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Open Think Tank Articles
Alexandros Petersen & Ryan R. Miller: Poland and Lithuania can play an important role in advancing U.S. priorities in the “New East Europe.”
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Grigol Ubiria: NATO’s eastern enlargement is too often solely considered from the perspective of Russia’s right to defend its interests on its borders. Little or no attention has been paid to factors forcing former Soviet republics, particularly Georgia and Ukraine, to rush to join the alliance.
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Michaele Schreyer and Ralf Fuecks: Current energy crisis poses a significant threat to international economic and political stability. The current make-up of the EU is ill-equipped to deal with this challenge. The Union urgently needs an institutional reform: a European Community for Renewable Energy which would transform its economy into an energy-efficient system.
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David Francis: Germany is not only comfortable with Russia as an energy partner, it is comfortable with Russia as a strategic partner. This is at odds with the Bush administration, which views Russia with suspicion. Germany’s position has exposed an ideologically divide in Europe.
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Ryan R. Miller: The belief Russia will help the West ease tensions with Iran is wishful thinking. A compliant Iran would be Gazprom’s biggest competitor. Washington should offer the Mullahs EU energy markets in exchange for concessions on the nuclear issue and thus reduce European dependence on Russian energy.
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Mark Brzezinski : President George W. Bush travels to Europe this month to participate in the US-European Union Summit and to visit key partners, including France, Germany, Italy and Britain. These summits are likely to produce joint declarations of “bon amie” and official statements that the drift in the trans-Atlantic relationship is diminished.
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Michael T. Klare: When the Cold War ended, it was generally assumed that the US would henceforth enjoy unchallenged preponderance. But today, military superiority no longer constitutes the decisive determinant of global paramountcy: energy has acquired unexpectedly vast significance.
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J. F. Laurson & G. A. Pieler: Biofuels may be one of the dumber of the grand, well intentioned ideas of this decade. Yet they are here to stay, not just because of the farm communities in Brazil, Europe, and the US, but because of the Zeitgeist that says source-diversification is the Holy Grail of energy policy.
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Richard G. Lugar: We must forge a more productive relationship with Russia. The absence of a collective energy security strategy and the lack of supply diversification will lead to greater fragmentation among European nations and across the Atlantic.
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Marek Swierczynski: Greece and Russia signed an agreement to build the southern branch of the South Stream natural gas pipeline. President Putin’s last victory hardens Gazprom’s grip on Europe and makes any energy diversification projects more difficult. Unless the EU looks at the map and acts.
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Hans-Ulrich Klose: Mistakes have been made on both the Russian and the Western sides. Russia should now be approached as an equal rather than looked down upon or scolded for non-democratic ways.
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Andreas Goldthau: The extent to which Russia’s resources are sustaining the country’s growth and influencing its foreign policy tends to be overstated. Having to adapt to domestic and geopolitical circumstances, and the rules of the global market considerably restricts the Kremlin’s room for maneuver.
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Memo 5: Members of the Atlantic Community are more concerned about the short term consequences than the potential long term benefits of the current high oil price.
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Matt Dupuis: The idea of bringing the production and storage of nuclear fuel under international control is gaining support once again. The US should take the lead in creating a global fuel bank which would make it possible to test countries’ intentions while limiting their access to nuclear technology.
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Maximilian Müngersdorff: Resource-based growth poses a risk to the broader economy. With oil prices hitting record highs, Russia, the world’s largest fossil-fuel exporter, has seen rapid growth. The question is, whether this growth is used to transform Russia into a diversified and sustainable economy.
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Ryan R. Miller: Possible Polish-Iranian energy cooperation puts U.S. policy makers between a rock and a hard place, as America finds itself committed both to isolating the Islamic Republic and supporting Polish efforts to outflank Russia’s Gazprom.
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Josh Busby: I offer solutions on how countries can get from concern about the security consequences of climate change to action on its effects. Expanded support for adaptation and disaster response is needed, with continuing focus on emissions reductions.
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Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger: of the Atlantic Initiative Advisory Board interviews President George W. Bush just prior to the G8 Summit. The President speaks on US-Russia relations, domestic energy policy, and the criticism he has received from around the world.
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Heiko Borchert and Karina Forster : We see hard power as integral to the preservation of energy infrastructure. EU-NATO cooperation is therefore key to preserving this vital element of energy security.
