURKEY, because of its “elephant in a porcelain shop” foreign policy approach and double egged sword policies concerning IRAN is becoming increasing isolated and thus more nervous of loosing influence in the region, both as a self-proclaimed mentor of the Arab world and of becoming the Mediterranean’s main gas and oil distribution hub, which now it seems will be CYPRUS, TURKEYS arch foe. Thus it comes as no surprise that Turkey is venturing further out to Asia, in particular Pakistan and India. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TURKEYS ERRANT GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN THE REGION</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLqMty_s-xUsTTCmMJr6aIYW6asibS2YcKYmvhGNINkXEenoqhKlWYdi-XeLlVSB2w6S8Lck6zEI_Mq5edwbbq41a31mlax2fMp8PJiyAlIkKMVUoyiC0zWzkiIDERDh6DxmDraZk7d6a/s1600/Strait_of_Hormuz_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLqMty_s-xUsTTCmMJr6aIYW6asibS2YcKYmvhGNINkXEenoqhKlWYdi-XeLlVSB2w6S8Lck6zEI_Mq5edwbbq41a31mlax2fMp8PJiyAlIkKMVUoyiC0zWzkiIDERDh6DxmDraZk7d6a/s320/Strait_of_Hormuz_map.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TURKEYS double egged sword policies become obvious when Ankara became deeply engrossed in an effort to have the new IRANIAN and IRAQI pipelines to EUROPE routed through TURKEY, reducing the Strait of Hormuz’s crucial importance as a primary route for the world’s oil supplies. This pipeline would also hurt SAUDI ARABIA and the other Gulf oil producers, all of whom are dead set against Erdogan’s hegemonic aspirations in the Middle East. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Furthermore, growing anti-AMERICAN sentiment in TURKISH public opinion and TURKEY’S NEO-OTTOMAN reach now involves interference in IRAQI politics, in IRAQ’S KURDISH areas, policy shifts on SYRIA, support for HAMMAS and HEZBOLLAH and hostility toward ISRAEL. As a result, Erdogan has become the hero of the ARAB countries, or so it seems. There are numerous new threats emanating from TURKEY including threats towards CYPRUS, the EU etc. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CONTRADICTING TURKISH FOREIGN POLICIES, - OR A GENIUS GEOPOLITICAL MOVE?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TURKEY seems to exploiting its current economic position. However, a closer examination of TURKEY’S economy apparently shows parallels to the economies of ARGENTINA and MEXICO before their collapse. TURKEY’S recent anti-Western behavior, including military exercises with CHINA; cooperation between IRANIAN and TURKISH banks to bypass western sanctions etc add to TURKEYS errant geopolitical strategies which don’t seem to make much eco – political sense. In fact they contradict each other. On the one hand TURKEY cut its ties with ISRAEL in order to be the hero of the ARABS but at the same time economic alliances between the two countries are thriving. See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil.html</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another contradiction is the stance on SYRIA, when at the same time TURKEY seems to “flirt” with IRAN on various geopolitical issues, despite the fact that TURKEY is supporting SUNNI SAUDI ARABIA and a potential clash between IRAN<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>and TURKEY as the two countries compete over leadership in the Islamic world seems more imminent than ever. Given its recent anti western policies it is only a matter of time that certain western countries will seriously question TURKEYS remain in NATO. Loosing TURKEY as a NATO partner though poses a serious strategic dilemma for NATO and its Easter flank. Also see:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/food-for-thought_19.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/food-for-thought_19.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz-and-syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz-and-syria.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYPRUS: FLEXING ITS MUSCLE? </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYPRUS on the other hand realizes that with the prospects of gas and oil extractions, it will become an economic stronghold and thus more eco-politically independent and will see no need to reach an agreement or solve the NORTHERN CYPRUS problem, as deemed essential by TURKEY in order to obtain a share of the energy cake.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recent developments in CYPRUS not only caused nervousness in TURKEY but also the USA, for CYPRUS, traditionally tends to side with RUSSIA, rather than the USA, thus it is obvious that the USA and US ally TURKEY are trying to influence the political developments in the region. CYPRUS’S recent official request to close the two BRITISH Military Bases on the Island are just one of the many indicators that CYPRUS is increasingly flexing its muscle as a result of the prospects of extracting gas and oil in the not too distant future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">                                        </span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUPS VIEWS ON EASTERN MED NATURAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION AND SOLVING THE CYPRUS PROBLEM REFLECT SOLE US INTERESTS IN THE REGION </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In view of these developments it becomes obvious that US proxies, such as the INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP (ICG) and US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Ambassador Richard Morningstar are sent in to intervene for USA’S geopolitical and strategic objectives. In its latest report on CYPRUS, the ICG claims that gas revenues are decades away and that due to the unresolved CYPRUS dispute, natural resources extractions will drive up costs and scare away investment from major oil companies! ICG further states that hostilities are on the rise in the eastern Mediterranean since GREEK CYPRIOTS began drilling for hydrocarbons last September; TURKEY responded with tough talk, naval maneuvers threatening exploration operations, and agreements with TURKISH CYPRIOTS to exploit hydrocarbons around the island. Voicing TURKEYS stance through ICG becomes evident when the TURKEY – CYPRUS project director claimed that a joint approach to eastern Mediterranean natural gas exploitation would ensure benefits for all, while unilateral moves mean lower profits, tensions and delays that could crush current projects and it is a CYPRUS settlement, not far-away gas revenues, that can provide a quick and real economic bonanza for all. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To claim that unilateral moves mean lower profits, tensions and delays in natural gas extraction is purely speculative and in most likelihood bear no impact on gas extraction.</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PUMPING CYPRIOT GAS TO TURKEY, WISHFUL THINKING FROM ICG</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fDx4-vPK1T-VMDqLM1sWgrutr8sqmnsEw0OoWQqrqvU42_xlMqvJ5xibBICk-FvhdIXhWaGatfGAmu1RovdcCFYqc8VnCZUVcYKs3VIgV5kTncumiaFb5l0kUouDD8haVPAQFhsEUni_/s1600/pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fDx4-vPK1T-VMDqLM1sWgrutr8sqmnsEw0OoWQqrqvU42_xlMqvJ5xibBICk-FvhdIXhWaGatfGAmu1RovdcCFYqc8VnCZUVcYKs3VIgV5kTncumiaFb5l0kUouDD8haVPAQFhsEUni_/s200/pipeline.jpg" width="181" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the Crisis Group’s research, a pipeline pumping CYPRIOT gas to TURKEY would make sense not only politically, but economically as well. In fact, a pipeline running from CYPRUS to TURKEY’S south coast would cost about one-tenth of the price tag of a liquefaction natural gas (LNG) plant. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Though this might make economic sense, politically such move will never occur, for too deep is the rift between the two ethnic entities, something outsiders are unable to understand.</i></b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">According to</i></b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">independent experts,</i></b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ICG’s claim regarding expenses involved in the construction of an LNG plant, are exaggerated and do not reflect<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>benefits for the regional economy and subsequent job creations in the region.</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TURKEY IS ANXIOUS TO GAIN UPPER HAND IN THE REGIONS ENERGY BONANZA </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZegayooX6uoqExLK6YG7Hlk1I5OHvU8kqIj4Mhw-JC3v2zrAfvfxrEygUyghS78Qh0GwIivZdDU68RYXxo9v5U5FLCn4i9SCdNoj3b_N5-yl_oECbD4JYznpSmwN2IZYTpKxTjdfnZep4/s1600/Tapline.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZegayooX6uoqExLK6YG7Hlk1I5OHvU8kqIj4Mhw-JC3v2zrAfvfxrEygUyghS78Qh0GwIivZdDU68RYXxo9v5U5FLCn4i9SCdNoj3b_N5-yl_oECbD4JYznpSmwN2IZYTpKxTjdfnZep4/s320/Tapline.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to ICG a top-level TURKISH energy executive told the group that the pipeline infrastructure to export gas to EUROPE could be built in two years, which showcases how anxious TURKEY is to gain the upper hand in the energy bonanza in the region. The official further stated that the other pipeline alternative – from CYPRUS to the GREEK mainland – would be far too costly and pose a logistical nightmare. What this official neglects to mention though is that when it comes to the new IRANIAN and IRAQI oil pipelines, which, according to TURKEY should be routed through their territories, costs and logistic nightmares are no cause for concern? The minute the TAPLINE pipeline, running through SYRIA and ending in Haifa becomes reactivated, TURKEY will lose even further on influence in the region, for the costs of reactivating this pipeline is cheaper than the construction of new ones and the geo strategic significance will alter geopolitics in the region even further. See:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/syrias-destiny-sealed.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/syrias-destiny-sealed.