Russia and Georgia

Besides, these river mouths play a great role in development of different branches of economy in Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia agriculture, fishery, navigation, etc. Main characteristics of these six river mouth areas are presented in Tables 1 and 2. More comprehensive information on these river mouths will be considered in Sects. 6 and 7. 

The second block of the international legal issues in the Black Sea that had arisen, as it was already said, after the USSR breakup, includes the unsettled issues of the water area delimitation between Russia and Georgia, Russia and Ukraine, and Ukraine and Romania. 

Difficulties with delimitation of the Black Sea between Russia and Georgia are connected with the situation around the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia. The international conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia that orig-... 

Rosin and its derivatives are economically the most important natural resins. Approximately 1150 x 10 metric tons of these materials are produced annually and sold throughout the world. The principal producers are the People s RepubHc of China (ca 40%) and the United States (ca 25%), followed by Russia. Most of the remainder is produced in Indonesia, Portugal, Finland, India, Bra2il, and Mexico. In 1996, the lowest grades of rosin were priced at 750/t. Most rosin is converted to its many derivatives to meet requirements for industrial appHcations. The principal producers of rosin derivatives are Ari2ona Chemical Company, Hercules Incorporated, Westvaco, Union Camp, and Georgia-Pacific. 

When comparing the South Caucasian Pipeline system for Azeri gas with the Blue Stream and the North-South Caucasus Pipelines for delivery of Turkmen gas calculations show that the best economic outcome for the Turkish consumers will be achieved by the former pipeline (SCP). The cheapest at wellhead Turkmen gas supply to Turkey and Europe using of Trans-Caspian Pipeline or the Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey Pipelines is rather comparable, but the political isolation imposed upon Iran by the USA, and the latest agreement on delivery of the Turkmen gas to Russia make the further development prospect of these projects very doubtful. The proposed co-operation between two gas export pipeline projects the South Caucasian Pipeline system and the Trans-Caspian Pipelines - for supply to Turkey and Europe via Azerbaijan and Georgia seem to be more attractive. In that case instead of construction of new pipeline sections on the Azeri and Georgian territories, a free capacity of South Caucasian Pipeline system can be used. This may result in a reduced investment cost up to US 1000 million. 

After break-up of the Soviet Union and the ensuing regional conflicts, gas inports from Russia, which superseded those from Iran, were suspended and gas delivery to Armenia and Georgia ceased. During the 1990s, Azeri production declined and there was insufficient gas available to supply distribution consumers outside the Absheron area. Hence the main transmission pipeline network and the unused distribution system fell into disrepair. 

Establishing a UGS facility has the potential of optimising the benefits of those new supplies of gas in addition to the gas that is imported from Russia and the transit fees that are received from transiting gas through Georgia to Armenia. 

It appears that the countries surrounding these three regional states and shifting alliances will play important roles in the future of the region. Armenia feels encircled by Turkic states to the east and west, namely Turkey and Azerbaijan, and seeks to ally itself with Iran and Russia. Azerbaijan and Georgia have turned their face to the West, and consider Turkey a gateway to the West and also an important ally to counter possible Russian hegemony. 

There is only one operating gas duct from Russia via Georgia that exhibits technical, economic and political risks. 

At present Russia and Iran are the only suppliers of natural gas to the South-Eastern European region including Turkey and the South Caucasian countries. This one-sided dependency is a de-facto-monopoly situation that may be used to impose political pressure on the countries involved - as experienced by Ukraine and Georgia over the last ten years. In order to improve this situation, natural gas supply from the Caspian region to Europe should be secured by diversification of source, supplier and transit country. 

After the breakup of the USSR, the number of states with access to the Black Sea remained the same. But now Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia became independent states and, in fact, started to formulate their interests and rights... 

There is also heightened concern that a bioterrorist could release smallpox, a disease that has been eradicated from the globe since at least 1980. Officially, only two places on Earth still maintain viable smallpox virus in cold storage Novosibirsk, Russia and Atlanta, Georgia, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some unconfirmed reports allege that other countries, however, including North Korea and perhaps others, still hold on to smallpox virus specimens. Could a terrorist release smallpox, and how would it affect a mostly immunologically naive population ... 

Scientific studies carried out at the department enabled to enrich the educational process with new textbooks, teaching materials, equipment for laboratory and field works. Prof. V.D. Lomtadze s textbooks are widely known not only in Russia, but also abroad, they are translated in Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Germany and Georgia. For example, in 1975 in Chinese was published the manual Methods of laboratory tests of physical and mechanical properties of rocks. Late in his life Valery Davidovich Lomtadze wrote the Dictionary in Engineering Geology which was released after his death in 1999. 

The BTC pipeline passes within 40 km of the frozen conflict of Nagomo-Karabagk (between Azerbaijan and Armenia) within 60 km of the frozen conflict of South Ossetia (between Georgia and Russia) and through north-eastern Turkey, which is an area of ongoing conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish forces. 

Chalcocite, a very common copper ore, is mined extensively in Chile, the United States, Canada, Zambia, Mauritania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Republic of Congo, Peru, and Poland. Chile and the United States are the two largest copper producers. In Chile, the site of the world s largest open pit copper mine is at Atacama. Also, the mine in El Chino, New Mexico is a very large open pit mine. 

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