An excellent article. Russia's lack of own energy production explains the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008. Russia's long term goal is to control the pipes that bypass Russia and deliver the Central Asian oil and gas to Europe through Azerbaijan and Georgia.
That is why Russia is so worried about Georgia joining NATO. Russia will not be able to invade or intimidate Georgia, when it becomes part of NATO.
The accuracy of Owen Matthews' analysis is also evident from Russia's gas war with Ukraine and Europe in January 2009.
Putin system abuses not only neighbors, but also own citizen. North Caucasus is devastated and the local population is disenfranchised. The political oppression is increasingly harsh approaching Soviet times. Politacal assasinations of dissenters and journalists is systematic. The elections are nondemocratic and unfree. The free media is suppressed. Corruption is pervasive.
The West must support Russian democratic groups and free media. The West must ensure security of Russia's neighbors. Putin's Russia may not be trusted.
Russia’s Big Energy Secret
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
Kazakhstan, meanwhile, is booming, and plans to nearly double oil production to 150 million tons a year by 2015. A large chunk of that will be exported to China, through new Beijing-funded routes, or to other markets through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, bypassing Russia."Pretty soon the Chinese are going to exchange their bicycles for cars, so their oil needs will boom. We're happy to have such as a big, stable neighbor just on our border," says Kamal Burkhanov, a Kazakh parliamentarian. "How long should Central Asian countries be locked in by Gazprom's prices? The transit fees they pay us are kopecks."
True enough. For all its pretensions to being Europe's dominant energy supplier, Gazprom has stood on feet of clay. Now that Russia's former vassals are discovering their power, Moscow may have to ditch its trademark energy strong-arm tactics, and adopt a new gas diplomacy.
With Anna Nemtsova in Astana
© 2007
Discuss