Pipeline deal strengthens Russian grip on Europe’s gas supplies – Sunday Business Post
March 2nd, 2008
At gas terminal in Ukraine (BBC)
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/02/story30892.asp
Russia notched up major success in its quest to establish a strategic stranglehold on gas supplies to western Europe last week.
Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany met outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last Thursday, inking a deal to allow Russia’s Gazprom to extend a pipeline, already set to cross Bulgaria and Serbia, into western Europe.
The Serbian agreement was part of a package where Gazprom gets a controlling stake in Nis, the Serbian national oil company, in exchange for Russia backing Serbia’s opposition to Kosovar independence in the UN Security Council.
Alex Brideau of business risk analysts Eurasiagroup, told The Sunday Business Post that Russia’s policy was ‘‘guided primarily by the desire to maintain the country’s position in the natural gas business in Europe over the coming decades, given its importance to Gazprom and the overall economy’’, rather than based directly on Kosovo. (more…)
Serbia, ally reject sovereign Kosovo – The Washington Times
February 18th, 2008
Kosovo Polje monument, marks the spot where Serbs were defeated by invading Ottoman Turks in 1389, leading to 500 years of Muslim rule (Simon Roughneen)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/FOREIGN/79901165/10PRISTINA
PRISTINA Kosovo — Birth pangs from the emergence of the world’s newest nation reverberated yesterday from New York to Moscow as Serbia and its ally Russia rejected a unilateral declaration of independence by the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosova.”
The gambit did little to dampen the jubilation in the streets of Pristina, where red-and-black-clad celebrants waved U.S. and Kosovar flags, exploded firecrackers and ate from an enormous cake intended to feed 30,000 people.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci issued his proclamation at midafternoon, using the Albanian-language spelling for the longtime Serbian province. The parliament followed quickly with a unanimous vote of approval as tens of thousands gathered outside.
Serbia, however, rejected the loss of a province it considers its historic heartland, and its ally Russia asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.
Seven Western countries — Belgium, France, Italy, Britain, Croatia, Germany and the United States — jointly announced after the closed-door meeting that the council was deadlocked.
“We regret that the Security Council cannot agree on the way forward, but this impasse has been clear for many months,” said Belgian Ambassador Johan C. Verbeke, speaking on behalf of the seven. (more…)
Russia Needs to Rethink North Caucasus – OCGG
October 1st, 2004
http://www.oxfordgovernance.org/fileadmin/Publications/SR001.pdf
by Simon Roughneen
Memorial to the victims of Beslan (epa)
No government should negotiate with child-killers. Without getting into any theological or ethical argumentsabout the relative value of one human life over another, shooting and blowing-up schoolchildren is a step beyond the pale, a taboo that defies any attempt at dispassionate afterthought. Russian President Vladimir Putin has legitimate reasons not to negotiate with the architects of Beslan – and has even greater reason to pursue rebels militarily.
However, this does not mean that the Russian president must ignore any openings to alter Russian policy in Chechnya – and the rest of the north Caucasus region. Years of human rights abuses, indiscriminate attacks, and abductions of those suspected of rebel connections, the cherry picking of Presidential candidates by Moscow, flawed elections and the total absence of due process surely allow for some revision of how Russia deals with Chechnya. Perhaps even more so now given that Moscow has military control over most of the republic, bar the mountains, and has air and artillery supremacy over the rest. However, Putin, linking Russia’s conflict with Chechen rebels to the international war on terror, shows no signs of revision of policy. (more…)
