Russia
Russia supplies natural gas to much of Europe, and the state-owned gas company can make ridiculous threats because of it. Last year Russia demanded a price increase of over 400%, which Ukraine refused to pay, leaving much of the state in the cold. This winter similar threats have been made to Georgia and Belarus. Russia uses it's power to discourage former Soviet Union, generally pro-Russian states, from going over to the EU and being more pro-European.
This just illustrates the importance of energy independence. Everyone relies on energy, and dependence on foreign nations for these resources just makes energy a political bargaining tool. The US government clearly doesn't like the Venezuelan government, but there's nothing to be done because any hostile action would result in a drastic cut in energy supplies to the US. The more energy we generate at home the less constrained we are in international relations.
This just illustrates the importance of energy independence. Everyone relies on energy, and dependence on foreign nations for these resources just makes energy a political bargaining tool. The US government clearly doesn't like the Venezuelan government, but there's nothing to be done because any hostile action would result in a drastic cut in energy supplies to the US. The more energy we generate at home the less constrained we are in international relations.
posted by Pat @ 11:33 AM
1 Comments:
At 8:56 PM,
Dimka said…
Not all the countries can become energy independent, not they should. Prosperity comes from what they can make in exchange.
Saying that Russia increased Ukrane's gas price by 400% is a half of the story. Their price was artificially lower than market price and was set 5 years earlies when countries were a lot less separated. Nationalistic Ukranian goverment failed to negotiate a good price and Russian mostly private companies want to sell at market rate, yet in Ukrane government was in denial until the moment they had to pay, and then a crisis started.
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