Russia is now a corporate energy monopoly, and not a nation in a traditional sense. The traditional protection racket where nation-states charge corporations for protection (and deliver protected expansion of their business interests) has been reversed due to previous financial crisis. The energy corporation, with Putin as its Chairman, now calls the shots and the nation-state jumps. So, what's the grand strategy of Russia's corporate state? It is following a path of unregulated capitalism, specifically:
- Towards an unfettered monopoly in its primary industry, in this case energy.
- Vertical integration/expansion (control of the downstream industries powered by its energy -- think Standard Oil, although natural gas in this case is really the end game). Use of monopoly control/profits to push this integration forward (mostly Europe).
- No holds barred destruction of its economic competitors. Remember: capitalism is morally neutral. Violence, warfare, and terrorism are not at odds with its operation.
The BTC (Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan) pipeline system, a pipeline that pumps oil from the Caspian area bypassing Russian transportation, is a threat to its Russia plans for expansion not only now but even more so in the future (Russia is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas). Namely, its successful operation would serve as a model for a new pipeline, Nabucco, that pumps natural gas from the country with the second largest reserves of natural gas, Iran.
Therefore, Russia is in the process of trying to shut it down by attacking weak points in its route. Georgia is the most vulnerable point in the pipeline's route. Attacks against it have ranged from a total shut off Georgia's inbound energy (it was deprived of heat and light for five days in deep winter) to the funding of separatists to outright invasion.
Recent Example ???
Most recently, Russia has turned to it "outsourced" hackers (open source cyber warfare) to take down the BTC's control systems. Here's the details (note how the FBI/NSA was already there and ready to pounce on the situation -- which led to the control system now being run out of the Washington DC area), although its veracity is in doubt (or the story is being jammed by disinfo):
According to a news report on a Georgian Web site, Russian hackers under the direction of the GRU/FSB took down the data server of the BTC Pipeline on August 24th, 2009, effectively shutting down the second longest oil pipeline in the world. An FBI team and an un-identified intelligence service regained control of the pipeline’s data server and migrated it to Washington. The BTC pipeline has resumed normal operation.UPDATE: Russia suffered a second massive industrial catastrophe in the last week. This time it was regional oil storage for Transneft in Siberia (the location of the dam disaster) burned up in a massive fire that required 300 fireman (and killed 3). Is this more of the Chechen independence scenario?? If it is, the pace of attacks and the ROI's required are right in line with requirements.
UPDATE 2: Google working with "digital refugees" to get their message out.