“Even the leaders were unsure about what they would do next or how to avoid fatal missteps. Each side called on its intelligence services to supply that knowledge.”
The quote is from an article by Markus Wolf and Tennent Bagley, two icons of the Cold War intelligence community with opposing ideologies writing in 1997 in the Los Angeles Times as a team about how in August, 1961 construction of the Berlin Wall surprised the best and the brightest in the West.
They wrote a review of...
... producer Kazakhstan by a big margin, which could be considered dumping by the World Trade Organization. But the uranium club doesn’t play by WTO “dumping” rules.
According to nuclear and mining trade publications Russian energy giant Gazprom and around twenty other international firms, including German operators, are active in mining or holding stakes to mine uranium in Niger. But the dominant organization is Areva.
Areva revenue last year was reported at around $13 billion, but ...
... Russia for Europe’s economic problems when it controls only 30 percent of the Euro market. After all, it’s Russia’s gas to sell on the free market. Instead of talking to a European analyst or a representative of a Russian firm like Gazprom, the writer of the Monitor story sourced David Goldwyn, a former special envoy for international energy affairs under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Washington ally Norway has just overtaken Russia as Europe top LNG provider,...
New Energy Realities
The U.S. shale revolution and global economic crisis have drastically changed Russia's natural gas market, with independent companies building up production, purchasing new assets and making new deals with Gazprom's former and current clients, all this against the backdrop of the giant's declining financials. Independent actors are also eager to obtain export licenses. Should certain conditions be met, liberalized exports would certainly serve Russia's ...
... Forward". Moreover, in the last decade, LUKoil has shown a steady upward trend in the respected Platts Top 250 Majors Ranking, where today it ranks 11th. It is quite a remarkable rank considering that it is directly below Rosneft and near to 5th placed Gazprom. It shows that gigantomania is not key to success as efficiency still strikes true, with 10th ranked Rosneft not performing much better even though it is now the worlds biggest oil company by output. An interesting statistic shows that Rosneft ...
... the region, as these special relations have been severed, so now any future relations will be priced on the basis of a deficit market. The question remains open, is the trade-off worth it?
Energy Weaponry Myth:
Pathological fear does exist, that Gazprom may in some way use its power to influence Europe as a dominant supplier. However, in reality, if we look retrospectively there are no real precedents to Gazprom applying its power, there were some threats issued, but not real actions. Also, it ...
... and reliable partner. Hence, I think it is time for both sides to calm down, not dramatise and discuss the issues in a pragmatic way as both have real concerns.
As for immediate issues, it is important not to draw quick conclusions. For example, the Gazprom anti-monopoly investigation by the EU is not unprecedented, as for instance Microsoft was also investigated with huge fines being dealt. This is a normal part of the European process. However, the ‘Third Energy Package’ with its ‘unbundling’ ...
Dr. Adrian Pabst is a political theorist and a theologian. He is a lecturer in politics at the University of Kent and a visiting professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lille (Sciences Po). His research concerns capitalism, religion, ethics, civil economy, European Union and wider Europe like Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. He is an Associate Editor of the journal TELOS and Fellow of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. In 2012 Dr. Pabst was appointed a Trustee of the independent non-partisan...
... ¼ of Russia’s oil and gas proven reserves, but these regions are extremely underdeveloped making casing, extraction and transport difficult. Key gas fields, like Kovykta, are isolated by taiga or encircled by canyons – these are not Gazprom friendly areas due to a lack of piping expertise. Besides technical issues, political factors have also strained development. Like the 10 year dispute amid TNK-BP, Interros, Gazprom and other stakeholders, but a light at the end of the tunnel ...
... Jinping visit did not generate outright deals, and it appeared that the mass media was right to dampen expectations towards only possible conclusions around the end of 2013 (See: FoxBusiness). The most recent negotiations have lasted since 2004, when Gazprom signed a cooperation deal with its Chinese counterpart for up to 68 bcm of gas (See: Bloomberg). This was a sizeable figure for China, as it is an emerging player in regards to this fuel type; although it currently adds up to a small portion of ...
