Caspian Sea

THE OTHER NIGHT there was nothing appealing to eat in the refrigerator, except a jar of caviar. The nothing-to-eat situation is common in our house. Having a jar of caviar on the fridge door is not. The caviar was sitting in a spot normally reserved for the hot-dog mustard. The caviar was the good stuff from the Caspian Sea. I am not at liberty to divulge exactly how these sturgeon eggs made the journey from Russia to the mustard shelf of my fridge. I can say that there was a courier involved and that the caviar courier was a member of the Jumpers Hole Gang.

This week,"The Amazing Race"brings us hay, oil, apples, cheese and crackers. Plus a little bit of heartbreak. I'm fortified with lots of homemade peppermint cookies, though, so I can get through this. Remember Bavaria? Land of Beards and Inquisitive Cows? That was so seven days ago. The remaining teams are sent to Baku, Azerbaijan. I know, you're all, “I'm so tired of everyone always going to Azerbaijan, it's like the Palm Springs of the Eurasian continent.” I'll still give you a geography refresher, though.

Arab leaders visiting with Kadafi on Libya's coastCAIRO, Egypt -- Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were in Libya yesterday for separate talks with Libyan leader Col. Muammar el Kadafi, media reports said.Abdullah arrived yesterday at the coastal town of Sirte, 250 miles east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, state-run Libyan television reported. Arafat arrived there the night before.Abdullah and Arafat are among the first Arab leaders to fly into Libya since a seven-year United Nations travel ban was suspended this month.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, appearing side by side with his Iranian counterpart at a five-nation summit here yesterday, made a powerful show of support for America's regional arch-enemy, drawing the line against any attack on Iran and reaffirming Iran's right to civilian use of nuclear energy. While Putin stopped short of unconditional support of the Iranian regime, the tenor of his remarks appeared at odds with earlier suggestions from the Bush administration that Putin might take a more pro-Western stance.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Chevron Corp. said yesterday that it expects to begin full-scale operations April 1 in its joint venture with the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop the immense Tengiz and Korolev oil fields on the northeastern Caspian Sea coast.Tengiz is regarded as one of the world's top 10 fields, with reserves likely to be as much as 35 billion barrels.After two years of often tortuous negotiations, Chevron and Kazakhstan agreed in May to a 50-50 joint venture to develop the oil fields, the largest such arrangement to date between a large republic of the Commonwealth of Independent States and a multinational oil company.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, appearing side by side with his Iranian counterpart at a five-nation summit here yesterday, made a powerful show of support for America's regional arch-enemy, drawing the line against any attack on Iran and reaffirming Iran's right to civilian use of nuclear energy. While Putin stopped short of unconditional support of the Iranian regime, the tenor of his remarks appeared at odds with earlier suggestions from the Bush administration that Putin might take a more pro-Western stance.

AS GOURMANDS know only too well, catches of Caspian sturgeon, source of the coveted beluga caviar, are fast diminishing. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, rules against over-fishing have evaporated. Meanwhile, pollution has worsened as multi-national firms scramble to exploit huge oil deposits under the Caspian Sea.Residents will tell you that the local economies have gone to ruin since the former Soviet states gained independence. Yet the long-range prospects of Kazakstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are bright.

NEW YORK -- The Cold War may be over but the annual caviar war is flaring up again. Macy's and Zabar's are sniping at each other's bottom lines on beluga. In the next few weeks, the price of a 14-ounce container of this most prized grade of sturgeon eggs is likely to fall well below last year's price of just under $400.This year, there is also plenty of undercover maneuvering worthy of John le Carre. The breaking up of the Soviet Union has thrown a once orderly business into turmoil.Lack of central government control there has opened the door for all kinds of entrepreneurs: on the fishing boats, in the processing plants and in the marketplace.

Last Monday evening, members of la Chaine des Rotisseurs, one of the world's oldest eating societies, got a taste of the good life. Certainly this group is accustomed to the best from the culinary world; however, Nancy and Tom Stuehler, la Chaine members who were the party hosts, outdid themselves.The Stuehlers operate Truffles, the gourmet arm of LaFontaine Bleu, out of the Belvedere Hotel, so they took this opportunity to show off their food and the Belvedere banquet rooms in (Russian) style.

It's hard to write an appreciative article on black caviar that anyone will take seriously. It's like writing why you prefer a Bugatti to a Bentley - except it's worse, because even if most people are indifferent to a snobbish disquisition on luxury cars, at least they wouldn't actually object to getting a ride in one if it was going their way. Black caviar, however, is not only very expensive but also composed of fish eggs in brine. It's practically the definition of an acquired taste.

