Russias President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinas President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai May 21 2014./caption
BY ALEXEI ANISHCHUK SHANGHAI Wed May 21 2014 1:35pm EDT
The long-awaited agreement is a political triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin who is courting partners in Asia as those in Europe and the United States seek to isolate him over Moscows annexation of Ukraines Crimea peninsula.
(Reuters) - China and Russia signed a $400-billion gas supply deal on Wednesday securing the worlds top energy user a major source of cleaner fuel and opening up a new market for Moscow as it risks losing European customers over the Ukraine crisis.Commercially much depends on the price and other terms of the contract which has been more than a decade in the making.China had the upper hand as talks entered the home stretch aware of Putins face-off with the West.But both sides could take positives from a deal that will directly link Russias huge gas fields to Asias booming market for the first time - via thousands of miles of new pipeline across Siberia that form part of the package.This is the biggest contract in the history of the gas sector of the former USSR said Putin after the agreement was signed in Shanghai between state-controlled entities Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).
Our Chinese friends are difficult hard negotiators he said noting that talks went on until 4 a.m.
Through mutual compromise we managed to reach not only acceptable but rather satisfactory terms on this contract for both sides. Both sides were in the end pleased by the compromise reached on price and other terms the president said.
Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping applauded as they witnessed the deal being signed before the Russian leader was to leave Shanghai at the end of a two-day visit.
The agreement came in time for a major economic summit in St. Petersburg starting Thursday. About a dozen chief executives and chairmen of major U.S. and European firms have withdrawn from the forum over the Ukraine crisis.
Putin loyalist and senior parliamentarian Alexei Pushkov who was included on a U.S. list of sanctions imposed in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine said the gas deal showed Russia could not be isolated.
B. Obama should abandon the policy of isolating Russia: it will not work he tweeted referring to U.S. President Barack Obama who has pushed for greater Western punishment of Russia.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller declined to say at what price the deal was struck but sources at the companies involved said Gazprom refused to go below $350 per thousand cubic metres.
That compares to a price range of $350-$380 most European utilities pay under discounted long-term contracts signed in the last two years. Putin said the formula was similar to the European price tied to the market value of oil and oil products. For China the implied price is crucially below the Asian cost of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) an alternative energy source it is developing. Increased gas imports will also help Beijing in its declared war on pollution aimed at reducing its reliance on coal which contributes to the harmful smog shrouding major cities. Another potential sticking point in talks was whether China would pay a lump sum up front to fund considerable infrastructure costs. According to Putin China will provide $20 billion for gas development and infrastructure but Miller said the two sides were still in talks over any advance. The gas will be transported along a new pipeline linking Siberian gas fields to Chinas main consumption centres near its coast. Russia will begin delivering from 2018 building up gradually to 38 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year. Russia plans to invest $55 billion in exploration and pipeline construction up to China and CNPC said it would build the Chinese section of the pipeline. EUROPE STILL CRUCIAL The contract with CNPC does not mean Russia is giving up on Europe. Last year Gazprom supplied western Europe and Turkey with over 160 bcm of gas dwarfing intended deliveries to China. And for their part European consumers cannot easily switch from Russian gas even if they want to. Beyond supplying China with gas via a pipeline the 30-year deal opens up an opportunity for Gazprom to become a bigger player in the booming Asian LNG market a sector it has so far not been involved in on a major scale. Gazprom is planning to build a new LNG plant on Russias Pacific coast near Vladivostok but so far lacks the infrastructure to supply the facility with the amounts of gas necessary to meet demand in the region. The pipeline to China would change this ideally positioning Gazproms Vladivostok terminal close to the leading LNG buyers of Japan and South Korea as well as the rising market on Chinas eastern coast. Shares in Gazprom rose nearly two percent after the deal was announced and were up around one percent by 1520 GMT.
