As the geopolitics and technology of natural gas continue to change rapidly—with such developments as shale gas production and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) transport—the European community would do well to consider the strategic value of supply diversification. Crises in 2006 and 2009, both the result of intentional supply decreases from Russia, highlight the risks of overdependence on any one source for this vital commodity. But overreliance on Russia is not the only possible source of distress for the European market: from environmental concerns to instability in other potential supplier nations, every natural gas supply comes with its own set of challenges and risks. For this reason, an “all sources” strategy for natural gas production (one that spreads the risk and minimizes the impact of a reduction in any one source of supply) should characterize the European approach in years to come.
The following is a guest post by Ansis Spridzāns and Valentina Gevorgyan. In 2008, Latvia, as a result of deteriorating economic conditions in the world and an international financial crisis that led to the collapse of the world’s second largest bank, faced an economic crisis. Although the reasons and the scale of events were different, we […]
Andrew J. Shapiro, the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, has been making the rounds lately, speaking on the subject of pirates (not the intellectual-property kind, the old-fashioned kind). Addressing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce one week and the Center for American Progress the next, he adjusts his emphasis just a tad (a […]
President Obama’s recent open-mic gaffe while speaking with Russian President Medvedev prompted Republican Presidential contender Mitt Romney to declare, “It is always Russia, typically with China alongside, and so in terms of a geopolitical foe, a nation that’s on the Security Council, that has the heft of the Security Council, and is of course a […]
Despite many promises from the international community that the “Friends of Yemen” would help this poorest country of the Arabic Peninsula to jump start its battered economy after having endured a catastrophic years in terms of the meltdown of its financial institutions, its industry sector, its currency and its dire humanitarian situation. With a chronic […]
Wide speculations about the possibility of military confrontation with Iran and Israel’s military intentions seem to be the order of the day. The debate on Iran has now found its way from mainstream media to leading academic institutions. Earlier this week at the University of Toronto a panel of experts discussed the increasing tensions between […]
The world has found a way to strike back at Syrian President Bashar Assad: they have slapped travel sanctions on his London-born wife, Asma, to thwart her addiction to luxury shopping. One year into Assad’s churning assault against various opposition groups, stopping his wife from shoping in Europe is one of the few things the […]
Last Friday, March 23rd, I attended a special event titled “Water: The Global Challenge For Our Future” at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs on the occasion of World Water Day 2012, held annually on March 22nd. This year’s theme intended to draw attention to the relationship between water and food security. As the Food and […]
The rising tensions over the Iranian nuclear program presents an opportunity to review just what the program’s status is. There has been controversy over assessments of the program for years, with the U.S. intelligence community arguing (since the National Intelligence Estimate published in late 2007) that Iran worked on developing a nuclear weapon prior to […]
In 2011 Jack Layton, the left of center leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, changed the political landscape of Canada by campaigning for his party’s position as the third party in the Canadian political system. The New Democrats, known as the NDP, always was Canada’s third party behind the Conservative Party and Canada’s natural governing […]
NATO summits have always been exceptional events. In fact, some of the most recent ones went down in history for both positive and negative reasons. The one to be held in Chicago will be no exception, especially as it will be the first NATO summit in the United States in 13 years. Central Europe, with the Baltic States included, is one of those regions in the transatlantic sphere that in particular awaits summit’s outcome. Indeed, being a hingepoint on the Euro-Atlantic fringe – with deep uncertainties about America’s long-term regional commitment in the face of politically unpredictable or military muscular neighbors – makes you long for clear declarations. Will the NATO summit in Chicago bring any security affirmations to the Central European states?
As we’ve heard far too many times from Iraq, “the situation is bad, and we’re expecting the worst.” To update the piece I wrote back on March 7th regarding the targeted killings of members of the LGBT community in Iraq, the violence has metastasized. Now the victims are “emos,” a term once reserved in the […]
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