The U.S.'s Real Security Interests in Eurasia: Kazakh Chromite and Turkish Sheet Metal?
What is really of national security interest to the U.S. in the Caucasus and Central Asia? One of the latest WikiLeaks cables purports to answer that question, identifying "critical infrastructure and key resources within their host country which, if destroyed, disrupted or exploited, would likely have an immediate and deleterious effect on the United States."
There are surprisingly few such facilities in Eurasia. Unsurprisingly, most of them have to do with oil. Azerbaijan's offshore Sangchal oil and natural gas terminal, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the Novorossiysk oil export terminal (which is in Russia but ships oil from Azerbaijan) are all on the list.
In Turkey, in addition to the BTC pipeline, the Bosphorus Straits is listed, and a handful of Turkish industrial machinery makers are on the list as well, including Durma, Baykal and Ermaksan. All seem to be involved in the making of sheet metal, occasioning us to wonder why Turkish sheet metal is so vital to U.S. security. (Any ideas?: email and I'll update the post.)
Another curious inclusion: the Khromtau Ferrochromium Complex, a chromite mine located in western Kazakhstan, near the city of Aqtobe. Kazakhstan is apparently the world's third-largest producer of chromite, which is used in making stainless steel and other alloys. (Chromite mines in South Africa and India, the world's two largest chomite manufacturers, also appear in the cable, so it doesn't seem like there is anything particularly unique about Kazakh chromite.)
The cable notes that "war-fighting facilities" are not included, perhaps because it goes without saying that they are critical infrastructure, or because they're listed in a cable that has a higher level of security. Of course, counting such facilities would add several facilities in Central Asia, like the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan and the Navoi air cargo terminal and who knows what other sites in Uzbekistan.
So that's the official word, that's what is vital to U.S. security interests in the region. No oil or natural gas facilities from Turkmenistan or Kazakhstan; just chromite. And Turkish industrial machinery.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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