Global Times: Redirection of gas pipeline through Turkey could prove a win for Russia

Russia's termination of the South Stream natural gas pipeline project through Bulgaria to Europe was inevitable given the West's new Cold War. But there could be a silver lining to this cloud.

Major national and international infrastructure projects are key to long-term economic development. This is why the West intervenes to block projects deemed contrary to its perceived geopolitical interests. 

A century ago, a German plan for a railroad from Hamburg to Baghdad was a factor in the European imperial competition which led to World War I. Today international pipelines for oil and natural gas are seen by the West from a similar geopolitical perspective.

Washington's fixation on pipelines was evident during the administration of Bill Clinton and its support for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline from Azerbaijan through Turkey as a means to undercut Russian hydrocarbon export routes.  Nothing has changed.

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