As Ed Crooks points out in the FT on the new Russia-Turkey deal on the South Stream pipeline, in the geopolitics of energy, there are no friends, only partners.  Here's what the Russians paid the Turks to sign on to a pipeline that cuts them and Ukraine out of the loop:

To buy Ankara's support, Russia is expected to help with a long list of important projects for Turkey, including an oil pipeline from Samsun in the north of the country to Ceyhan in the south, and one or more nuclear power stations, fulfilling a long-cherished Turkish dream.

It looks as though Mr Erdogan has managed to exact a good price for his support: a sign of how important these pipeline routes are. (...)

In one of the ironies of history, it is Turkey that is now at the heart of those hopes for bringing gas

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Of all the people you might expect to spearhead a movement away from oil and onto alternative energy, T. Boone Pickens probably wouldn’t be at the top of the list.

But a year ago, the 81-year old chairman of BP Capital spent his own money to buy prime time on major networks and mobilized an “army” of believers in order to get the word out about the dangers of continued dependence on foreign oil.

Earlier this month, Pickens appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss the progress of the “Pickens Plan,”which essentially seeks to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil through a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. The goal: Drastically reducing or eliminating the need for foreign oil in as little as 10 years.

His timing was perfect, as oil prices shot to all-time highs around $150 a year ago. The plan garnered a lot of attention. And to

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Earlier this week, T. Boone Pickens, the 81-year-old Chairman of BP Capital, appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the progress of the “Picken’s Plan.”

Readers might remember it was during the heat of the Presidential campaign last summer, on July 8, that Pickens began his own campaign to wean the nation off of foreign oil.

Spending his own money, he bought time on the major networks and mobilized an “army” of believers in order to get the word out about the dangers of continued dependence on foreign oil.

Essentially, the Pickens Plan seeks to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil with a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. In the process, the need for foreign oil is drastically reduced or eliminated in as little as 10 years.

His timing - with oil prices hovering around $150 a barrel - got him a lot of attention.

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Notes from the Investment Underground April 9, 2009 Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Why you should invest in pipeline companies… Wither Geither’s stress test results? Congress vs the Treasury… Check out of USA Inc with these four BRIC EFTs… How to survive the “Great Money Famine of 2009”… Three questions for Barney Frank… Congressional panel: Liquidate banks, fire top execs… PPIP FLOP… Geithner’s latest Orwellian manoeuvre… And more!

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