Posted on 09/05/2008 10:37:12 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Serbian government officials insisted Friday that an energy deal with Russia is of the utmost national interest, but the opposition Liberals described it as humiliating.
The multibillion-dollar agreement envisages that part of a pan-European gas pipeline will run through Serbia, and that Russia will buy Serbia's state oil monopoly, NIS.
Serbia and Russia signed the agreement in January, but it must be approved in parliament before it can be fully implemented.
The deal has sparked criticism from some pro-Western officials in Serbia who have said that the price of €400 million (US$580 million) offered by the Russians for the majority stake in NIS is too low.
Government minister Mladjan Dinkic had said he would try to negotiate a better price for NIS but Serbian media have reported that the idea was rejected by the Russians.
Critics have also claimed that the agreement will enable Russia to fully control Serbia's energy sector and thus make Serbia dependent on Moscow.
Liberal Party leader Cedomir Jovanovic told lawmakers on Friday that terms of the Russia-Serbia agreement were "similar to the colonial era." He said the deal offered no guarantees that the Russians will honor their part of the deal.
"The government has agreed to a humiliating and unequal position," Jovanovic said. "We all know why we knelt before Russia, we did it because of Kosovo."
Russia has backed Serbia in its efforts to maintain its claim on Kosovo, which declared independence in February with the backing of the United States and its key NATO allies. Moscow and Belgrade have refused to endorse the territory's split.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
If the West expected any other possible results, then they are led by fools.
Just ask Germany how thats working out for them. They are now Putins lapdog.
The Serbs gave away their national resources in return for nothing but lip service. You know the Russians would never do anything so stupid. Where is the white knight Putin to come and liberate Kosovo for Serbia? I thought he was going to give the Serbs nukes to wipe NATO off the map. He hasn’t even sent a single soldier? Oh well, I guess he is too busy invading his neighbor Georgia who didn’t even recognize Kosovo independence and sending Chechen muslims in the Red Army to rape and massacre Orthodox Christian Georgians.
LOL! While we are at it lets ask Berlin and Vienna how well standing against Russian expansionism has EVER worked out for them.
I don’t see any Western based corporations tendering any offers.
The Serbs are simply taking sides in the next cold war and they may as well since we already took sides against the Serbs.
U.S./NATO....bombed Orthodox Christian Serbs in favor of Kosovo Muslims.
and now...
Russia supposedly sends chechen muslims to subdue Orthodox Chrisitan Georgians....
It sounds like ...
It's not good to be an Orthodox Christian in those parts....and....
The U.S. and Russia are locked in a dead heat for the title of International Bullies and Dunce's....
Have a great saturday.....
If you don’t like the USA, then you should leave. Go where your allegiance lies and stop stinking up America with your foreign loyalties. I’ll have a great weekend because I’m proud to live in the greatest country in the world.
I love pushing your one-eyed view of the world, turd gunner.
The proposed Russian deal would block a planned tender for shares in NIS. Competing central European energy groups, such as OMV of Austria and Mol of Hungary, have indicated they might pay considerably more for NIS's refining capacity and near-monopoly in the former Yugoslav market, which covers 8m people.
I find that your posts make much more sense if I listen to “Deueling Banjos” while reading them. Keep up the good work!
As far as I'm concerned, Russia's "support" of Serbia over Kosovo is all superficial bullshit.
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