It grows far more convoluted where diplomatically Russia and the U.S. are jockeying to court Irans support in trading oil in exchange for nuclear capabilities. For Obamas purposes Tehran would serve as the eastern force to invade Iraq in case of full-scale warfare with ground troops. In fact the Ayatollah Khamanei ordered the Iranian air force to conduct airstrikes against ISIS installations. But like every detail of serving as a buffer for conflict in potentially catastrophic warfare and genocide the United Nations (UN) has failed miserably to prevent Moscow from conducting business with Irans state oil corporation according to Reuters.
caption id=attachment_7688 align=aligncenter width=500
Workers work at the nuclear plant in the southwestern Iranian city of Bushehr June 22 2005/caption
(Reuters) - Russia could build a second reactor at Irans Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil the Iranian ambassador to Moscow said in remarks published on Monday. Russia could also supply Iran with trucks railroad tracks mini-refineries or other goods to pay for the oil ambassador Mehdi Sanaei told the daily Kommersant under a deal Reuters revealed was being negotiated last month.
Reuters reported Iran and Russia were negotiating to swap up to 500000 barrels of oil per day for goods in the deal that would undermine Western efforts to maintain economic pressure on Tehran while global powers seek to curb its nuclear programme.
In an interview published a day before the six powers including Russia resume talks with Tehran on a nuclear deal Sanaei confirmed Russia and Iran were discussing supplies of a few hundred thousand barrels per day.
Iran could use some of the proceeds (to pay for) the construction by Russia companies of a second unit at the nuclear power plant in Bushehr he said. Russia built the first reactor at Bushehr Irans sole nuclear power plant.
Sanaei said it was possible the oil deal and a broad memorandum on economic cooperation could be signed before August. Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev is to visit Iran in April for talks on trade. Asked what Russia could supply in exchange for the oil Sanaei said the sides were discussing a number of possibilities including the construction of small oil refineries Russian investment in gas fields and supplies of electricity.
TRUCKS TRACKS GRAIN
In addition to the possibility of Russia building a second reactor at Bushehr he said Tehran was interested in supplies of heavy trucks or their assembly in Iran and other items.
Iran is interested in buying a huge amount of railroad tracks from Russia as well as Russian involvement in the electrification of its railways. We are also interested in Russian grain.
Western nations fear an oil-swap deal would badly hurt efforts to forge a permanent agreement ensuring Irans nuclear programme could not be used to make weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. An interim deal was reached in January.
A top U.S. official said this month she believed the oil-for-goods swap would not go ahead in the near future after the United States warned both sides it would make reaching a nuclear agreement more difficult if not impossible.
Sanaei dismissed the U.S. concerns and said Russia should do the same warning that European nations have sent business delegations to Iran and that Moscow risked losing lucrative opportunities if it failed to act fast.
Our Russian friends who have stood by us at difficult moments should have advantages on the Iranian market ... But Russian companies must hurry to get into their niche in our market and not hesitate out of fear of Western sanctions he said.
Russia approved four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme but has sharply criticised additional measures imposed by the United States and European Union calling them counterproductive.
The United States for years urged Russia to scrap its contract to build Bushehr saying the project could help Tehran develop nuclear weapons capability. However a deal requiring Iran to return spent fuel to Russia greatly eased those concerns.
As during the Cold War Moscow opposes what the U.S. supports. Here the U.S. continues to waffle while Putin plays his hand like a heart from Hell. The point the UN has done precious little in mitigating the enforcement of the U.N. nuclear treaty should not at all surprise anyone as it is the global conduit for funding terrorism.
As EU imposes new sanctions on state-owned companies Gazprom and Rosneft invest heavily in Central Asian states.
While Russias relationship with Ukraine has been grabbing the headlines Moscow has been steadily strengthening its foothold in another of the post-Soviet states Kyrgyzstan. In the past few years Russia has written off half a billion dollars of the impoverished Central Asian countrys debt pledged to supply the government with weapons and military equipment and taken over its gas network.The state-run oil giants Rosneft and Gazprom the subject of new EU sanctions announced last week have both invested heavily in new energy projects in Kyrgyzstan over recent years.Significantly Russian influence resulted in the recent closure of the massive US air base Manas outside the capital Bishkek marking the end of American military presence in the region.In essence the losing of Manas marks Kyrgyzstans new era as a Russian client state" said Central Asia specialist Alexander Cooley professor of political science at Barnard College at Columbia University.
