Ilves, Grybauskaite talk security
The presidents of Estonia and Lithuania met this weekend to discuss cyber and energy security. READ MORE
South Stream’s Credibility Problems Deepen After Brussels Promotional Event
Russian Energy Minister, Sergei Shmatko, and Gazprom’s top hierarchy, along with their West-European business allies, advertised the South Stream project at a promotional event on May 25 in Brussels (Interfax, Euractiv, May 25, 26). The European Commission had agreed to be represented at this event, at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s insistence, during the EU-Russia energy summit in February. The Russian side used the intervening months to prepare elaborate presentations of the project and deploy an unprecedented mass of lobbying power. It hoped through this all-out effort to demonstrate South Stream’s viability, neutralize legal objections to it within the European Union, and obtain EU financial backing for the South Stream project. Meanwhile, Putin and Shmatko had cast fresh doubts on this project by proposing a switch in the transportation mode, from pipeline to LNG, across the Black Sea. READ MORE
A Marshall Plan for the Arab World
US President Barack Obama’s major speech on the consequences of the Arab Spring is also a challenge for Europe. Only if the trans-Atlantic partnership proves effective, as it did to meet the demands of the Cold War and the end of Europe’s division, can the West contribute to realizing the hopes engendered by the Arab uprisings. READ MORE
Auditor: Turkmen gas field is world's 2nd largest
The isolated former Soviet nation of Turkmenistan is likely sitting on top of the world's second-largest gas field, British energy auditor Gaffney, Cline & Associates said Wednesday. READ MORE
Ariel Cohen: Moscow is willing to use energy as foreign policy tool
Despite its vast resource base and its formal assurances of its reliability as a partner, Moscow has already proved that it is willing to hike up oil and gas prices to match the general trend of higher energy prices, engage in anti-free market practices, especially at home and in Europe, and use energy as a foreign policy tool, Ariel Cohen , a leading expert of the Heritage Foundation for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy, said in his speech at U.S. Congress on June 2. READ MORE
Nabucco Signs Pipeline Accords
The Nabucco consortium signed agreements Wednesday with transit countries for a pipeline it is building to bring natural gas to Europe via Turkey, in what it called a breakthrough for the troubled project. The group predicted that the first supply contracts would be sealed by the end of the year. READ MORE
As China Invests, Many Kazakhs Say: Not Too Fast
As China grows in power and influence, few countries are feeling the effects more than neighboring Kazakhstan. READ MORE
Russia frets over Eurasian domino theory
Post-Soviet Russia has been consistently perceived as anti-American. Despite several shifts in Moscow's foreign policy during the past two decades, the Kremlin's opposition to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in former Yugoslav republics, its war with Georgia and the recent protest against military action in Libya have all been attributed to Russia's designs to leverage its influence against the West. READ MORE
Poland seeks independence from Russian imports through shale gas despite pollution concerns
Poland is planning a major investment in shale gas, a potentially huge source of energy — and environmentally dangerous chemicals — to break free of dependence on Russian imports and boost its economy. READ MORE
Russia Pressures Kazakhstan’s Ties With Georgia
Kazakhstan is increasingly uncomfortable within the Customs Union with Belarus and Russia due to the constant attempts by the Kremlin to politicize the structure originally intended to boost trade relations and ensure free movement of citizens, goods and capital within the union. Recently, Grigoriy Onishenko the head of the Russian sanitary and epidemiology service, urged Kazakhstan to ban the imports of wine and non-alcoholic drinks from Georgia. Clumsily trying to substantiate his statement Onishenko said Georgian wines did not conform to quality standards and the ban was necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the Customs Union. READ MORE
