The Eurasian Pipeline Calculus
Calculus has two main variants—derivative and integral. The Eurasian energy pipeline geopolitics between Turkey Washington and Moscow today has elements of both. It is highly derivative in that the major actors across Central Asia from China, Russia to Turkey are very much engaged in a derived power game which has less to do with any specific state and more to do with maintaining Superpower hegemony for Washington. Integral as the de facto motion of various pipeline projects now underway or in discussion across Eurasia hold the potential to integrate the economic space of Eurasia in a way that poses a fundamental challenge to Washington’s projection of Full Spectrum Dominance over the greatest land mass on earth. READ MORE
Eastern States Jostle To Host EU Energy Agency
Romania launched a campaign to host the future European agency for the cooperation of energy regulators (ACER), entering a competition with existing rival bids by Slovenia and Slovakia. EU agencies are decentralised executive bodies, distinct from its institutions, to which a specific task is assigned. READ MORE
Armenia Presses Ahead with Nuclear Power Plant Construction
Armenia is pressing ahead with its ambitious plans to build a new nuclear power station to replace the aging Soviet-era facility at Metsamor slated for decommissioning by 2017. The Armenian government has commissioned an Australian engineering company to manage the project. However, the key question of who will provide the funding needed for the plant's construction remains unanswered. READ MORE
Central European leaders call for unity in the face of crisis
Central European leaders from 14 countries have called for more regional cooperation in the wake of the global economic crisis and for a better distribution of energy resources. READ MORE
The Search For Independence From Russian Monopoly
Lately, the relations between Minsk and Kiev have intensified evidently. It is considered that they are stimulated by the EU program “Eastern Partnership” launched on May 7th and in the end of the project of “Union state”, marked by a scandalous statement of Russian Vice Prime-Minister and the Minister of Finance Aleksey Kudrin about oncoming collapse of Belarusian economy made on May 28th in Minsk. The following harsh and negative reaction of Aleksander Lukashenko guided Minsk to search for new various schemes with other states. And primarily with such neighbors as Ukraine and Lithuania on bilateral and multilateral grounds. READ MORE
Czechs and Slovaks sign nuclear deal
With memories of this winter's gas price row between Russia and Ukraine still fresh, the Czech and Slovak governments are taking another look at the promise of nuclear power. When Slovakia joined the European Union five years ago, one of the terms of accession was that it shut down a Soviet-era nuclear plant by 2008. READ MORE
"Time to break Russian gas habit"
E.ON Ruhrgas executive Jochen Weise claimed the former Eastern Bloc countries hardest hit by January's gas crisis were like "junkies", adding that nations dependent on Russia for their gas supply "had to do their homework". READ MORE
Europe urged to be 'visionary' with Ukraine
Experts from Washington have called on the EU to be more daring and propose closer ties with its large Eastern neighbour. But European Commission officials told that the current mood in Europe was not exactly in tune with such an approach. READ MORE
Astana Drifts Away From EU-Favored Energy Projects, Nazarbayev
Gas and oil supplies to energy-hungry Europe have always featured as the key topic in talks between Astana and EU officials, concerning Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship in 2010. Stifled by the precarious situation in the energy sector, the EU has often ignored the heavy-handedness of the Kazakh authorities in dealing with the opposition press, and has toned down its criticism on the non-compliance of Kazakhstan's laws with democratic standards. In appreciation of western backing for Kazakhstan's coveted chairmanship of the OSCE, Astana invariably showed interest in European energy projects. READ MORE
Gazprom's new weakness offers opportunity
Gazprom has gone from being a great commercial hope to an ailing giant. Gazprom`s owners need to face up to the crisis and institute reforms. READ MORE
