Pepe Escobar

Pepe Escobar (born 1954) is a Brazilian journalist and geopolitical analyst. His column "The Roving Eye" for Asia Times regularly discusses the multi-national "competition for dominance over the Middle East and Central Asia." He has reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan, writing about Osama bin Laden before 9/11 and interviewing Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Escobar's concept of "Pipelineistan" refers to the network of oil and gas pipelines in crucial geopolitical regions, especially Central Asia. He suggests that Western actions in these areas are largely driven by a desire to reduce dependence on Russian energy and OPEC. This theory has faced criticism, particularly regarding its application to conflicts like the Syrian Civil War. Escobar's work has been scrutinized for its appearance in outlets identified by the U.S. State Department as part of Russia's disinformation network, such as RT and Sputnik News, raising questions about the potential propagation of Russian propaganda.

Central Asia
In 2011, journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave described Escobar as "well known for breaking stories in the Arab and Muslim worlds." Escobar reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the period around 2000–2001. In August 2000, the Taliban arrested Escobar and two other journalists and confiscated their film, accusing them of taking photos at a soccer match.

On August 30, 2001, his column in The Asia Times described the impact on US-Pakistani relations of the US campaign against Osama bin Laden - described as “the No 1 target of the CIA’s counterterrorism center”: “inside Afghanistan today, where the Saudi Arabian lives in exile, Osama is a minor character. He is ill and always in hiding – usually “somewhere near Kabul.” Once in a while he travels incognito to Peshawar. His organization, al-Qaeda, is split, and in tatters.” The piece was called "prophetic" by KBOO.

In 2001 he interviewed Afghanistan's leading opposition commander against the Taliban Ahmad Shah Massoud. This was quoted by Marcela Grad, and by Edward Weisband and Courtney Thomas.

His October 26, 2001 piece for Asia Times, "Anatomy of a 'terrorist' NGO," described the history and methods of the Al Rashid Trust. This has been cited by a faculty member at the USAF Air War College (2003), researchers at Stanford University (2012), and in the 2006 book Alms for Jihad.

Pipelineistan
"Pipelineistan" is a term coined by Escobar to describe "the vast network of oil and gas pipelines that crisscross the potential imperial battlefields of the planet," particularly in Central Asia. Articles by Escobar about his "Pipelineistan" theory, many first published in TomDispatch, were re-published in Al Jazeera,  Grist, Mother Jones, and The Nation.

Escobar argued in a 2009 article published by CBS News that running energy pipelines from the energy-rich nations near the Caspian Sea would let Europe be less dependent on the natural gas that it currently gets from Russia, and would potentially help the West rely less on OPEC. This situation results in an international conflict of interest over the region. Escobar wrote that the "The New Great Game of the twenty-first century is always over energy and it's taking place on an immense chessboard called Eurasia".

In 2018, Paul Cochrane in Middle East Eye dismissed the "Pipelineistan" theory put forward in Escobar's Al-Jazaeera piece, "that the bloodshed in Syria is simply another war over Middle Eastern energy resources". Cochrane wrote that covert action by the US against Syria started in 2005, which was before any plan was put forward to run a gas pipeline from Qatar to Syria. Robin Yassin-Kassab called it a "conspiracy theory". Naser Tamimi said "If Syria and Iraq stabilise, and political relations with Saudi Arabia and Iraq improve ... after all of that, then you could think of a pipeline. But at the end of the day it's a pipe dream". A 2021 study which examined data on Russia's intervention in Syria concluded that the aim of the intervention was to support the Syrian government "rather than targeting groups threatening strategically important areas for the proposed Islamic Pipeline".

Libya
According to Arnaud De Borchgrave, during the 2011 Libyan Civil War Escobar wrote a piece "uncovering" the background of Abdelhakim Belhaj, whose military leadership against Gaddafi was being aided by NATO, had trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. According to Escobar's story, published by Asia Times on August 30, 2011, Belhaj's background was well known to Western intelligence.

Interviewed about his story by Radio New Zealand, Escobar said that Belhaj and his close associates were fundamentalists whose goal was to impose Islamic law once they defeated Gaddafi, and that Libya would slide into a civil war between Gaddafi loyalists and “Jihadist fundamentalists”. Escobar's story was commented on by Muhammad Sahimi for PBS.

Russia
According to the United States State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar are used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation. In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar's work has appeared, acted as Russian propaganda sites. According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.

Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News. According to the GEC, both outlets are members of "Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem." In a report published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, Volodymyr Yermolenko described Escobar as an example of "anti-Western intellectuals" hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggested in 2014 "dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia."

In 2012, Jesse Zwick at The New Republic asked Escobar why he was willing to work with RT; Escobar replied, "I knew the Kremlin involvement, but I said, why not use it? After a few months, I was very impressed by the American audience. There are dozens of thousands of viewers. A very simple story can get 20,000 hits on YouTube. The feedback was huge.”

During the 2017 Catalan independence crisis, Escobar wrote that Spain lived in a state of permanent fascism. In 2022, Escobar said that US president Biden was a puppet of Hillary Clinton and the US establishment, who are motivated by Russophobia and aim to sever the link between Russia and the European economy. The Spanish newspaper ABC wrote that some of Escobar's writings were "the usual ones of Russian disinformation: 'Yankee' imperialism, NATO excesses, Russian victimization".