The Connection: Water and Energy Security
The energy security of the United States is closely linked to the state of its water resources. No longer can water resources be taken for granted if the U.S. is to achieve energy security in the years and decades ahead. At the same time, U.S. water security cannot be guaranteed without careful attention to related energy issues. The two issues are inextricably linked, as this article will discuss. READ MORE
Initiative On The Caspian OSCE Clone
Addressing the 65th Session of the UN General Assembly the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov mentioned the initiative to found a “Forum on Security, Peace and Cooperation in Central Asia and Caspian basin”. Obviously, they are talking about a kind of the OSCE analogue in the region. READ MORE
Russia Is Ready To Give China Everything
Ukraine, declaring its intention to develop the relations of strategic partnership with China, should be really cautious about the way of the promotion of the relations between Beijing and Moscow. Following the official terms, they have already reached the level of “comprehensive deepening of partnership and strategic interaction”. READ MORE
Russia Plans Increased Energy Exports
Senior Russian officials have made clear that the country’s energy policies will continue to evolve around the nexus of ambitious export plans. The government pledged to make the country’s gas exports more flexible. Russia’s total gas exports will include 10 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030, Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, announced on September 17. The global demand for hydrocarbons will be increasing in the next decade according to Putin. READ MORE
Ottawa Holds Talks With Russia As Norway Signs Accord
Frosty diplomatic relations were thawing like Arctic ice as Norway reached a landmark deal with Russia this week over a 40-year-old Barents Sea boundary dispute, and Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon held cordial meetings Thursday with Russian officials in Moscow. READ MORE
BRIC Military Modernization and the New Global Defense Balance (Part 1 of 2)
The message promoted by foreign policy gurus in recent years is that the American moment is over and a new global balance is emerging; one where power is no longer concentrated in Washington but spread among several different countries. The U.S. will continue to retain a prominent position at the top of the global food chain we are told, but no longer will there be the sense of American worldwide hegemony. Instead the emerging nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the so-called “BRICs”) will assume their rightful place as great powers and in the process create a new multi-polar world. READ MORE
Russia Picks Up The China Card
The warm relationship between Russia and China should be an indication that Russia is keeping its foreign policy options open. Long gone are the times when aged and frail denizens of the Kremlin would go on a foreign trip only on special occasions: to sign a strategic arms control treaty or to visit with fellow septuagenarians in the so-called fraternal socialist countries. READ MORE
Putin Looks Sour Loser On Nabucco
Russia seems to have lost its lobbying battle in Europe for its South Stream pipeline carrying gas and against rival Nabucco, which is planned to run from Azerbaijan via Turkey to the European markets. At present, Moscow seeks as a last resort to negate the availability of gas supplies to the Nabucco project in the Caspian basin. READ MORE
Lessons from Prague: How the Czech Republic Has Enhanced Its Energy Security
With regard to energy security in the European Union, it has become common knowledge that there are still two Europes. The security of energy is dividing the continent broadly along what used to be the Iron Curtain. The Western part has both effective and poorly functioning energy markets, but generally a fairly well balanced energy mix. In contrast, the Eastern part is almost the opposite; the region has accumulated and continues to confront many challenges. READ MORE
Nabucco: The Pipeline That Refuses To Die
What do big Eurasian energy pipelines have in common with U.S. military projects? Once they're proposed, they refuse to die -- they assume a life of their own, and haunt us until someone finally manages to drive a stake into their heart. And by that time, the chessboard has wholly changed, forcing everyone to adjust to a new set of rules.. READ MORE