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ICG CLAIMS THAT TURKISH THREATS WILL KEEP OIL COMPANIES AWAY FROM CYPRUS, A CONTRADICTORY CLAIM TO SAY THE LEAST </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ICG further states that extra risks associated with the unresolved CYPRUS conflict will make any LNG development more expensive to finance and difficult to find markets for, TURKISH threats will likely keep most major oil companies on the sidelines and there is not yet enough CYPRIOT gas to make an LNG plant truly profitable, and extra ISRAELI volumes seem unlikely. According NOBEL ENERGIES estimates a combined CYPRUS ISRAELI and GREEK gas extraction volume justifies a LNG plant in CYPRUS. (Referring to recent Southern Aegean gas and oil discoveries) </span><a href="http://www.defencegreece.com/index.php/2012/04/cretan-gas-fields-a-new-perspective-for-greeces-hydrocarbon-resources/">http://www.defencegreece.com/index.php/2012/04/cretan-gas-fields-a-new-perspective-for-greeces-hydrocarbon-resources/</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">US INVOLVEMENT </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why suddenly the USA and in this case particularly its proxy the ICG keep on emphasizing that EASTERN MED countries should work together on energy! Surely such advises are not for the benefit of the countries in question but for the USA and its allies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Countries in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN need to talk to each other and find logical solutions so everyone can enjoy the “pots of gold” in the form of hydrocarbon deposits littered across the region, said top US energy envoy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">US SPECIAL ENVOY FOR EURASIAN ENERGY AND ICG STATEMENTS AND REPORTS REFLECT UNITY REGARDING CYPRUS PROBLEM AND THE EASTERN MED NATURAL RESOURCE BONANZA</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Ambassador Richard Morningstar*</i></b><span style="color: #0000cc;"> </span>there are multiple pots of gold out there in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN. And if equitable solutions are found, everybody, all of the countries and their citizens will gain; and if not, nobody is going to reap the whole benefits and a lot of that gold might just sit out there for a long time. His statement and views are precariously similar to that of ICG, which confirms that the USA has its own agenda when it comes to EASTERN MED energy policies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Speaking at the Investment Energy Summit hosted by “The Economist”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(The Economist is part of the global “CORPOCRACY” who use the magazine to voice their economic and political agendas. See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/economist-far-cry-from-renowned-and.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/economist-far-cry-from-renowned-and.html</a>and </i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/economists-sorry-journalism.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/economists-sorry-journalism.html</a>)</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Athens, he said the energy resources of the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN presented too much of an opportunity to ultimately let political and legal issues mess up the benefit that it could have for the citizens of every country in the region. Furthermore Morningstar referred to ISRAEL’S significant offshore finds of natural gas, noting that GREECE too was working to identify potential hydrocarbons for exploitation.</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gas in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN is an excellent opportunity that will help to create diversification which can help Europe, and more importantly the countries of the region, who will benefit from these resources.</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In offering advice to the region’s players, Morningstar stated that a low profile is essential and that the parties involved need to look carefully at what their interests are and make contact with other parties within the region, to try and find solutions that make sense, so that everybody can benefit from these pots of gold that are out there in the MEDITERRANEAN.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">US DOUBLE EGGED SWORD POLICIES ON CYPRUS </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN5LOYKZJa9bRm9byTFjnInQwvOUpvb1g7qkMRP_mutGJALjRbmbFiPL4MHx97SOvUr_wUQWj2eIZmziHQF68NTc1jZbtzhsJXjrbMy99THMQzpvNI9Wdxu28QFnD-5D8jR6TeUA4yIT7L/s1600/Turkey_to_israel_pipes.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN5LOYKZJa9bRm9byTFjnInQwvOUpvb1g7qkMRP_mutGJALjRbmbFiPL4MHx97SOvUr_wUQWj2eIZmziHQF68NTc1jZbtzhsJXjrbMy99THMQzpvNI9Wdxu28QFnD-5D8jR6TeUA4yIT7L/s320/Turkey_to_israel_pipes.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Regarding the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in CYPRUS’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the US apparently recognizes CYPRUS’ right to drill in its offshore zone but at the same time reiterated that any potential revenue from future oil and gas resources in CYPRUS should be equitably shared between both communities and that the key message the US is sending to CYPRUS and TURKEY is to start peace talks and a peaceful settlement. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">US stance on recognizing CYPRUS’S EEZ but at the same time asking the two communities to share future oil and gas resources clearly favors TURKEY, USAs close ally. The chances that CYPRUS will share such findings with TURKEY are hardly going to materialize, not now nor in the distant future. </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Morningstar further stated that extraction of energy resources, if done right, could help all involved “get there”. And this would allow all of CYPRUS and other countries to share the benefits of the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reading between the lines this means that CYPRUS should be prepared to share its gas findings with TURKEY </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_14.