Central to Vladimir Putin's nationalistic policy is a conviction that the power of the Westis on the wane Photo: REUTERS
Vladimir Putin Threatens Europe Over Energy Supply
-- The Telegraph
-- The Telegraph
Vladimir Putin has warned Europe that Russia's energy reserves will flow to the Far East if the continent's leaders seek to punish his country for invading Georgia.
The Russian prime minister travelled to Siberia to demand that work on a new pipeline to supply oil to Asia is speeded up.
In an echo of the photographs released last year that showed the bare-chested leader in a series of macho hunting poses, Mr Putin posed with a rifle for the cameras as scientists tranquilised a tiger at the Ussuri reserve.
The announcement on the eve of an emergency European Union summit in Brussels on Russia's occupation of Georgia put EU states on notice that Moscow is developing an alternative client base in the Far East.
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My Comment: Prime Minister Putin knows that he cannot threaten nor intimidate Europe through military posturing. The Russian Army is too weak and fractured to be a significant threat to Europe. The only real weapon that they have are their energy supplies.
This dependence on Siberian gas and Russian oil and its consequences were foretold during President Reagan's administration. To stop the project, President Reagan's administration imposed sanctions on the companies that were involved with the Trans Siberian Gas Pipeline project. The Europeans and their American critics disagreed with President Reagan's assessment .... and still went ahead with the project.
If President Reagan were alive today he would be telling the Europeans that "I told you so". I find it ironic. When he was President he was despised by a majority of Western Europeans .... but history has proven him right (again).