[airstrip1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Colorado-Valley', '
')I'm not sure the U.S. and Britain even know how to play checkers.

[Andrew_S]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('airstrip1', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Colorado-Valley', '
')I'm not sure the U.S. and Britain even know how to play checkers.

[Laurasia]

I wonder how the Chinese are viewing all these political machinations. They seem to have cozied up to the Russians lately (had to put in that warm and cozy pun).

H'm...

L.

[Starvid]

And this my friends, is why domestic (or easily stockable) power supplies are vital.

[RonMN]

This thread sounds like more of the "blame game" that is conjectured to go right along with peak oil.

Keep in mind...i'm not defending anybody...and i'm not blaming anybody (mainly because we all do NOT know what really happened to that pipeline).

I was one of the first to speculate that russia themselves, blew it up...yet this is the kind of indecision (or flawed logic) we can expect from resource depletion...nobody wants to admit it. Some will go to great lengths to keep it secret.

I think we're missing the big picture here. It's DEPLETION!!! There simply isn't enough for everybody and when we see people dieing...we want to blame somebody.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', '.')..I think we're missing the big picture here. It's DEPLETION!!! There simply isn't enough for everybody...

[savethehumans]

Just to verify, nobody's surprised by any of this, are they?

[RonMN]

Nope. I may be saddened, disheartened, and even a bit frightened. But not surprised. It's difficult to see these things comming to pass in such a short time. Only a year ago i was still thinking we had 10-20 years before the shit started flying

[Zardoz]

Europe Heeds Its Gazprom 'Wake-Up Call'

"As political and business leaders gathered in Davos for the World Economic Forum, Poland's prime minister and U.S. billionaire George Soros said the recent disruptions in gas supply meant Europe should find alternate sources."

Ya think?

Europe short of gas as Russia, Ukraine wrangle

[OilBurner]

There's a pattern developing now:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4654632.stm

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hechens freeze as gas is cut off
The gas shortage adds to Chechnya's chronic problems
Gas supplies to parts of Chechnya's capital Grozny have been cut off after an accident damaged a gas pipeline running through the Russian region.

[thuja]

Its interesting to see how Russia is the instrumental deal maker in the Iran crisis. By saying they will enrich Iran's uranium and then return it backfor "peaceful purposes", along with nuke inspectors in Iran, the world can delude itself into thinking that Iran is playing ball and not trying to build a nuke. But really a new geopolitical alliance is forming between Russia and Iran. If anyone applies pressure on Russia in the future, they can blackmail the world by sugesting that they will allow Iran to enrich their own uranium.
At the same time they are already announcing that they have control too much hydrocarbon energy to be messed with.

New alliances building quickly between Russia/OPEC countries to squeeze the West while making new deals with China. At some point Russia/OPEC will do the same to the US as Russia is doing to Georgia right now.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilBurner', 'T')here's a pattern developing now:

...Come to your own conclusions folks!

[OneLoneClone]

Chechens freeze as gas is cut off

at the end it gets interesting

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ''')Sabotage'

Heavy snow has exacerbated the region's problems, blocking roads, isolating entire villages and preventing emergency delivery of wood and diesel to mountainous areas.

Across the Black Sea, Turkey says it is introducing electricity rationing because of reduced supplies from Russia and Iran.

Iran says it reduced its exports because harsh weather had raised domestic consumption.

The North Caucasus pipeline explosions damaged not only energy supplies but also Georgia's fragile relationship with Russia, our Tbilisi correspondent reports.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili called the incident a pre-planned act of sabotage by the Kremlin.

Moscow said his statements were outrageous and hysterical and promised to repair the pipeline and supply additional gas via neighbouring Azerbaijan.

But five days on it still has not arrived, our correspondent reports.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilBurner', 'T')here's a pattern developing now:

...Come to your own conclusions folks!

[cube]

Russia's power is overstated. Sure they may be the world's 2nd biggest exporter of energy but they have already passed peak oil. They have yet to reach peak natural gas so there's potential for growth there. However the way things are going now which nation in their right mind would wish to create a long term energy strategy dependent on Russia's ability to deliver?

On a top 10 scale of nations with the largest proven oil reserves Russia is about in 8th place. How can a nation be in 8th place when it comes to reserves but 2nd place when it comes to exports? Simple, just get a fat straw and suck the oil out faster. Russia may be enjoying its 15 minutes of fame now but it will be very short lived.

I wouldn't worry too much about Russia throwing it's weight around. Every year that goes by they have less "weight" to work with.

[OneLoneClone]

True, but they now have enough petro/natgas dollars to modernise their OTHER source of geopolitical power; enough nukes destroy a continent.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ecently the Russians deployed a nuclear ballistic system that their generals made clear could render US anti-missile defense systems ineffective, according to reports in the European news media.

While Americans and Europeans celebrated the Christmas holiday, the Russian army activated a large number of Topol-M class missiles that can fit nuclear warheads and travel 6,000 miles, while rapidly switching their trajectory in order to neutralize any US- or European-based interception device.

[thuja]

You called it clone- ICBMs that make Russia the scariest nation outside of the US even after they peak and decline. As gas/oil supplies get increasingly tight, they can use their hydrocarbon/nuke position to gain more power, extort fatter fuel contracts and demand greater obeisance from the wider world.

[Starvid]

Russia is a Great power even without its hydrocarbons.

With them Russia becomes the only Great power exporting, not importing, energy. Russia will be the only Great power with energy independence.

That is quite a strong position, no?

[The_Virginian]

Russia wants well paying coustomers, esp. as the she wolf is up and running with the pack again.

[Free]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Georgia strikes gas deal with Iran
Freezing weather worsens Georgia energy crisis

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Suffering through an energy crisis in the midst of an unusually cold winter, the former Soviet republic of Georgia on Saturday said Iran had agreed to provide it with emergency natural gas.

Officials hope natural gas will begin flowing Sunday into Georgia from Iran through Azerbaijan, said George Arveladze, a presidential administration official. Iran has agreed to provide Georgia with 4 million cubic meters daily, which should provide the country with some relief, he said.

...