Important article by Joaquin Flores …
Some helpful definitions below …
TEP: Third Energy Package
OMV is an integrated international oil and gas company, headquartered in Vienna. Its main businesses are exploration and production of oil and gas, natural gas distribution and power generation, and refining and marketing oil
Alexei Miller
Alexey Borisovich Miller is Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Management Committee of Russian energy company Gazprom, Russia’s largest company and the world’s biggest natural gas producer.
Nabucco project
The Nabucco-West pipeline (also referred to as the Turkey–Austria gas pipeline) is a proposed natural gas pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. It is a modification of the original Nabucco Pipeline project, which was to run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March in Austria. The aim of the Nabucco pipeline is to diversify the natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe, thus reducing European dependence on Russian energy. The original project was backed by several European Union member states and by the United States, and was seen as a rival to the South Stream pipeline project. The main supplier was expected to be Iraq, with potential supplies from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Egypt.[1] The main supply for the Nabucco West was to be Shah Deniz gas through the proposed Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP).
Shah Deniz energy consortium
The Shah Deniz consortium announced today that 25-year sales agreements have been concluded for just over 10 billion cubic metres a year (BCMA) of gas to be produced from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan as a result of the development of Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz project. Nine companies will purchase this gas in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.
The Shah Deniz Stage 2 project is set to bring gas directly from Azerbaijan to Europe for the first time, opening up the Southern Gas Corridor.
Levant
Countries and regions located in the Levant region (Cyprus, Hatay, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria)
Countries and regions sometimes included in the Levant region (Iraq and Sinai)
Entire territory of countries whose regions are included in the Levant region (Egypt and Turkey)
Atlanticism is a belief in the importance of cooperation between Europe and the United States and Canada regarding political, economic, and defense issues, with the purpose of maintaining the security and prosperity of the participating countries, and to protect the values that unite them.
Additional Reading:
Russia and Turkey’s Gas Deal can Save Europe and the World
The Article below on Poland’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) is admittedly from a Russian perspective but informative and interesting none the less. Sometimes we must survey more than one story in our attempts to triangulate on the truth. Of course, this assumes that it is the truth we are after, eh? It is too obvious to me that some just don’t want to be bothered with the truth; and prefer rather to cling to their unexamined assumptions which deserve updating based on the facts on the ground readily available and documented. And it is a demonstrable fact that the Soviet Union built up a lot of ill will in the region and the world with their heavy-handed, authoritarian tactics since the October revolution of 1917 birthed the USSR in 1922, until its dissolution in 1991. Are there still vestiges of the old Soviet guard? Of course, but this sorry history should not be used to blind us of the facts we can prove today. The facts are that the USA has moved closer to the old authoritarian USSR and Russia has moved closer to the old freer USA. Neither are pure, however and require close scrutiny and a watchful eye.