Manas was built in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks and served as a base for more than 5.3 million Nato troops serving in Afghanistan. It officially closed in July 2014.
The Kyrgyz side faced significant pressure from Moscow to close the facility" Cooley said.
Acting under a mix of pressure and economic incentives from Russia the Kyrgyz government first tried to evict the US from Manas in 2009. The Americans agreed to raise the annual rent from $17.4m to $60m and the base was allowed stay.But Russia grew increasingly wary of foreign military presence in the region and upped the ante.This time Moscow has effectively used a number of instruments of influence to assert itself as Kyrgyzstans primary foreign policy and security partner" Cooley said.US soldiers prepare to head to Afghanistan from Manas airbase near Bishkek in 2011.In August Russia pledged $500m in financial assistance to Kyrgyzstan to speed up Kyrgyzstans integration into the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union an economic bloc that currently includes Belarus and Kazakhstan. Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the funds will ensure maximum comfort" for Bishkek but did not disclose details what the money will be spent on. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said his country would join the Eurasian Economic Union by the end of the year.Now that the foreign military presence is gone from Kyrgyzstan Russia will now assert itself as the countrys exclusive security patron" Cooley said.In 2012 Russia agreed to write off almost $500m of Kyrgyz debt in exchange for a 15-year extension of the lease for a Russian military air base.Moscow operates four military installations in Kyrgyzstan including the Kant Air Base near Bishkek where 600 Russian servicemen and a number of warplanes are based and a naval test site at Lake Issyk Kul in the Tien Shan mountains.Russia also pledged to supply weapons and other military equipment worth $1.1bn to Kyrgyzstan as part of a bilateral armed forces assistance programme according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.Experts say that with these measures Putin is trying to restore influence in the region that Russia lost when the Soviet Union disintegrated.According to Alexei Malashenko a Central Asia scholar and chair of the Carnegie Moscow Center Russia exerts a lot of power over Kyrgyzstan. To my mind Kyrgyzstan is more controlled by Moscow than other Central Asian states" he said. Kyrgyzstans current president Almazbeck Atambaev sees no alternative to Russian economic and political presence" he added.Anti-government protests that let to the resignation of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in 2010.
Kyrgyzstans gas infrastructure was put entirely under Russian control this year. Russias Gazprom paid a symbolic $1 to take over the Kyrgyzgaz natural gas network in July and vowed to invest 20bn roubles ($521m) to upgrade its infrastructure in the first five years. With this deal the Russian gas giant also assumed Kyrgyzgazs debts of around $40m.This month Bishkek announced that Gazprom would start exploration of gas fields in Kyrgyzstan by late September. Other recent deals include RusHydro a Russian state-owned energy company which began construction on a series of hydroelectric dams in Kyrgyzstan.Rosneft the Russian state-owned oil company also signed a deal in February this year to invest up to $1bn for a stake of at least 51 in Manas International Airport.Last week the EU announced new sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis including restrictions on the Rosneft and Gazprom which will now be prevented from raising capital on EU markets.Kyrgyzstan has many ethnic and cultural similarities with Russia. Almost one million Kyrgyz people are said to work abroad most of them in Russia. Their remittances according to the World Bank make up 30 of Kyrgyzstans GDP.Kyrgyzstan is the only multi-party parliamentary democracy in Central Asia but the political system is under pressure. Two presidents have been deposed by violent revolts since 2005.Mirsuljan Namazaaly a political economist in Bishkek and the co-founder of the Central Asian Free Market Institute said: I wouldnt say that Kyrgyzstan is politically independent from Russia as many laws are just copying the laws from Russia presidents and members of parliament always look at Russia and do what Russia can approve." However he stressed that Kyrgyz people are generally not opposed to Russias influence and that most favour the Russian presence and support in their country.
