Eurasian energy strategy

The geopolitical agenda of the US's Eurasian energy strategy was spelt out with characteristic bluntness at the same congressional hearing by noted Russia expert Ariel Cohen. There may be nothing strikingly new, arguably, in Cohen's thesis about Russia's "expansionist agenda" reflected in its energy policies, but nonetheless it merits reiteration by way of providing the backdrop to Morningstar's testimony. He was constrained by the norms of diplomatic practice to hold back on direct criticism of Russia, with which the Barack Obama administration is engaged in a "reset" at the moment:
The Kremlin views energy as a tool to pursue an assertive foreign policy.
Europe's level of dependence on Russia for energy is unacceptably high.
Russia's attempts to exclude the US from Central Asian and Caspian energy markets.
Russia is using energy to "re-engage" India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Russia forces neighboring countries to direct their energy exports via its pipeline system.
The absence of a "rule of law" blocks Western companies' entry into Russia's energy sector.
Russia remains disinterested in developing energy ties with the US.

Cohen candidly spelt out the geopolitics. One, European demand for energy is projected to grow further and it could lead to greater dependence on energy from Russia, which has serious implications for Moscow's ties with Europe.
The point is, the US apprehends that Moscow will exploit the growing energy ties to stabilize its relationship with the countries of Western Europe, and that could weaken the spirit of Euro-Atlanticism and incrementally loosen the US's trans-Atlantic leadership...

Ambassador Morningstar in his congressional testimony kept up the diplomatic decorum and neatly sidestepped the geopolitics, sticking to a detailed presentation of the US's Eurasian energy strategy, which he projected as a mix of continuity from the George W Bush era but imbued with new realities. The principal vectors of the US strategy can be identified in the following terms:
The US's intention to be deeply involved in Europe's energy security is never in doubt since "Europe is our partner on any number of global issues from Afghanistan to Libya to the Middle East, from human rights to free trade.
The US will work for Europe's "diverse energy mix" both in terms of its sources of supply and transportation routes as well as the type of energy - " diversity of suppliers, diversity of transportation routes and diversity of consumers, together with a focus on alternative technologies, and renewable and other clean energy technologies, and increased energy efficiency". (The US is entering the European market as a big exporter of shale gas, which competes with Russia's natural gas.)
The US's aim is to encourage Europe to develop a "balanced and diverse energy strategy with multiple energy sources with multiple routes to market". (Read reduce the dependence on Russia which is supplying one-third of Europe's energy needs currently).
The US will encourage and help Central Asian and Caspian countries to "find new routes to the market". (Read bypassing Russian territory and pipelines).
The US will push for the energy sector to be privatized, and to this end, will "create the political framework" in the post-Soviet space within which "businesses and commercial projects can thrive".
The Obama administration's commitment to the so-called Southern Corridor - to bring natural gas to Europe via Turkey from the Caspian and "potentially other sources beyond Europe's southeastern frontiers" - is no less than that of the previous US administrations of Bill Clinton and Bush. The US will actively promote the three separate European pipeline consortia - the Nabucco, ITGI and TPA groups - and is "confident that a commercially viable Southern Corridor will be realized. The investment decisions to make that possible should occur by the end of this year."
Washington pays particular attention to promoting Turkmenistan as a major supplier of gas for Europe via the Southern Corridor.
The US will pitch for the integration of the Baltic states into the European energy market so they do not remain vulnerable to Russian supplies and/or political pressure.
The US will challenge Russia's efforts to get a monopoly hold over Ukraine's energy sector.
Europe should develop a single market for energy so that the kind of bilateral relationships that are developing between Germany and Russia or Italy and Russia or France and Russia do not happen.
Europe should have more focus on shale gas development, which can be a substitute for Russian gas.
Europe should take initiatives for "unbundling the distribution and supply functions of energy firms" so that Russia's leviathan company Gazprom's efforts to penetrate downstream activities can be stalled.

Clearly, the SCO summit meeting scheduled to be held in Kazakhstan next week becomes an historic occasion for the geopolitics of energy. The US congressional hearing in Washington last week was well-timed. The US apprehends a paradigm shift in the Asian power dynamic. The odds are heavily stacked against the US insofar as Russia and China are recrafting their South Asia polices that aim at harmonizing their ties with Pakistan and India respectively within the umbrella of the SCO.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/MF07Ag02.html

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след 3 дни:

Американские законодатели-республиканцы "играют с огнем", думая даже о краткосрочном дефолте по долгам, как о способе добиться большего сокращения государственных расходов, заявил советник китайского Центробанка.

Напомним, что мысль о краткосрочном дефолте, то есть откладывании процентных выплат на несколько дней, поддерживают все больше республиканцев, считающих, что эту цену стоит заплатить, если это заставит Белый дом снизить расходы.
Однако дефолт в любой форме может дестабилизировать мировую экономику и ухудшить и без того напряженные отношения США с их крупными кредиторами, такими, как Китай, предупреждают чиновники и инвесторы.
Вместе с тем, Ли Даокуй, советник Народного банка Китая, сказал, что дефолт может подорвать позиции американского доллара и Пекин должен отговорить США действовать в этом направлении.

"Я действительно обеспокоен вероятностью дефолта США, который, по моему мнению, может привести к снижению стоимости доллара", - сказал Ли.
Как сообщалось, конгресс США препятствует повышению лимита государственных расходов, поскольку законодатели спорят о том, как ограничить дефицит бюджета, который, согласно прогнозам, достигнет $1,4 триллиона в текущем бюджетном году. Министерство финансов США пообещало, что сможет продержаться, не объявляя дефолт, до 2 августа.

http://korrespondent.net/business/financial/1226801-kitaj-nazval-igroj-s-ognem-razgovory-respublikancev-o-defolte-ssha