Putin Squeezes U.S. Oil Companies

[Carrera]

A few days ago, George W Bush took a swipe at Vladimir Putin whom he accuses of undermining freedom and democracy in the Russian Federation.
What Bush was referring to more than anything else was oil. Basically Putin took the decision to assert Kremlin control over Russian oil reserves. Essentially this means that U.S. companies have been squeezed out of the Russian oil market somewhat since it's now Rosneft that controls most of the oil (and Rosneft itself is under Krelmlin control). What Putin seeks to do is exploit Russian natural resources and supply China with oil in the future in order to boost Russia's struggling economy. He figures that Russian production and industry is still too far behind the West and China to drive the overall economy so oil and gas remain the best means of catching up with Europe and the U.S.A.
All this amounts to is really nationalisation of resources and more control over the free market. Bush obviously doesn't like what's happening in Russia one iota but it's incredible how he claims to be concerned over issues of human rights in Russia now oil has become a factor. Funny how nothing was said about the oligarchs under Yeltsin when the latter also attempted to control the press and media. So long as Yeltsin deal with western companies, he could do as he liked with regard to democracy.
The truth is Putin's policies have been designed to prevent foreign companies exploiting certain weaknesses within Russia's fledgling market economy and may also be seen as retribution for Bush's and Europe's meddling in the Ukraine (Russia and Ukraine have been historically linked for centuries and Krushchev himself was Ukranian, not Russian).
As for Bush's claim that Russia is abandoning democracy, this is an exaggeration. Even though Putin has tried to muffle any criticism of his policies in the Russian press and media, he can't realistically control the free internet within the country and Russians still have, more or less, the same rights as Europeans. The idea that Russia would drift back into Stalinism is ridiculous since modern Russia has very little in common with the days when dissidents were sent to labour camps, people couldn't travel or own private property.
Yes, of course, it's true there are significant problems concerning freedom of political expression and the free market in Moscow but, in the long run, Putin is probably right to protect his own less competitive companies from foreign competition and bloodsuckers who would fill foreign bank accounts with the money from Russian oil revenues (at the expense of many impoverished Russians)

 

[Carrera]

Looks like the deal for Russia to supply Iran with fuel for its nuclear power station will go ahead. It also seems Middle Eastern countries want to see more Russian involvement in the region as a whole.
Certainly if either the U.S. or Israel decide to bomb Iran's power plant, it will create division in Europe with possibly France and Germany leaning more towards Putin in any diplomatic dispute that may arise.

 

[FredC]

Looks like the deal for Russia to supply Iran with fuel for its nuclear power station will go ahead. It also seems Middle Eastern countries want to see more Russian involvement in the region as a whole.
Certainly if either the U.S. or Israel decide to bomb Iran's power plant, it will create division in Europe with possibly France and Germany leaning more towards Putin in any diplomatic dispute that may arise.

All good fun. George goes home and tells the Merkins he's got it all sorted, the Upeon leaders have taken notice and he's threatened Putin to boot.
No sooner is he back in the dogs home and Putin says Russia is continuing to help Iran build a nuclear electricity producing plant. Well this is completely the opposite of the nuclear plant in Israel at Dimona which was never built to produce electricity, but only weapons grade plutonium.
Rosneft and Sibneft have been paid up front to supply China with oil barellage until 2010.
Nothing Putin has agreed contravenes any international agreements regarding nuclear reprocessing facilities.
I think that we, in Europe have greater diplomacy than the Merkins could ever dream of.
North America is becoming an isolated island.

 

[Carrera]

I can certainly understand Putin being angry over Ukraine. Although Yanukovich won the first election due to fraud, the Americans and Europeans wasted no time calling foul and pushing for a fresh election. But in the second election, the older, ethnic Russians who were too old to get to the polling station abstained from voting, so Yushenko finally won. And Yushenko seeks to pull Ukraine away from Russia to the European sphere.
It's important here to grasp how this makes the average Russian feel. Russia has already lost Kaliningrad to the E.U. as well as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. As well as Georgia, now Ukraine itself is being enticed away from the Russian sphere. Yet, Russia lost millions of men and women in the second world war to defend occupied France and free Berlin from ******. Gorbachev did a heck of a lot to allow Germany to reunify and even encouraged the process.
I believe there will come a point when Russia will decide enough is enough and start to act in a way that won't help either the U.S. or the E.U. (by seeking alliances with China, India and Iran.
Little wonder Putin looked like thunder when Bush had a dig at his country and claimed it wasn't a democracy. This is after Putin granted U.S. troops access to former soviet territory after the 9/11 attacks and helped Bush every way he could.
Personally I don't see Putin as a bad guy and am sure he needs to do more to make Russia more democratic. Even so, Russian people are reasonably happy with Putin and seem to prefer him by far to Yeltsin whom they hated at the time.

