Posted on 01/26/2007 11:36:24 AM PST by george76
Critics say hardball tactics could come back to haunt Moscow.
Alexander Medvedev went to Davos with the tall task of convincing European leaders and others that they have nothing to fear from the state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The company enraged European leaders earlier this month when it temporarily shut off the flow of oil through a key pipeline due to a dispute with Belarus. The move came a year after it had similarly clamped off natural gas supplies due to a dispute with Ukraine.
"I'd like to assure all of the people in this room there is no reason to be afraid of Gazprom," ...
"In reality, Gazprom is a guarantor of the security of supply," Medvedev said in the panel discussion Thursday night.
And Medvedev has repeatedly made clear he sees no reason to apologize.
But critics say Russia could eventually come to regret a series of heavy-handed energy moves if oil prices fall. There's Sakhalin-2, a $22 billion oil-and-gas project initially led by Royal Dutch Shell. Shell.
The company and its Japanese partners were forced to give up half of the project, receiving $7.45 billion for their trouble.
The Sakhalin-2 grab was compared to a de facto nationalization of the project.
The Kremlin has played hardball with other energy producers as well, with the government seizing the assets of local producer Yukos; opting to go it alone in developing the Shtokman natural-gas field in the Barents Sea; and blocking Exxon Mobil Corp.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
...not.
Communism only has one method of foreign policy or military tactics.
Brute Force. Its the only way they attempt to solve any problem and why the Russian economy will continue to be a one trick pony.
But I've looked into his soul....
just kidding.
the Russian economy will continue to be a one trick pony.
If that's not a trustworthy face, then I'm not the king of Spain...
Not quite one trick. They have any number of mineral and forest tricks to play. Their larger problem has to do with demographics. The abortionists are going to do what the French and German armies couldn't.
Russia is stuck with resource sales : oil, gas, coal, lumber, etc. sales.
They do sell vodka, fish eggs, military, nuclear , and their mafia crime stuff...
But the birth and abortion rates are destroying Russia long term.
We would even not buy a used car from him.
If you're in the Northeast & need to fill-her-up,do not use the LukOil brand since the profits head right back to Putin's Moscow.
Warn everyone else about Putin's Petrol.
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