Joshua Kucera

Reading Assignments

I've been catching up a little on my reading tonight and came across several things good and tangentially related to this trip.

First, a terrific account of a press event put on by OMON, the Russian special police, by a good friend of this blog writing in the eXile:

If you saw any of the next-day press accounts of the OMON event, you know it was no normal press conference. It was a well-choreographed martial arts and machine gun extravaganza that left ears ringing and minds reeling. In the Guardian's laconic words, it was "at the odder end of the spectrum."

Or as we say in America, "at the pretty fucking awesome end of the spectrum."

Read the whole thing, it's good. I saw OMON soldiers break up a group of rowdy teenaged boys that was disrupting a Victory Day concert in South Ossetia, but frankly, they didn't live up to their brutal/effective reputation: the kids kept making noise even when OMON told them to stop. I mean, if you can't manage obnoxious 14-year-olds, how are you going to deal with Chechens?

It's the Oil, Stupid! Part 2

So, I'm on my way out of Georgia, I'm going to Armenia tomorrow. A full elegy of my trip to Georgia will come soon. And if any readers have recommendations for interesting people to meet in Armenia, drop me a line.

In the meantime, check this out:

NATO is talking to oil and gas producing companies and countries about providing sea-borne rapid reaction forces to combat attacks on facilities, hostage taking and piracy, a senior NATO official said May 14.

Jamie Shea, director of policy planning in the office of the NATO secretary-general, said the likely measures would involve operations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“In NATO, we are looking very actively at using our maritime resources ... to see how we can link up with oil companies,” Shea told a conference in London.

It's amazing how explicitly we can say our security interests are centered around oil and energy -- until the moment that we go to war, and then it becomes freedom, democracy and whatever else. I'm not of the school that believes that every western military action involves oil (see here), but obviously a lot of it does, even deep in the background. This, of course, has considerable impact on my project, which I'll get more into in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

(Hat tip: FP Passport)

Lada hot rods, rockin' rabbis and Miss Exotika: The Best of YouTube, Azerbaijan

Continuing on the YouTube tour of the Caucasus and Central Asia, there are some real treats among the Azerbaijan videos. There are a surprising number of car videos, and unlike the car videos from other countries, which have a lot of Mercedes, Hummers, etc., here we see mainly Ladas and other Russian cars doing things that could charitably be called tricks, but which I would instead call "driving under the influence of testosterone." First, one with some Azeri music in the background:

And then with DMX:

 

This one has a rabbi playing electric guitar in front of a waving Azerbijanian flag. And some young Azeri Jewish boys dressed like pimps. Definitely a must-watch.

 

Armenians when they have nothing to do: The Best of YouTube, Armenia

Armenia is the second stop on our YouTube tour, and unfortunately it is probably the single worst crop of videos from any of the countries we're dealing with. I had to search through loads of videos about the Armenian genocide, videos denying the Armenian genocide, depicting the glory of the Armenian fedayi irregulars in Nagorno-Karabagh, depicting the atrocities committed by those same forces, Armenian kickboxers, Armenia's Eurovision entrants (really, a lot of these -- why is Eurovision such a big deal in Armenia?), and so on.

First off is a video that could have been produced anywhere in Eastern Europe, but I like it for its blatant and out-of-place product placement. A convertible, bikinis, and some juice boxes – that’s a party, Armenia stylee!

Next, we have "Yerevan, Best City in the World." This sweeping statement is backed up with shots of empty formal restaurants, white stretch limousines in front of concrete apartment blocks and cheesy, neon-lit cafes. If a reader can please let me know what there is to look forward to in Yerevan, I'd be very grateful, because so far I'm not seeing it. I would love to be proven wrong.

Street Racing, Drunkenness and Caucasian Hip-Hop: The Best of YouTube, Georgia

So as I wait for my Uzbekistan visa to come through, I don't have much to do. I'm at my sister's in upstate New York, lying on her couch, with an occasional excursion outside to snowshoe in the frigid weather. I have a lot of reading I'd like to do before my upcoming trip, but I get easily distracted. Today, the distraction has been YouTube, and seeing what sorts of videos I can find from the stops along my trip. So, over the next several days, I'll be presenting the Best of YouTube - Central Asia/Caucasus.

There are a few genres that have come up again and again on this search, including:
-- hip-hop videos
-- folk music videos
-- fancy cars or drag racing
-- nationalist war documentary-style propaganda
-- videos that show how beautiful the maker's city/country is, with some sort of local music in the background

I'll follow the same itinerary I plan to follow on my trip, so we'll start in Georgia.

This guy is apparently the biggest rapper in Georgia, Shavi Prinsi, which means "Black Prince."   

These kids look about 15, and are Ossetian. I can't tell if they're from North Ossetia (which is part of Russia) or South Ossetia (which is part of Georgia, and which I'll visit). Their name, if my terrible Russian is correct, means "South Side" (which I hope means they're from South Ossetia) and the song is "Iron Rap." (If I'm wrong, I welcome corrections.) When they get older and become the Beastie Boys of the Caucasus, you can say you saw them here first.

This one is really pretty cool, but for some reason I can't embed it here, so you'll have to go to the YouTube site yourself. It's called  "Drunk Batumi" and is by an "avant poet" from Batumi, on the Black Sea, which will be my first stop in Georgia.

JANE'S FOREIGN REPORT: US eyes up Black Sea region

Originally published February 26, 2007

• After securing bases in Bulgaria and Romania, the US is trying to further increase its influence in the Black Sea by setting up regional security co-operation programmes.
• The US is concerned that the area might be a conduit for weapons of mass destruction, drugs or terrorists.
• Russia and Turkey, the two greatest Black Sea powers, are both suspicious of US and NATO incursions in the area. But the US is aiming to blunt that opposition by backing Turkish leadership in the region.

The US Department of Defense has completed its first comprehensive strategy for the Black Sea region, signalling its desire to consolidate its influence in southeastern Europe. Whether it has the resources to do so, however, is another question.

According to the strategy documents, which have not yet been publicly released, the US is concerned that the Black Sea region could be a conduit for the trafficking of drugs, terrorists or even weapons of mass destruction.

The Black Sea is at the periphery of three very different geopolitical regions: the Balkans, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. It is this peripheral nature that has given rise to the region's increasing visibility in the Pentagon.

Oil be there

First, the region is becoming an increasingly important corridor for transporting energy from the rich oil and gas fields of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Europe. The US is backing the creation of a pipeline transporting oil from the Caspian Sea basin to Europe, has backed another recently completed gas pipeline from Baku to Erzerum in eastern Turkey and is keen to encourage further means of breaking the stranglehold Russia has on the European energy markets.

JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY: US helps forces, gains foothold in Caspian region

JOSHUA KUCERA JDW Staff Reporter
Washington, DC

Originally published May 25, 2005

The US is providing Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan with a co-ordinated package of military aid to help the two countries counter smuggling and terrorism throughout the troubled, but strategically vital, Caspian Sea region.

Under the Caspian Guard initiative, the US is spending $100 million over seven years to build up the maritime surveillance, command-and-control and quick reaction abilities of the two countries.

Although the amount is relatively modest, the US hopes it will strengthen the navies and special operations forces around the Caspian Sea to the point where they can stand on their own and effectively patrol the sea. The US will also gain a foothold in a region that is rich in oil and natural gas, and which also borders Iran.