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Global Must Read Articles
Given the interdependence between the economic growth of China and the world, it is necessary to integrate China into the global economy system. ++ One option is the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), which brings US and Chinese policymakers together to expand the bilateral relations. ++ Due to the long consultation that the Chinese government needs for decision making, the dialogue is
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A poll revealed that Americans and Europeans were troubled over the growing power of Russia even before the attack on Georgia. ++ Respondents in Europe and the US were united in concern about the Kremlin providing weapons to the Middle East, Russia’s energy monopoly, and its behavior toward its neighbors. ++ What they don’t agree upon is how to respond to the Kremlin’s new assertiveness;
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Monday, Russia agreed to joint naval exercises with Venezuela and is making its first major maneuvers off US waters since the Cold War. ++ It is not widely recognized, but the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal are vital gates for US energy imports, making them vulnerable choke points for enemies of the US, i.e., a Russian-Venezuelan alliance. ++ Chavez has been buying weapons from
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While some have argued that the recent summit in Brussels proved ineffective, the Georgia crisis has actually drawn the member states closer together. ++ As Europe proceeds, there are important objectives to keep in mind. ++ Europe must focus on energy security and limit its dependence on Russian supplies. ++ Accession must be a viable option for eastern countries, especially Ukraine. ++ And
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The Arctic Circle contains 13 percent of the world’s untapped oil supplies. ++ But a clash of interests between businesses, NGOs, and the five different governments who claim rights to the region’s energy resources is likely to cause a delay in drilling. ++ Existing international institutions cannot deal with the impending disputes. ++ Therefore, an “Arctic Authority” is required to make
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For democracy in Georgia to last, Georgians need to feel we have their backs; the West must impose tough economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia. ++ This conflict demonstrates impotency of the global security order. ++ The West must show Russia it has a greater capacity to sustain a hypothetical new Cold War. ++ It is crucial that the EU breaks the Russian stranglehold on Europe’s
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We only have a few decades before world’s oil supplies start to run out and we have to use that time wisely to develop long-term solutions to the world’s energy needs. ++ To achieve that, the world needs a global energy institution to coordinate political action on the issues of energy and related, e.g. poverty or climate change. ++ Existing agencies such as International Energy Agency or
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Coercive diplomacy is America’s only remaining option as its influence declines in the Middle East. ++ Especially in the case of an Obama presidency, this “changed constellation” in the region calls for India to readjust its strategy. ++ India needs to balance Israel and Syria, and constructively engage Iran. ++ Like China, India should acknowledge the region’s importance for its own energy
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In the 80s Ronald Reagan warned Europe about becoming dependent on Russian energy. ++ With Gazprom supplying over 40 percent of Germany’s natural gas, this prediction is becoming a reality. ++ A question for the future, is whether the EU’s energy liberalization policy - unbundling the wholesale and retail businesses in gas and electricity- will either challenge or assist the
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Sparked by a recent Russian territory claim at the North Pole, a meeting has been called this week in Greenland over the future of the Arctic. ++ In the midst of a decade old rivalry, the US, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark have a huge stake in future development as the region may contain up to a quarter of the earth’s natural resources. ++ Although each nation is committed to a peaceful
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There are three factors underlying the current rise in oil prices: rising global demand, increased costs for oil producers, and the relatively short time span in which supply has yet to adapt to these increased pressures. ++ Timely and efficient investment needs to be encouraged in resource-holding countries to improve supply. ++ However, oil has already reached its break point and is starting to
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Iran, which is the OPEC’s second’s largest exporter, has enough natural gas to alleviate Western Europe’s uncomfortable reliance on Russia’s energy exports. ++ Disputes over pipelines, political blocking, and current US sanctions on capital inflow into Iran stand in the way of exploiting this huge potential. ++ Much depends on the coming elections, both in the US and Iran,
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Although elections for the Senate and the President were held in April, Nigeria’s (democratic) future remains uncertain, writes Dulue Mbachu of ISN Security Watch. According to the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), the first vote was accompanied by violence. The presidential election was calmer, but observers claim more fraudulent. Conversely, the government-appointed election commission
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The rapid rise of China as an economic and industrial power has put new demands on Beijing’s energy policy, reports Erica Downs of Brookings. Once self-sufficient in oil, China is now the world’s third-highest oil importer, and energy security is a clear focus of China’s foreign and domestic policies. As Beijing tries to balance administrative and market mechanisms, there is a struggle to create
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