Today's headline in the 'Guardian', "Europe must stand up to Russia says UK"1, doesn't indicate that it is an altruistic "Blighty" lending "Uncle Sam" a helping hand. No, Britain profits greatly from its "special relationship", from its own geopolitical presence in Central Asia, and doesn't hesitate in declaring its hand. Meanwhile, the Germans, less quick to condemn Russia, adopt a very different approach; on opening my webmail this evening I was confronted with an article where Michael Glos, the German "Wirtschaftsminister", proposes building up national gas reserves as an insurance against Russian supplies of gas being interrupted in the event of a political crisis.2 The one country does nothing to calm the situation and, to some extent, pours oil on the fire in the Caucauses and the other holds back in its criticism of Russia, while already thinking about how to insure itself against against being too dependent on Russian gas.
As far as the crisis itself is concerned there is another slant on it, which begs reading and I suggest that those of you who are interested in some sort of credible anti-thesis to the thesis that is being banded about in the West, look at http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopolitics___Eurasia/Caucasus_War/caucasus_war.html
It is all a trifle frightening actually!
1 'The Guardian', Thursday, 28 August 2008
2 http://wirtschaft.t-online.de/c/16/02/87/44/16028744.html
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