Welcome to the Caspian Daily, where you will find the 10 most important things you need to know on Caspian Sea Region. We appreciate ideas, reports, news and interesting articles. Send along to Caspian[at]moderndiplomacy.eu or on Twitter: @DGiannakopoulos
1“I’m fascinated by the Schumer thing, because I know something about his past involvement with Iran policy that may well have played a role in his decision to oppose The Deal. Senator Schumer had a direct, personal involvement in a brief secret correspondence between the Obama Administration and the leaders of the massive insurrection against the Iranian regime in 2009, following the fraud concerning the outcome of the June elections in Iran. Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi got the most votes, while then-current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was proclaimed the winner. The streets of all major cities filled with protestors, bigger than the monster crowds that had massed against the shah in 1979. Michael Ledeen for Forbes.
2Does Congress want a war with Iran? US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has warned about the consequences of not completing a nuclear agreement with Iran ahead of Congress vote on the accord next month. “The alternative of not reaching an agreement, you know what it is?” he said in an interview with CBS on Sunday. “It’s war. Do we really want another war, a war with Iran? An asymmetrical warfare that will take place all over this world, threaten American troops? Look, I’m not going to tell you that this is a perfect agreement, It’s so easy to be critical of an agreement which is not perfect,” he said. “And every agreement can be better.”
3Asian and European lenders unveiled a $1 billion finance package Friday to help fund an Azeri natural gas field meant to diversify the European energy sector.The Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with support from the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, announced funding support for the second stage of the Shah Deniz natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan.The ADB said the project is “crucial” for energy security in the European economy.
4Oil production at Goturdepeneft oil and gas production department in Turkmenistan has exceeded 1.7 million metric tons as of H1 2015, or half of the crude production by Turkmenoil state concern. Turkmenoil state concern has expanded the scope of exploration and drilling work, increased the oil and gas production. Moreover, 42 wells, including 34 exploratory and eight production wells have been put into operation in H1 2015.
5Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Turkmenistan’s President Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov along with his delegation at the Tarabya Palace in Istanbul. Both leaders expressed a desire to boost economic ties between the two countries.Bilateral cooperation in energy and cultural sectors was also discussed during the meeting. Erdogan thanked Turkmenistan for its confidence in Turkish companies operating in Turkmenistan.
6Reassuring and alarming.“If you ask Western policy makers about the main security threats facing Europe, they come up with two: Jihadists from the so-called Islamic State and President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The threat from jihadists is clear. But why Russia? Bridget Kendall for BBC.
7What Europe gets wrong about Russia. In a new analysis, European Council on Foreign Relations senior policy fellow Kadri Liik explores European sanctions against Russia and how European leaders should use them.She observes that Europe doesn’t seem to know what it wants the “structural sanctions” to achieve and thus don’t have any time frame as to exactly when to end said sanctions.“Do we expect a regime change in Moscow? Or do we want Russia to start behaving ‘as a normal European country’ i.e. one that tries to base its influence on attraction rather than coercion?” Liik asks.
8KazTransOil sees 2 times increase in profits. The net consolidated profit of KazTransOil group of companies of Kazakhstan for the first half of 2015 totaled 39.428 billion Kazakh tenge (187.65 tenge = $1), or 49.2 percent higher than in the same period of 2014. The consolidated revenue of KazTransOil for the first half of 2015 amounted to 106.646 billion tenge, or 6.2 percent higher than in the first half of 2014.
9The 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the World Diamond Council (WDC) will take place in Moscow, Russia from October 12 to 14, 2015, Rough & Polished reports. The WDC AGM is open to paid WDC members and invited guests only. The meeting will be hosted by WDC and mining giant Alrosa, and will consider a number of topics relating to the Kimberley Process (KP), and the engagement of the WDC and the industry with the KP.
10Azerbaijani films have been included into the program of the 11th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival, due to be held in Kazan on September 5 – 11, 2015. Some 50 films from 25 countries will be screened at the Festival. Kazan International Muslim Film Festival has been held in the capital city of Tatarstan since 2005. The first festival was initiated by the Council of Muftis of Russia, Federal agency for culture and cinematography of Russia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan with the support of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.
