April 11, 2011
Out of all the countries rocked by revolts and revolutions, one group stands apart. Its members are rich in oil and gas reserves and derive most of their national income not from the taxes levied on their citizens, but from the proceeds obtained from oil and gas exports. This fiscal peculiarity is not restricted to… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
October 27, 2010
Slowly but surely, EU leaders are waking up to the fact that they should take regional security into their own hands and promote a neighbourhood diplomacy which would eventually have to exclude NATO or the United States, but would be inclusive of Russia and Turkey. This is the new geostrategic context in which the Sarkozy-Merkel-Medvedev… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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Energy Supply, English, External Relations, Security , ASEAN, China, E.U., India, Latin America, NATO, oil, resources, Russia |
October 15, 2010
If compared to China, India’s energy strategy is far less successful to date. Although it closely matches China’s (investing in oil assets worldwide, developing oil & gas fields in Iran, joining transnational pipeline projects, signing bilateral supply contracts or developing special relationships with countries such as Saudi Arabia), India’s efforts to diversify its energy supplies… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
October 11, 2010
The Iranian news agency Farsi and Western media have recently reported that Iranian officials are ready to come back to the negotiating table to discuss their nuclear program with G5 + 1 countries (USA, France, Britain, Russia, China plus Germany). According to the same sources, negotiations could begin late October or early November. In the… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
October 8, 2010
In the 19th century, the Suez Canal was the main engineering project meant to facilitate international trade between continents. In the 20th century, the honour went to the US, for building the Panama Canal and thus shortening trade routes by leaps and bounds. In our century, we’re about to witness the launch of the Eurasia… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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Energy Supply, English, External Relations , Asia, Central Asia, China, Kazakhstan, oil, resources, Russia |
October 5, 2010
Over the past few years, China has become a major player in Central Asia’s oil & gas and in Afghanistan’s mining sector. Its investments in the region are an important part of its worldwide FDI strategy. To date, China’s biggest purchases of gas come from Turkmenistan. In 2009 the Chinese president inaugurated a gas pipeline… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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Energy Supply, English, External Relations , Afghanistan, Asia, Central Asia, China, gas, oil, Pakistan, pipelines, resources, Russia |
October 4, 2010
The sovereign debt crisis, which started in Greece, has engulfed Spain, Ireland, Portugal and even Poland and Romania, EU members that are not yet part of the eurozone. The recent Toronto meeting of Western heads of state has sadly contributed to aggravating matters, as it mandated participating political leaders to cut their countries’ budget deficits… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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, Asia, China, France, Latin America, neoliberalism, oil, Romania |
September 29, 2010
Not all parliamentary elections are as important as those in Venezuela, where control of the parliament amounts to controlling the country’s large oil and gas reserves. On September 28 the Venezuelan electoral commission has communicated the uncontested results of the process: Chavez’s ruling party won 90 out of a total of 165 seats, with the… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
If anyone is in doubt as to where today’s global economic clout lies, they should take a look at China’s increased FDI activity in Latin America over the past few years. The energy- and minerals-hungry Chinese economy has determined its state companies to invest in the development and exploitation of oil, copper, iron and other… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
September 27, 2010
Whilst Vladimir Putin concentrates on the state of the domestic economy, minimising the negative effects of last summer’s devastating fires, president Medvedev has geopolitics and trade high on his agenda. On September 22nd Medevedev put to rest the prospect of a Moscow – Teheran axis by deciding not to sell S-300 missiles, tanks, helicopters and… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
