I have written several times on my blog about the Russians’ steadfast opposition to alternative energy sources from the Caspian. Now with his visit to Tehran, Putin, whose subtlety matches the brutal political culture of his Motherland, openly claims some sort of primus-inter-pares role for Russia and Iran on the Caspian littoral. The pro-rata apportionment claim has gone nowhere & is off the table, as the Azeris export the vast majority of their crude via Ceyhan. The alternate route through Chechnya has been a debate of more than a decade, and at one point during the negotiations, Russia claimed that any offshore resources should be shared equally by all littoral states, even if they were only a few miles offshore from Baku, for example.

Putin and Ahmad…d are trying to pull a power play on Gaidar Aliyev, the Azeri President [whom I had the privilege of escorting to a Chicago Bulls game over a decade ago] who must depend almost entirely on American and Turkish geo-strategic support to maintain a balance of power in his beleaguered republic.

The overarching strategy of the Russian/Iranian entente is to diminish American influence in the Caucasus and eventually in the Middle East, a goal toward which the US Congress with its Armenian declaration [which insults both Azerbaijan & Turkey] appears willing to lend a helping hand.