All good fun. George goes home and tells the Merkins he's got it all sorted, the Upeon leaders have taken notice and he's threatened Putin to boot.
No sooner is he back in the dogs home and Putin says Russia is continuing to help Iran build a nuclear electricity producing plant. Well this is completely the opposite of the nuclear plant in Israel at Dimona which was never built to produce electricity, but only weapons grade plutonium.
Rosneft and Sibneft have been paid up front to supply China with oil barellage until 2010.
Nothing Putin has agreed contravenes any international agreements regarding nuclear reprocessing facilities.
I think that we, in Europe have greater diplomacy than the Merkins could ever dream of.
North America is becoming an isolated island.

 

[Carrera]

Just heard a report that the U.S. has set up a base in Georgia, according to the Russian Minister Of Defence Sergey Ivanov. This has upset the Russian government somewhat and is linked to a demand made to Russia on behalf of the Georgians to move Russian troops out of the former Soviet Republic. It's a question of the Georgians having elected a pro-American Prime Minister who would prefer for Georgia to cut its ties with Moscow - something Putin is reluctant to follow through. So far, the Russians have refused to budge.
There has even been a suggestion there could be Russian military intervention in Georgia, although this isn't likely.
In The Mail last week, Simon Heffer predicted the last summit in Bratislava could well have been a turning-point to a return of a new cold war. Russia is now determined to consolidate links with Iran and has even sold a defensive missile system to Syria (possibly with more to come).
If Simon Heffer is right, it will be interesting to see how Europe swings if Putin decides to confront Bush and frustrate the neo-cons by selling arms systems to Middle Eastern countries.
Russia has traditionally always supported the Arab States as opposed to Israel and had backed Egypt durinh the war with Israel. India is also a strong Russian ally.

 

[FredC]

Just heard a report that the U.S. has set up a base in Georgia, according to the Russian Minister Of Defence Sergey Ivanov. This has upset the Russian government somewhat and is linked to a demand made to Russia on behalf of the Georgians to move Russian troops out of the former Soviet Republic. It's a question of the Georgians having elected a pro-American Prime Minister who would prefer for Georgia to cut its ties with Moscow - something Putin is reluctant to follow through. So far, the Russians have refused to budge.
There has even been a suggestion there could be Russian military intervention in Georgia, although this isn't likely.
In The Mail last week, Simon Heffer predicted the last summit in Bratislava could well have been a turning-point to a return of a new cold war. Russia is now determined to consolidate links with Iran and has even sold a defensive missile system to Syria (possibly with more to come).
If Simon Heffer is right, it will be interesting to see how Europe swings if Putin decides to confront Bush and frustrate the neo-cons by selling arms systems to Middle Eastern countries.
Russia has traditionally always supported the Arab States as opposed to Israel and had backed Egypt durinh the war with Israel. India is also a strong Russian ally.

If Simon Heffer is right I'll boil my boots and eat 'em. He's the worst journalist ever to carry a NUJ card.

 

[Carrera]

I think Simon H is still pretty much to the left of Melanie Philips. In fact, I think even Condoliza Rice must seem like a rampant, left-wing hippy compared with Miss Philips.

If Simon Heffer is right I'll boil my boots and eat 'em. He's the worst journalist ever to carry a NUJ card.

 

[Carrera]

The situation regarding Putin's Russia isn't really so difficult to understand. In fact, although the Russian economy is doing really well under Putin (especially now the price of oil has risen), Putin has real problems ahead with respect to the stability of Russia as a whole.
These days former USSR republics either want to be allied to Europe or maybe the U.S. This is the situation in Georgia, and now the Ukraine is maybe aspiring to E.U. status.
Added to that you have the advent of foreign oil companies who want to become established in the Caspian region.
So, what Putin did was privatise Russian oil companies to stop private company directors cutting deals with foreign investers who might wish to compete with Lukoyl e.t.c.
The reason Putin has alarmed the U.S. and Europe is because:
(1) Oil has been brought under Kremlin control and the State is planning to sell crude oil chiefly to China and India. It's called protectionism in politics.
(2) Putin won't pull Russian troops out of Georgia in spite of political changes within Georgia itself.
(3) Principally, Putin has stifled political opposition since he believes the country needs a strong leader as opposed to the system under Yeltsin which was more democratic, but chaotic. Strangely enough, Gorbachev is openly backing Putin.
(4) Europe backs independence for Chechnya but Moscow fears if Chechnya defects, the whole country could break apart.
The question is whether Putin will succeed in his ambition to restructure Russia as a superpower or whether more and more territory will be swallowed up by the E.U.