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_14.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">* US SPECIAL ENVOY FOR EURASIAN ENERGY, AMBASSADOR RICHARD MORNINGSTAR AND THE USA’S GEOPOLITICAL AGENDA</b><br /><br /> In July 2011 Washington joined the GREEK energy game. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Athens with energy on her mind. That was clear by the fact she brought along Special Envoy for EURASIAN Energy, Richard Morningstar. Morningstar was husband Bill Clinton’s Special Advisor to the President on CASPIAN Basin Energy Diplomacy. Morningstar, along with his controversial aide, Matthew Bryza, have been the key Washington architects of Washington’s geopolitically-motivated oil and gas pipeline projects that would isolate RUSSIA and its Gazprom gas resources from the EU. Bryza is an open opponent of RUSSIAN Gazprom’s South Stream gas pipeline that would transit the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN states. The USA seems to have its own agenda regarding GREEKS recent oil and gas discoveries, for three days after Hillary left Athens the GREEK government proposed creation of a new government agency to run tenders for oil and gas surveys and ultimate drilling bids.<br /><br /> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">US SPECIAL ENVOY FOR EURASIAN ENERGY, AMBASSADOR RICHARD MORNINGSTAR WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN BACKING THE CONTROVERSIAL B-T-C OIL PIPELINE FROM BAKU THROUGH TBILISI IN GEORGIA ACROSS TO THE TURKISH MEDITERRANEAN PORT OF CEYHAN</b><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh17uJiWSSQVIs3K3RvjIpPV15lOsVSVwLhw7OyUxG02c11336lbl4k3EbS1xctHXN6cPT8B_Z_cvNptH8gGmxdpvwTY_30fvbMBDMjIqXymlDenndqBEYwXa1m2lV8LcuR97d2oesg1Vjn/s1600/800px-Baku_pipelines.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh17uJiWSSQVIs3K3RvjIpPV15lOsVSVwLhw7OyUxG02c11336lbl4k3EbS1xctHXN6cPT8B_Z_cvNptH8gGmxdpvwTY_30fvbMBDMjIqXymlDenndqBEYwXa1m2lV8LcuR97d2oesg1Vjn/s320/800px-Baku_pipelines.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div>Morningstar is the US specialist in “economic warfare”: He was instrumental in backing the controversial B-T-C oil pipeline from Baku through Tbilisi in GEORGIA across to the TURKISH <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mediterranean port of CEYHAN</b>, a costly enterprise designed solely to bypass RUSSIAN oil pipeline transit. <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/warmongerning-between-israel-and-turkey.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/warmongerning-between-israel-and-turkey.html</a><br />  <br /> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">GREECE AND TURKEY SHOULD DROP ALL HISTORIC DIFFERENCES OVER CYPRUS AND POOL ALL THEIR OIL AND GAS RESERVES IN THE AEGEAN SEA</b><br /><br /> He has openly proposed that GREECE and TURKEY drop all historic differences over CYPRUS, over numerous other historic issues and agree to jointly pool all their oil and gas reserves in the Aegean Sea. He also has told the GREEK government it should forget cooperation with Moscow on the South Stream and Bourgas-Alexandroupolis gas pipeline projects.<br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the other hand CYPRUS’S strategic objective is to turn the country into a regional energy centre that will gather, process, and transport or transit resources from the area to international markets which will secure the continuous and uninterrupted supply of energy for the permanent markets of the EU.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CONTRARY TO ICG VIEWS, MANY FOREIGN OIL GIANTS INDICATED THEIR INTEREST INVESTING IN CYPRUS </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Such a venture requires the necessary infrastructure, construction in CYPRUS of underwater hydrocarbon transportation pipes but also oil storage terminals. It is obvious that building such infrastructure, particularly a natural gas liquefaction plant (LNG), is extremely high in cost and that is why CYPRUS is seeking multilateral cooperation with the participation of other important countries, particularly from the region (ISRAEL), and also other big energy companies, keeping in mind that the state will have to hold a significant stake in that project because of its strategic importance. Asides from US NOBLE Energy and ISRAELI DELEK, CHINA NATIONAL OFFSHORE OIL CORPORATION has also started negotiations with CYPRUS and GREECE regarding gas extractions. (See next article) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">See also:  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/new-mediterranean-oil-and-gas-bonanza.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Parts of above content are adapted from “Defense Greece” and </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">F. William Engdahl</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> s Oil Bonanza </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span>

THE COMPLEXITY OF EASTERN MED ENERGY “GAMES”

ENERGY HOTSPOT: EASTERN MED CYPRUS, with its recent oil and gas findings must have struck a jackpot one would assume, and the numbers and e...

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