The master of pipeline politics describes the complex nature of the two oil/gas pipeline systems that are in competition in the Middle East and Eurasia, and that the forces promoting these two systems might experience a tectonic shift affecting the power struggle between the US Empire versus the emerging and powerful Chinese-Russian coalition. Now stir the analysis provided in the previous post into the stew of geopolitical interests described in this article to see what you get. Could the Khashoggi incident along with the sanctions be the catalyst that could produce such a tectonic shift? Although Escobar does not factor in the Khashoggi incident, he sees one possibility:
... an irresistible geopolitical pull – heavily influenced by Washington’s sanctions obsession – would drive Turkey-Iran-Pakistan closer to BRI [China's Belt and Road Initiative] and trading in their own currencies or in yuan.