Writing on Japan Focus, M K Bhadrakumar points out the patently clear quid pro quo going on between Russia and Iran in energy and geopolitics. Extensive high quality analysis after the cut.

In fact, how Moscow proceeds with the reconfiguration of Russo-Iranian relations could well form the centerpiece of the geopolitics of energy security in Eurasia during 2008. The dynamics on this front will doubtless play out on a vast theater stretching well beyond the Eurasian space, all the way to China and Japan in the east and to the very heart of Europe in the west where the Rhine River flows. …