{"id":257,"date":"2007-03-07T09:36:48","date_gmt":"2007-03-07T14:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=257"},"modified":"2007-03-07T09:36:48","modified_gmt":"2007-03-07T14:36:48","slug":"german-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=257","title":{"rendered":"German Gas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Language\" content=\"en-us\" \/> <meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=windows-1252\" \/><title>So many enemies<\/title>So many enemies, so little time.<\/p>\n<p>It cannot be easy to be Dick Cheney.\u00c2\u00a0 When your list of enemies gets  long enough, you are inevitably asked to compromise and support the <em>lesser  evil<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For Cheney, the challenge is to keep <em>both<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=210\">Iran and Russia<\/a> in the  crosshairs at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Take Germany, for example.<\/p>\n<p>The German appetite for natural gas makes Russia and Iran attractive trading  partners.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian option is championed by Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream and has  the active support of ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.<\/p>\n<p>As suggested by an article in <em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/globalbiz\/content\/feb2007\/gb20070208_355230.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_more+of+today's+top+stories\"> Business Week<\/a><\/em>, the former chancellor&#8211;now on the Gazprom  payroll&#8211;retains influence within the Merkel administration.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The German ex-chancellor caused a furore at home when he took the  \tlucrative Gazprom job in 2005 just weeks after brokering the pipeline deal  \tat government level. Current chancellor <strong>Angela Merkel has backed the pipe<\/strong>,  \tbut has frostier relations with Russia&#8217;s Mr Putin, once described by Mr  \tSchroeder as a &#8220;crystal-clear democrat&#8221;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>But the ex-chancellor also showed glimpses of the <strong>canny pragmatism<\/strong>  \tthat characterised <strong>his foreign policy<\/strong> while still in power and which \t<strong>continues to function inside the German government in the person of  \tforeign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier &#8211; Mr Schroeder&#8217;s ex-cabinet chief<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The &#8220;canny pragmatism&#8221; mentioned above refers to Schroeder&#8217;s question,  implicitly directed at Vice President Cheney:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<strong>Where are the alternatives to Russia?<\/strong>&#8221; Mr Schroeder asked in the  \tcontext of soaring EU gas imports, mentioning Algeria, Libya, Qatar, Nigeria  \tand <strong>international pariah Iran<\/strong>. &#8220;You have to think if this would be  \tpolitically better than Russia. My view&#8230;is that as far as security and  \tstability of supply goes, Russia is the best option.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Schroeder&#8217;s reference to Iran is not merely an exercise in hypothetical  speculation.\u00c2\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/0,1518,470353,00.html\">Spiegel  Online<\/a> reports that the German energy giant E.on is in talks with Iran to  buy natural gas.\u00c2\u00a0 The Iranian initiative is depicted as a move to break  German dependence on Russia.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>German energy giant E.on has confirmed it is in talks with Iran to buy  \tnatural gas &#8212; although Germany is currently discussing further sanctions  \tover Iran&#8217;s nuclear program with its allies.<\/p>\n<p>Germany has for years been talking about diversifying its natural gas  \tsupplies to reduce over-reliance on Russia. But the solution currently being  \tconsidered by German energy utility E.on may end up being just as  \tcontroversial &#8212; the company wants to buy gas from Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Berlin has become increasingly skeptical about the reliability of Russia as  \tan energy supplier as Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas company in charge  \tof most of Siberia&#8217;s vast reserves, has repeatedly flexed its muscles in  \tprice spats with Russia&#8217;s neighbors. But E.on&#8217;s interest in Iran comes just  \tas the international community is discussing further sanctions on Tehran for  \tits controversial nuclear program.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So, Vice President Cheney: Is Russia the lesser evil?\u00c2\u00a0 Or is Iran?<\/p>\n<p>Cheney&#8217;s answer (like Clinton&#8217;s): <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/0,1518,469857,00.html\">BTC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One can only hope that the gas arrives in time for the American Eagle to free  the German Adler from the clutches of the Russian Bear and the Persian Lion.<\/p>\n<p>What <em>is<\/em> Kazakhstan&#8217;s inner animal, anyway?\u00c2\u00a0 I don&#8217;t remember <em> Borat<\/em> ever having mentioned it&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So many enemiesSo many enemies, so little time. It cannot be easy to be Dick Cheney.\u00c2\u00a0 When your list of enemies gets long enough, you are inevitably asked to compromise and support the lesser evil. For Cheney, the challenge is to keep both Iran and Russia in the crosshairs at the same time. Take Germany, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,25,6,28,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}