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| Gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its impact on the energy policy of Poland |
Juraj Marušiak | 08.02.2009
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Poland has been covering the majority, almost three quarters, of its earth gas consumption by supplies from the gas pipeline Yamal. Only the remaining third of raw material supply flows through Ukrainian gas pipelines. Therefore the cut of gas supplies for Ukraine, which the Russian concern Gazprom carried out in January 2009, didn't have such an impact on Polish economy as on other countries dependent on Russian energy material supplies, for instance, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Problems with earth gas supply, however, haven't been solved by the conclusion of an agreement signed by the prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko. Gazpromʼs daughter company RosUkrEnergo (RUE), which fulfilled the task of an intermediary as regards gas supplies for Ukraine, was expelled from Ukrainian market...
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| Repeated dispute over earth gas between Ukraine and the Russian Federation |
| Peter Ševce | 09.01.2009
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Like in recent years, relations between the Russian Federation (RF) and Ukraine ended in stalemate also this time at the turn of years. This yearʼs earth gas dispute has been lasting the longest and is at the same time the most dramatic one. Concurrently, itʼs marked by traditional statements about both sides fulfilling their commitments to consumers and blaming each other. The perfect image of relations is completed by the gas volume flowing into consumer countries because this isn't agreed on contractually. Even supplies have been cut off entirely for the first time in the history of consumer and supplier relations. Both sides simultaneously address the European Union (EU) more often in order to win its favour and make it rebuke the other one. At the beginning, however, the Union was only capable of making statements about mutual economic...
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| Gas power plants as a part of the energy mix of the Slovak Republic |
| Peter Ševce | 17.11.2008
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Recently, there have been several intentions to construct earth gas power plants announced in Slovakia. Among them are concrete intentions as well as preliminary information on their position and output. This development stands for new challenge for the country because their conduction will have to be included in the energy mix and several questions linked with them will have to be solved. The Slovak Republic committed itself within the EU accession talks to shut down two blocs of the nuclear power plant V1 in Jaslovské Bohunice by 2009. The first bloc was shut down on 31st December, 2006, and the second one will be shut down on 31st December, 2008. According to the latest information, however, the Slovak Republic consumed more energy than it generated as early as 2007 and this trend will continue in next years...
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| The legal status of the Caspian Sea |
| Michal Ondrejčík | 16.10.2008
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The legal status of the Caspian Sea hasn't been clearly determined (there's no legal norm referring to the Caspian region) by now and nor has been its geographical status (there isn't even an agreement among experts whether it is a sea or a lake). Although its status isn't precisely defined, we may say that it's the largest water reservoir with tremendous mineral wealth. If we don't take into account convention on its legal status, approximately 60 per cent of which have been already finished, then the legal status of the sea was modified by a treaty system signed between tsar Russia and Persia and also Soviet-Iranian treaties from 1921 and 1940. The Russo-Persian Peace Treaty, which was signed in St. Petersburg on 12th September, 1723, presupposed the provision of military assistance for Iran. In return, Iranian Shah recognised...
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| Crisis in Georgia and its impact on the EU energy security |
| Peter Ševce | 15.09.2008
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Every conflict has various causes, and the participating countries choose the most appropriate form them. It is the same for the 5 day war between the Russian Federation (RF) and Georgia in August 2008. Despite the fact that energy was not in the center of the attention, nor among the named causes of the attack of Georgia on the South Ossetia or the retaliatory reaction of the RF, its presence was felt in the background. Causes leading to the conflict are analyzed also on the pages of DespiteBorders. We are going to focus on the influence of the situation in the Caucasus on the EU energy security. Although energy itself was not a primary cause of the conflict, it became one of the main losers. Georgia is a country that is not significant from the point of view of minerals production, but from the point of view of its transit. The country plays an...
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| War and peace – possible scenarios |
| Pavel Usov | 05.09.2008
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Who started the recent war in South Ossetia and why? Answers to these questions are unequivocal and simultaneously complicated. From many points of view, these answers depend not on the state of our knowledge, but on information sources which we use. Meanwhile, only one thing is clear. The US and Russia are indisputably involved in this small war to the same extent. However, the implications are different. In the case of Russia, war is a permanent condition. Nevertheless, it's not just the condition of the state. It's the historical being of Russia in which there is no place for peace. Solely in the course of the 20th century, Russia took part in dozens of wars in its territory or abroad, in "cold” as well as "hot” ones and in global as well as local ones. Suffice it to say, Russo-Japanese war, later it was "imperialistic” World War...
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| Geoenergy policy of the EU as a possible basis for new geopolitical doctrine |
| Pavel Usov | 08.08.2008
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Irrespective of its economic potential and political prospects, the European Union (EU) remains a weak geopolitical player with plenty of conflicting national interests and geostrategic priorities. These discrepancies cause that all European Council's attempts to set a cohesive geopolitical course and joint foreign policy have failed. The EU cannot exist as a united suprastate whole without this. As long as it's absent, one cannot speak of a state. Geopolitics means the position of a state in geographical and political room. According to F. Ratzel "state functions as an organism attached through a certain part to earth surface and its characteristics emerge from the characteristics of nation and soil.” The state demonstrates its existence only if it identifies itself in terms of a room among other states and reflects itself in the thinking, feelings and desires...
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