Ellen Wulfhorst of Reuters writes that Hillary Clinton, campaigning, ponders Putin's soul.
One of my biggest concerns for US-Russian relations this year is that Russia can easily become a campaign issue, with candidates criticizing their rivals for not being "strong" enough "against" Russia. At the same time, a similar scenario can easily happen in the Russian campaign. Neither side would benefit from such rhetoric.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Russia Becomes an Issue in US Presidential Campaign
Sunday, January 6, 2008
New Kyrgyz Prime Minister, Igor Chudinov
Bruce Pannier of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty wrote a good briefing on Igor Chudinov, the new Prime Minister of Kyrgystan (and the fourth prime minister in a year). Mr. Chudinov, 46, was previously head of Kyrgyzgaz, and trade and industry minister. His appointment sends positive signals to the investment community.
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Update: Iran Believes Turkmen Gas Cut-Off Due to Pricing Dispute
Zahra Hosseinian of Reuters posted an update that quotes Reza Kasaizadeh of Iran's state gas company saying "They believe that, as they increased the price of gas they export to Russia, they should raise the price of gas they export to Iran."
No word from the Turkmen side, except to say that the cut-off is due to technical reasons.
EDF and PricewaterhouseCoopers have won the tender for study of the Kambarata hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan
PennWell's Power Engineering Online reports that Electricite de France and PricewaterhouseCoopers have won the tender for an investment study of the Kambarata-1 and Kambarata-2 hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan.
The project is sponsored by Russia's RAO UES. No word on the ultimate destination for the power generated by the project, but it would make a big increase in Kygyzstan's hydroelectric production.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Turkmenistan lifts 10-year ban on buying and selling foreign currency - International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press reports that Turkmenistan lifts 10-year ban on buying and selling foreign currency. This is another sign that, slowly, Turkmenistan is starting to open up their society.
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Analysis of Central Asia/Caspian Energy Market in 2007
John C.K. Daly of UPI wrote International Security - Energy - Analysis - UPI.com, which summarized the state of Central Asia/Caspian's energy markets.
He contrasted the success of Russia in convincing Turkmenistan to develop additional pipeline capacity through Russia (a move which occured "despite the visit of 16 high-level U.S. negotiators in the wake of Niyazov's death") with Russia's failure to make inroads in the BTC region ("It is notable that no Russian firms are involved in the project and that Western concerns receive 75 percent of BTC's revenues.")
In a Car, a Lesson in Russian-European Trade
Judy Dempsey wrote a good article, In a Car, a Lesson in Russian-European Trade - New York Times. She uses the example of Skoda, a mid-priced car company (based in Czech Republic, now owned by Volkswagon), to illustrate the growth of bi-lateral trade between Russia and its former Eastern European satellites.
I remember many years ago, asking a college professor (around 1980 and the time of imposition of marshal law in Poland) about the integration of Eastern Europe's economies with that of the Soviet Union. He said that, even if the Soviet Union granted full freedom to the countries of Eastern Europe, they still would be dependent on the USSR for their markets and materials. It seems that, during the 1990's, countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) did everything they could to distance themselves, economically, from Russia. Now that the economies of Eastern Europe have developed and matured, since they joined NATO and the European Union, they seem to be more attracted to what amounts to their natural markets and trading partners.
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