Monday, July 14, 2014

The KGB's Successors And The 'Greening' Of Europe

According to NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen, Russia’s myriad intelligence agencies, which now include the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the military intelligence directorate, or GRU, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO) are working directly with European environmental groups to fund anti-fracking campaigns. Putin is doing this to slow the spread of the U.S. shale revolution across the Atlantic so Russia can hold on to its monopoly of the European natural gas market. Europe’s energy insecurity – its dependence on Russian gas – has proven to be Putin’s favorite tool of geopolitical blackmail. Until recently, Europe has had little choice but to put up with Putin’s shenanigans, such as turning off the flow of gas through Ukraine in the dead of winter following contract disputes. But the balance of energy power is moving away from petro dictators like Putin, thanks to fracking and surging U.S. production of oil and natural gas from shale. Europeans see U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and U.S. shale expertise as the energy supply alternatives they desperately need. Already, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved seven LNG export terminals. And, shale deposits that have made the United States the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas also lie beneath much of Europe. The Russians may try to slow the development of Europe’s shale resources, but fracking technology cannot be stopped. Shale exploration has begun in Poland and Great Britain; deals with U.S. energy companies have been signed by several eastern European nations, including Lithuania and Romania. So, while it may not happen overnight, Russia’s grip on Europe’s energy supply is beginning to loosen. With his power built squarely upon energy – 52 percent of the Russian state budget comes from oil and gas exports – Putin has been forced to pivot east to Asia for new buyers. Putin can continue to funnel rubles to Europe’s environmental activist groups and hope to slow the spread of the shale revolution. But Russian dominance of the European gas market is on borrowed time...more

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