Intriguingly Biden is the chairman of the Board of World Food Program USA and Director of the Board of the Center for National Policy the Truman National Security and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. As Biden serves on the executive council for Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) he was appointed likely at the insistence of the Obama administration as a mole in monitoring the flow of oil from Russia to Ukraine.
The present Ukrainian government is on Obamas payroll. Recall the crucial detail Burisma is headed by Nikolai Zlochevskyi who held senior posts over natural resources environment and defense in Ukraine. The company has aggressively bought up Ukrainian oil and natural gas leases and companies. As to which tyrant will receive the spoils and token laurel wreath may have been foretold following Ukraine and Russias ceasefire in September 2014 (Reuters).
(Reuters) - Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels reached a ceasefire agreement on Friday the first step toward ending fighting in eastern Ukraine that has caused the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War ended.
The ceasefire deal was struck in the Belarussian capital Minsk along with a deal allowing for prisoner exchanges deliveries of humanitarian aid and the withdrawal of heavy weapons after five months of a conflict that has killed more than 2600 people. Despite some initial shelling in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk after the truce began at 6 p.m. (1100 ET) the ceasefire appeared to be holding. But many residents and combatants were skeptical that the ceasefire could last long or provide the basis for a durable peace settlement. The two sides remain far apart on the future of the region.
Despite the deal European Union ambassadors agreed to stronger sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the war in Ukraine with the measures set to be implemented on Monday diplomats said in Brussels. The diplomats said the EU sanctions - the latest economic measures aimed at Moscow over Ukraine - could be suspended if the truce holds and Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine.
In a detailed op-ed piece Monday Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev painted a grim forecast of Russian economic blockades ahead as Ukraine embarks on closer integration with Europe.
The Ukrainian government has made its choice. And even if our neighbors have a poor understanding of the ultimate price they will have to pay that is their right Medvedev said...
... In plain Russian dealing with Ukraine pragmatically means giving it no quarter. Russias economic approach to Ukraine will get tougher Dmitry Trenin who heads the Carnegie Moscow Center wrote in a Twitter post.
Medvedev wrote that Ukraine has been unhealthily reliant on Moscow for too long; adding that as of last spring Russian orders from Ukrainian companies were valued at $15 billion or 8.3 percent of Ukraines Gross Domestic Product.
Nobody in Ukraine has explained to us or themselves how these orders will be replaced he wrote.
Ukraine remains heavily dependent on Russian natural gas and industries in eastern Ukraine are still tightly intertwined with those in western Russia. Ukraine has had to go cap in hand to Russia recently for electricity supplies as its power plants lack enough coal.
Medvedev also said a closer eye will be paid to Ukrainian citizens traveling to Russia for work an ominous suggestion that this economic lifeline could be drastically tightened.
Ukrainian officials have put a brave face on those veiled threats.
Everything that was possible to cut off has already been cut off by Russia said Valeriy Chaliy deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration...
... U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Poroshenko on Monday to discuss Ukraines financial and energy situation and developments in eastern Ukraine according to a readout released by Bidens office.
Biden said the United States remains committed to working with international partners to ensure that Ukraine will have the macroeconomic support it needs to implement its reform program.
Nobody in Ukraine has explained to us or themselves how these orders will be replaced he wrote.
Ukraine remains heavily dependent on Russian natural gas and industries in eastern Ukraine are still tightly intertwined with those in western Russia. Ukraine has had to go cap in hand to Russia recently for electricity supplies as its power plants lack enough coal.
Medvedev also said a closer eye will be paid to Ukrainian citizens traveling to Russia for work an ominous suggestion that this economic lifeline could be drastically tightened.
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Russian medium nsbc reported in February 2014 the Obama administration and NATO supports Neo Nazi rebel forces as well as Svoboda the fourth largest political party in the Ukrainian parliament.
Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Claims that there are no Neo-Nazis in the Ukraine and the Ukrainian parliament and that the USA does not support Fascists have been rebutted at numerous occasions. Last weekend when the US French British Polish and German backed opposition" seized Parliament with masked gunmen and voted 360 0 to oust the President the White House responded by releasing a statement that praised the constructive work" done by the Ukrainian parliament...
This is the document that John Kerry has just referred to - calling on Jews in Donetsk to register. pic.twitter.com/6s5rnftKJ0
Kevin Bishop (@bishopk) April 17 2014
The documents informal translation is provided below by Paul Nobles.
A leaflet distributed in Donetsk Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register as Jews marred the Jewish communitys Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve) replacing them with feelings of concern.
The leaflet demanded the citys Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own or else have their citizenship revoked face deportation and see their assets confiscated.
The well-regard Novesti medium also confirmed the same reports.
The image below are the known symbols of Nazi-based militant groups and political parties linked to Kiev and the Obama administration.
He was also received by IRI (International Republican Institute) and NDI (National Democratic Institute) the international branches of the two main American political parties and met with democratic Senator Robert Menendez and republican senator Robert Corker.
Menendez and Corker are the two senators who have sponsored the Ukraine Freedom Support Act a bill that will allocate money to provide assistance to Ukraine including the supply of weapons. Radar anti-tank weapons drones communications systems and many other useful things for our army.
Michael Chussudovsky discussed the situation below. He is the head of Global Research.
youtubehttps://youtu.be/TiKO0xCjPgk/youtube
BBC Newsnight featured as its lead story an investigative report on the rise of Neo Nazis in Ukraine.
youtubehttps://youtu.be/5SBo0akeDMY/youtube
Finally Victoria Nuland a State Department official admitted to Neo Nazis fighting amid the chaos of the Ukrainian Spring in Kiev.
Both President Obama of the U.S. and President Vladimir Putin of Russia are playing a dangerous game of chess. The U.S. plans to deploy 100 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into Eastern Europe based in Lithuania as a deterrent to Russian aggression." Russia decided to move MIG-31 fighter jets to the Ukraine border. Lt. Gen. Frederick Ben" Hodges the commander of U.S. Army Europe told reporters of the decision while in Lithuania. During the cold war during the 1960-1990s the U.S. Army had pre-position sites in Germany called POMCUS sites. These facilities house several Armor and Mechanized divisions of tanks(M-60s/M-1) Armored Personnel Carriers (APC M-113s) Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV M-2 Bradley) the support equipment and all the supplies to include fuel and ammo for these vehicles in case of a war escalated with the former Soviet republic (USSR).
Lt. Gen. Frederick Ben" Hodges said that he didnt believe Russia would plan a conventional attack against NATO members states but that its leaders want to create ambiguity and plant the seeds of uncertainty so that NATO members lose confidence that the rest of the alliance would come to their aid if they were in fact attacked" Military Times reported Monday.
Alongside Lithuania the Pentagon is considering Estonia and Poland to house its armored vehicles. We are looking at courses of action for how we could pre-position equipment that we would definitely want to put inside a facility where it would be better maintained that rotational units could then come and draw on it and use it to train or for contingency purposes" Lt. Gen. Hodges said in a briefing from Vilnius Lithuania reported by the Military Times.
Putin certainly did as Sen. John McCain stated following its invasion of the Crimean Peninsula by tearing it straight from the old Soviet playbook. Meanwhile Obama has amalgamated the World War II players of Neville Chamberlain and Joseph Stalin into a contemporary position destined to launch a catastrophic war on the continent. Red Line diplomacy never does one good except when it is a cover for what lies beneath.
The truth usually painful is always stranger and more prophetic than fiction. Since the ruble has collapsed and Gazprom is downsizing the flow of oil will remain dominated by Russia as it matriculates into Western Europe finalizing the collapse of the Eurozone unless U.S. now the largest supplier of oil globally floats the EU. This is the spark necessary to create conditions ideal for war. All that is necessary is an assassination of another Archduke Franz Ferdinand.