Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Ukraine, another war over energy supplies?

Underneath most conflicts the West has been involved in over the last quarter of a century, there's oil and gas involved, one way or another. Only that kind of old-fashioned imperialism is a bit of a hard-sell these days, so it all gets disguised as being about noble causes; human rights, freedom  or democracy.

 Chevron has signed a 50-year lease to develop Ukraine's shale gas reserves which may have stoked Russian fears about losing its influence on, and a major gas market in, a former satellite. The International Business Times explained  "Chevron's agreement with Ukraine was supported by the US as part of its national security strategy to help reduce Russia's hold on Europe and Kiev."
It quoted US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said, "I'm very determined to cooperate with the Ukrainian government in strengthening Ukraine's energy independence."

The truth is that America's long-standing policy is to help people anywhere and everywhere when those people just so happen to be living on or near valuable resources. Unless, of course, it's Bahrain, Nigeria, Kazakhstan or anywhere else repressive and corrupt governments are already dependent upon US corporate interests.

Full article here 

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