Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
Austria, gas and the big bad Russians
Could an Austrian oil and gas group with more than 41,000 employees, some 25.5 billion euros turnover and a presence in more than 20 countries actually be a secret front for Russian gas giants, extending their tentacles of power into Europe?
It could be if you believe Zsolt Hernadi, the chairman of Hungarian rival MOL, not to mention some scary headlines about Russian gas in the British press.
Earlier this week Austria’s OMV sold a 21 percent stake it held in MOL to Russian oil group Surgutneftegaz for 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion), double the amount the stake was worth as stock. The stake was originally bought from … a Russian family Almost half of the stake was originally bought from … a Russian family.
“Suspicion arises … that because the Russian investor bought this stake at exactly the (initial purchase) price, it (OMV) was just a front,” Hernadi told a Hungarian parliament committee.
Three little words that kept Europe in the cold
The difference between Europe having Russian gas as normal and not having it came down, in the end, to three words. They were hand-written next to what looks like the signature of Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Hryhory Nemyrya and they were: “With declaration attached”.
That was enough to undercut a deal hammered out by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency, to deploy monitors along the gas pipeline route — Russia’s condition for turning the taps back on.
The declaration that Nemyrya referred to set out Ukraine’s position in a dispute with Moscow over gas prices. It said, among other things, that Ukraine has no outstanding debts to Russia, an assertion with which Moscow strongly disagrees. Russia said the addition of the three words made the monitoring agreement null and void. Deal off.
Which was a shame, because the two sides came tantalisingly close to turning the gas back on. A few hours earlier, a team of European Union monitors had arrived by bus at the Sudzha gas compressor station in western Russia. They were all set to supervise the resumption of gas flows. They even had a party of journalists in tow to witness the big moment.
This just goes to show that it is the governments of the world that keep failing us. As much as I would love to accuse Russia of being a bully it was the other governments involved that failed to move away from this type supplied gas energy need. If all governments including the US had moved toward the “greener” side 30 years ago the people suffering in these areas now because of the cold wouldn’t be doing so.
So although I do believe Russia is being manipulative we can only put blame on our governments for not realizing the consiquences of oil/gas dependency earlier.
British royalty steps into Central Asia energy diplomacy
Britain’s Prince Andrew stepped into Central Asia energy diplomacy this week, touring the vast former Soviet region and holding top-level talks on gas supplies in remote Turkmenistan.
Western envoys have flocked to Central Asia over past years, hoping to grab a share of its abundant energy reserves – a worrisome trend for Russia which sees the mainly Muslim region as part of its traditional sphere of interest.
Turkmenistan, a long-isolated Caspian nation, has been of particular interest since its new president came to power in 2006 promising to open its doors to foreign investors.
Prince Andrew – who doubles as Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment – sat down for talks with President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to discuss expanding energy supplies to Europe.
Always a marriage of convenience in Ukraine?
He was a suave central banker and she a “gas princess”, a young politician desperate to make her mark. In 1998 Yulia Tymoshenko, now Ukraine’s prime minister, said she knew her destiny lay with Viktor Yushchenko, who went on to become president.
“We understood that we are a team,” she said at that time.
It’s an assertion Yushchenko disputes — a clash of views that has defined this partnership since they overturned a Soviet-style leadership in the 2004 “Orange Revolution” and vowed a modern, Western future for Ukraine’s 47 million people.
Then they stood shoulder-to-shoulder — her revolutionary speeches firing up crowd after crowd, his more academic approach comforting those who feared she was reckless in her pursuit of power.
Can not agree more with Oleg Polischuk. I believe, it’s a correct picture. And it’s also true, it wouldn’t be easy for Ukraine to survive as a democratic and an independent state being positioned between two powers and having such a division within itself. Unfortunately for Ukraine it is too close to Russia and thus in it’s security zone. And that has nothing to do with “Russian’s Imperialism”. It just is. Relationships between Russia and NATO are on a negative side; off course, Russia doesn’t want its adversary even closer to it’s borders. Would you? But it makes especially hard on Ukrainian politicians, whatever group they belong to. It doesn’t leave much room for maneuver. It reminds me mythical story of Phaeton being torn apart by opposing forces. I wish Ukraine and it’s people best of luck on their thorny way.
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Any nation that controls the energy supplies required by other nations wields tremendous power. Given the lack of transparency of corporations, such power in their hands is multiplied.
The great dependency upon fossil fuels that must be imported is an energy delivery/production model that is obsolete. Solar power, wind power, hydrogen cell generators and the lot should be the model for powering 21st century homes, business and industry. Residences can be fitted with one or more of these devices just as manufacturing facilities and warehouses.
Current power grid technology is way to inefficient. There would be great cost in upgrading that as well. Predictably the cost of cleaner electricity on the grid would be to expensive to attract it’s use in most societies. The big power companies are just one more large special interest group supporting oligarchs and the politicians they give contributions to.
We can achieve real energy independence. We should not do it with a big business/big government type of approach.