Giuseppe Verdi would have been puzzled to read your article about the new gas pipeline that is supposed to make Europe more secure from Russian tomfoolery (“He Who Pays for the Pipelines Calls the Tune,” July 17, 2009). In a signing ceremony in Ankara a few days ago, the Nabucco pipeline won formal backing from the main transit countries: Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and, of course, Turkey. It is supposed to come into operation by 2015. This involves a dollop of money from Europe, but mainly a great deal of American lobbying and arm-wrestling in the countries that are to provide the precious gas: Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, both countries closely allied with Turkey, and, most important, Iraq. But if you think that the two-hundred-odd million of euros from the European Union means that it will call the tune, you are very much mistaken. This is an American project through and through. The Union has made a few important steps in the right direction, such as admitting Romania and Bulgaria into the fold at the right moment, but the real clout is elsewhere. Which is why Verdi would be most puzzled, indeed. What could all this fuss have to do with the plight of the Jews exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian king Nabucco?