{"id":46575,"date":"2019-06-10T06:58:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T11:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=46575"},"modified":"2019-06-10T06:58:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T11:58:27","slug":"the-most-crucial-pipeline-of-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=46575","title":{"rendered":"The Most Crucial Pipeline Of The Middle East?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Most Crucial Pipeline Of The Middle East?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Pipeline\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Middle Eastern history is strongly influenced by energy politics. Besides providing revenue for the state\u2019s coffers, oil is also a potent geopolitical tool in the hands of resource-rich countries. Recently, officials from Lebanon<\/a>, Syria and Iraq have engaged in talks to restart the dysfunctional pipeline that once connected oilfields near Kirkuk in Iraq with the coastal city of Tripoli in Lebanon. Restarting the pipeline could have long-term political, economic, and strategic consequences for the involved states and the wider region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original infrastructure was constructed during the 30s of the previous century when two 12-inch pipes transported oil from Kirkuk to Haifa in British mandated Palestine and Tripoli in French-mandated Lebanon. The Tripoli line was\u00a0supplemented<\/a>\u00a0by a 30-inch pipeline in the 50s which could transport approximately 400,000 barrels\/day. The Kirkuk-Tripoli pipeline was suspended by Syria during the Iraq-Iran war in an attempt to support Tehran in its struggle against Baghdad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Click to enlarge)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paving the way<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current political climate, which has enabled cooperation between Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, is the consequence of one country\u2019s foreign policy. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iranian influence has grown<\/a> considerably across the Middle East. Tehran\u2019s support for proxies in neighboring countries has strongly influenced regional politics and made Saudi Arabia nervous of what it sees as \u201cPersian encroachment\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iranian support for Syria\u2019s President Assad provided a lifeline to the regime during the country\u2019s civil war. Tehran has invested significantly in maintaining the position of its ally in Damascus. In neighboring Iraq, the democratization process installed a Shia-dominated parliament which is supported by powerful paramilitary groups funded and organized by the Quds force<\/a>, the branch of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard responsible for extraterritorial activities. Despite significant military and political gains, consolidation is required to cement the ties between Iran\u2019s Arab partners, which would also benefit Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Most Crucial Pipeline Of The Middle East? Contemporary Middle Eastern history is strongly influenced by energy politics. Besides providing revenue for the state\u2019s coffers, oil is also a potent geopolitical tool in the hands of resource-rich countries. Recently, officials from Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have engaged in talks to restart the dysfunctional pipeline that once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[441,442,588,590,23083,776,18974],"class_list":["post-46575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-geopolitics","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-oil","tag-oil-pipeline","tag-oil-price-com","tag-syria","tag-vanand-meliksetian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46576,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46575\/revisions\/46576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}