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by Somewhere in the far north a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker smashes its way to the North Pole. The ship and its companion vessel are research craft and are expected to reach the pole very soon. Once there they are meant to push home Russia's claim to a 1,240 mile long underwater mountain range. The Lomonosov Ridge, which Russia claims is an extension of the Russian land-mass, is thought to be a veritable treasure trove of oil and gas deposits. Having arrived at the designated location, the 100 scientist strong Russian team will deploy two mini-submarines in order to plant a Russian flag on the seabed.
Though largely a symbolic move, it clearly demonstrates Russian President Vladimir Putin's resolve to strengthen his country's "strategic, economic, scientific and defense interests" in the frozen north. The area of the Lomonosov Ridge is currently an internationally administered zone and a previous Russian request to extend its borders to cover the area was tabled by the UN saying more research is required.
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The Bear is Back by PowerPointSamurai :: NR7 :: Show
Before anyone yawns this one off, you should really consider that Russia is the #2 oil producer in the world right now. They are increasingly aware of that and are coiling around every opportunity to gain and exploit that dominance. As I pointed out in the thread about Economics 101 and the War on Terror, one of the lines of operation we exploited to defeat the Soviets in the Cold War was to enlist the aid of the Saudis to keep the price of oil low to keep the Soviets from using theirs to keep their economy on perpetual life support. Now the price of oil is back up again, Gazprom has been thoroughly taken over by the Russian government and they are using it.
There are currently only two two things people want to buy from the Russians--oil and weapons. The same was true during the Cold War. Russia is currently the second largest weapons exporter with a market of $8 billion this year. Freedomhouse still rates their political rights and civil liberties at 6 and 5 respectively out of 7 and an overall rating of "Not Free". This is down from where it had been.
We all have heard in the mainstream media how Russia is using Gazprom to "influence" Western Europe as well...more like extort. This is even more true of the Ukraine, where they were really putting the squeeze on them for falling out of their orbit. The International Herald Tribune had an article on today about Gazprom putting the squeeze on Belarus. The Economist had a 4 minute podcast on the situation in Belarus {4.1MB MP3 file} on 16 November 2006 outlining the situation between Russia and Belarus quite well, and predicted they were going to get extorted by Russia for deviating from them. Basically, Belarus was coaxed into getting cheap natural gas for being a good lap-dog, and then suddenly had to pay a much higher rate for not toeing their line.
The Economist also has a fantastic 4-5 minute podcast on "the new Cold War" {4 MB MP3 file} on 7 Dec 06 which was extremely good, and contrasts the new tensions with Russia with the real, old Cold War. Russia is more "Gazpromistan", an authoritarian capitalist country, than the old Soviet Union.
Most relevant to the discussion at hand here, The Economist has a 5 minute podcast from 23 November 2006 specifically about Gazprom {4.5MB MP3 file}, its corruption, its inefficiency, and its use to lever Europe.
While we are probably safer from worrying about inbound Soviet nukes, I would be a little concerned about hearing Russia declare "checkmate" in the energy sector, especially if I were European. This could be really bad for freedom ratings everywhere.