“The owl of Minerva flies at dusk”, the philosopher Hegel, wearing only a false moustache and flapping his arms, liked to whisper conspiratorily to terrified passers-by.
(No wonder his last words were: "Only one man had ever understood me, and he didn't understand me”. But I digress.)
Just so, I am having a very difficult time getting to the bottom of what's really going on with Russia and energy at the moment.
First, there is the whole TNK-BP saga unfurling in Moscow.
TNK-BP is a Russo-British joint venture oil giant currently in the throes of a major boardroom battle.
Some assert that the billionaire Russian shareholders want to buy out the British and sell the company off to Gazprom. At the same time, Russian officials have publicly stated that it would be a bad idea. What's behind all of this?
Then this morning, the Wall Street Journal carried a long and detailed essay about the Great Game between competing EU and Russian gas pipelines.
I am doing some research and digging through my old thesis notes to make something of all this, and hope to post something resembling an analysis very soon.
Although, if old Hegel was right, and the state of man's mind conforms precisely to the state of the world as he views it, then it might take me a little longer.
ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS? PLEASE SHARE THEM HERE!!
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