It's hard to write an appreciative article on black caviar that anyone will take seriously. It's like writing why you prefer a Bugatti to a Bentley - except it's worse, because even if most people are indifferent to a snobbish disquisition on luxury cars, at least they wouldn't actually object to getting a ride in one if it was going their way. Black caviar, however, is not only very expensive but also composed of fish eggs in brine. It's practically the definition of an acquired taste.

THE KREMLIN'S shocking and fascinating persecution of the Russian oil giant Yukos dramatically ups the stakes - in Iraq. Who'd want to commit to crucial long-term oil deals with a country that enforces its own draconian laws as capriciously and cavalierly as Russia does? No one. Does Russia still offer the possibility of taking over from the Middle East any time soon as principal supplier of the world's petroleum? No way. The whole sordid, and still unfolding, episode shows that there cannot be any reliable, predictable alternative to Middle East oil for the foreseeable future.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -What do the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Balkans have in common? U.S. domination in these areas serves the interests of corporate multi-millionaires such as Dick Cheney. As George Bush's secretary of defense, Mr. Cheney was chief prosecutor of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Humanitarian rhetoric notwithstanding, the bombing of Iraq - which continues to this day - was primarily aimed at keeping the Persian Gulf safe for U.S. oil interests. Shortly after Desert Storm, the Associated Press reported Mr. Cheney's desire to broaden the United States' military role in the region to hedge future threats to gulf oil resources.

THE OTHER NIGHT there was nothing appealing to eat in the refrigerator, except a jar of caviar. The nothing-to-eat situation is common in our house. Having a jar of caviar on the fridge door is not. The caviar was sitting in a spot normally reserved for the hot-dog mustard. The caviar was the good stuff from the Caspian Sea. I am not at liberty to divulge exactly how these sturgeon eggs made the journey from Russia to the mustard shelf of my fridge. I can say that there was a courier involved and that the caviar courier was a member of the Jumpers Hole Gang.

Arab leaders visiting with Kadafi on Libya's coastCAIRO, Egypt -- Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were in Libya yesterday for separate talks with Libyan leader Col. Muammar el Kadafi, media reports said.Abdullah arrived yesterday at the coastal town of Sirte, 250 miles east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, state-run Libyan television reported. Arafat arrived there the night before.Abdullah and Arafat are among the first Arab leaders to fly into Libya since a seven-year United Nations travel ban was suspended this month.

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- The scent of oil hangs heavy over Baku, enticing politicians and business people from far-off America to a city rich with intrigue, adventure and fortunes to be made.This former Soviet republic of 7 million people lies on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, guardian of oil deposits so great that they could exceed those of oil-rich Kuwait.The oil is priceless, its ultimate value going far beyond dollar and profit calculations. Controlling it portends enormous political power -- particularly for the United States.

ASTRAKHAN, Russia -- They're tough-looking customers, and very primitive. They weigh a ton, hardly looking as if they need the Kalashnikov-toting bodyguards that surround them now.Yet, about 600 of Russia's crack special forces have been deployed here to watch over these bruisers, who nonchalantly carry one of the world's daintiest delicacies.This is the time of year when the hulking Russian sturgeon swims up the Volga River from the Caspian Sea to lay the eggs that yield some of the world's finest caviar.

HERE IS a far-reaching story that most Americans have probably never heard of. It is the question of where the major new oil pipelines from the Caucasus and Central Asia will go. When anyone does encounter the story, it seems to be just another international commercial squabble -- important but not crucial. Oil has been discovered again under the Caspian Sea, and the oil "biggies" are fighting over who will bring it out, while Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran are busy fighting over where and how to bring it out.But the pipeline question involves far more than commercial questions.

A HUGE POLITICAL scandal in Moscow involving secret military shipments of $1 billion worth of arms to Armenia has ripple effects that reach all the way to America's shores. But so far the Clinton administration is shortsightedly looking the other way.The story has all the ingredients of a Cold War spy thriller, except that the Cold War has been replaced by a new U.S.-Russian competition over the world's most important source of new oil. The oil is located in the Caspian basin, which sits above Iran and just northeast of Turkey.

CLEVELAND - The latest threat to the fragile health of Lake Erie doesn't come from chemical spills, algae blooms or raw sewage.It comes from a gray, 6-inch fish.This is a fish with an appetite - for the eggs of other fish and for mussels that clean the water.It's a fish that reproduces faster than a high-tech photocopier - capable of spawning every 20 days and overwhelming similar species that provide key links in the food chain.It's a fish that wasn't supposed to be here - but hitched a ride on a transatlantic freighter from the Black or Caspian Sea.Meet the round goby, an aggressive, bottom-feeding fish with buglike eyes and thick lips that make it look as though it's smiling.