http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL272497420080903?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
here's a better view and the devil in the details... which YAHOO!/AP/American Media won't report.
Guess who's involved in the DEAL? It involves;
1 BIG DICK, 2 BIG OIL CORPS,
3 US PUPPET NATIONS
Cheney says U.S. has deep interest in Caucasus allies
Azerbaijan and Georgia form an important link in the chain of a Western-backed energy corridor that bypasses Russia.
The West fears the route could be in jeopardy after the Kremlin sent its troops deep into Georgia, and Azerbaijan's state oil producer has already indicated it will switch some exports to Russian routes because of fears of instability in Georgia.
RUSSIAN RESPONSE
The United States also hopes to persuade former Soviet Central Asian states to export their oil and gas to markets via routes that bypass their traditional ally Russia.
Cheney discussed the crisis with officials from BP and Chevron-Texaco, two oil groups involved in a pipeline that pumps up to one million barrels of crude a day -- or about one percent of world output -- from Azerbaijan, through Georgia.
Underlining Washington's backing for Georgia,
U.S. President George W. Bush directed federal agencies to expand economic aid, including an enhanced bilateral investment treaty and wider preferential access for Georgian exports.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced a $1 billion aid package to help Georgia "survive, rebuild and thrive" after the war with Russia. The package did not include military aid and it was not yet time to look at such assistance, she said.
Separately, the International Monetary Fund(IMF) has approved a $750 million stand-by loan for Georgia, IMF and Georgian officials said.
Russia rejects Western condemnation of its military intervention and its later recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
And it says Washington helped to spark the conflict by failing to rein in Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
"We need to wait until Mr Cheney is actually in Georgia to see how he assesses the situation," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told a news briefing.
"But all these calls on Tbilisi (by the United States) about the need to restore all of its destroyed military capability and so on do not in any way promote the stabilization of the situation in the region," he said.
Kremlin criticism of Washington contrasts with the more conciliatory language it uses about the European Union, which on Monday threatened to suspend talks on a partnership pact but rejected sanctions against Russia, its biggest energy supplier.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the EU's rotating presidency, is to visit Moscow and Tbilisi for talks on the standoff next week.
The Kremlin said Sarkozy(Jewish Zionist) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed Georgia by phone on Wednesday. Medvedev said the EU had adopted a "generally balanced" approach but expressed regret the bloc failed to identify Tbilisi as the aggressor in the conflict.
