Cheney puts Moscow to the hardness test

…Cheney was putting Moscow to a “hardness test”. To what extent will Moscow accommodate US business interests in the Russian energy sector? Will Moscow persevere, no matter what it takes, with efforts to be an influential player on the world stage? Will it persist in its present course of broadening and deepening its strategic partnership with Beijing? Will it continue establishing energy cooperation bilaterally with the European capitals as if the trans-Atlantic alliance didn’t exist? Finally, what should be the limits of Russia’s “Eurasian” options?
Cheney’s speech exhibits a high degree of exasperation in Washington that Moscow has somehow outmaneuvered it in recent years. The central issue is certainly energy, a subject close to Cheney’s heart. Some major decisions are in the pipeline, as it were. For the Bush administration with its close ties with the US oil industry, this is a truly defining moment.

..The specter that is now haunting the US is the likely admission of Iran as a full member in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Will that happen at the forthcoming SCO meeting on June 15? Possibly. The only counter that US would have is to go ahead and militarily occupy Iran.

The third big “happening” on the Russian energy front that Washington finds disconcerting is the expected $20 billion initial public offering of Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil company, through the London Stock Exchange. The deal could turn out to be the biggest IPO in history.

The Wall Street Journal reported, “Advisers including Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan took Rosneft president Sergei Bogdanchikov to London in February for a presentation. So many fund managers and analysts turned up that some had to stand through lunch.”

The Journal commented: “The offering, which could come as early as July, would be much more than a financial triumph for the Kremlin … a resounding endorsement of the Kremlin’s drive to retake control of the strategic energy sector in a country that is the world’s top producer of natural gas and No 2 in oil. At a time of soaring oil prices, President Vladimir Putin sees Russia’s energy wealth as a critical source of international influence.

“Less than a decade ago, Russia defaulted on tens of billions of dollars in foreign debt, decimating investors’ holdings and leading many never to return. Now, the Russian stock market is one of the world’s best performers.”

Washington has gone ballistic. American billionaire-financier George Soros (who also funds “color revolutions”) warned foreign investors to steer clear of the flotation. Buying the Rosneft stock, Soros warned, would legitimize Putin’s “authoritarian regime” – and “cement” the West’s growing energy dependence on Russia. The paradox is that Rosneft’s IPO is a positive sign that Russia wants to integrate with the West. But the US does not want this sort of “integration” of Russia with the Western world.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HE09Ag01.html