Now that America is almost in total control of Iraq, and with Britain having a stake in Southern Iraq, it was recently reported in The Guardian newspaper, that, "Global oil companies have started to fight over the Iraqi spoils before the military conflict has ended with Russia's Lukoil warning the west not to attempt any takeover of its West Qurna field."

Lukoil is one of Russia's state-owned oil companies and like British Petroleum (BP), TotalFinaElf (France) and others, are all competing for a slice of Iraq's Oil.

With incredible riches to be derived from selling Iraq's oil, securing and guaranteeing contracts has not been lost on the oil players in this game of brinkmanship.

"BP has warned that the US must not just carve up Iraq's oil reserves and it has forged links with the UN" when BP's chairman, Lord "Brown met Secretary General Kofi Annan last March" [2002], and its "co-chairman Peter Sutherland met him [Kofi Annan] on 4 February".

As for Lukoil its vice-president Leonid Fedun, said "His group would.... arrest tankers carrying crude if any outsider tried to take a lead role on the project".

As the war is about to be declared over and America and Britain plot to sell Iraq's oil whilst refusing to permit the UN, France, Russia, Germany or any other nation to participate in the rebuilding of Iraq, and requesting the lifting of UN sanctions, the 'eye of the storm' is nearing its end.

Dispensing with Diplomatic niceties, President Vladimir Put in of Russia, during a 63-minute press conference on Tuesday April 29, told Prime Minister Tony Blair "Let's send UN inspectors to Iraq if something is found there, let's not show empty barrels on TV", referring to Anglo-American claims of Iraq's alleged WMD.

He also said according to The Guardian newspaper article - 'We are not with you and we don't believe you' - "...Until clarity is achieved over whether WMD exist in Iraq, sanctions should be kept in place ...Where is Saddam? Where are those arsenals of WMD, if indeed they ever existed? Perhaps Saddam is still hiding somewhere in a bunker underground, sitting on cases of WMD and is preparing to blow the whole thing up and bring down the lives of thousands of Iraqi peopl".

Iraq has divided European Unity, establishing European fears of a widening polarity between an Anglo-American pact against Russia, Germany and France.

Military Preparations Against America

In order to ensure that Russia retrieves over $8 billion of debt that Iraq owes, secures her oil contract rights and participates in the rebuilding of Iraq, Russia, according to the Interfax News Agency, sent her Black Sea and Pacific naval fleets to the Indian Ocean on the 8th and 10th April, 2003.

"The Baltic fleet is also preparing to take part in the deployment to the Arabian Sea. Moreover it is possible that the Baltic Fleet will act jointly with French and German Fleets."

These military manoeuvres to hold naval exercises in the Indian Ocean in May 2003, was agreed with by Turkey, for the Black Sea fleet to pass through the 'Dardanelle's' and with India for the Pacific fleet to enter into the Indian Ocean.

According to the source in the Russian General Staff, "Since February 27, warships of the Black Sea and Pacific fleets have been in the state of ten-day readiness." Also "the Russian Armed Forces are being brought into different degrees of combat readiness."

When America attacked a Russian Diplomatic convoy as it was leaving Iraq and entering Syria, could this have been a precursor to plans, warning Russia not to get involved in the war?

Speaking to 'Echo of Moscow radio station,' Colonel-General Balery Manilov, a member of the Federation Council from the Primorye region said, "It is obvious from the diplomatic point of view that no country in the whole world will wish to live and watch Americans using the military force whenever they want...The world community will have to consolidate its military, political, economic, technical resources in order not to allow that to happen. The process is under way already...The world will have to unite and find a format to restrain America, the country, which opposed itself to the whole world."

Is this the end or just the start?

Echoing Colonel-General views, Stratfor.Com the International Strategic Forecasting company says in an article, After Iraq: The Ongoing Crisis, "As the war in Iraq moves toward a conclusion, the expectations are that the end of the war will bring at least a pause in international tensions. We do not believe this will be the case. Given U.S. war goals, crises -- inside Iraq, with nations along Iraq's border and between Europe and the United States -- can be expected to flow directly from war termination, whenever it come s... Iraq is a campaign in a much larger war and not a war in itself. We now will see what that means."