Energy War

TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna writes on the energy war going on throughout the world. A summary of his column is as follows:
The US administration has aked for an extra $20 billion for its war budget due to the war against terrorism. Congress will probably comply with this request. The war against terrorism has cost Turkey dearly, at some $100 billion. As the war US will wage against terror will be global, it is clear that trillions of dollars will be spent towards this end. The US weapons industry will be revived and many jobless will be employed. It is clear that the US won't leave Afghanistan. Somehow or other it will have a say in the country. It will not bury the money it has spent in the mountains of Afghanistan, but instead will find a way to turn it to its advantage. It will hold the shortest energy line in Central Asia in its own hands: the way to the Indian Ocean over Baluchistan. The Turkic Republics will benefit from this project just as Pakistan and Afghanistan. However the west of the Caspian has other energy sources. Turkey will benefit from it through the Caucasus and Russia from the north.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION