The Washington Times: "Baku warns U.S. will lose Eurasia influence without clear strategy"

The Washington Times today published an article about Azerbaijan’s warning to the United States - "Azerbaijan warns U.S. will lose Eurasia influence without clear strategy"The leaders of Azerbaijan said on Tuesday that the Obama administration should formulate a clear long-term geopolitical strategy for Eurasia, warning that America is in danger of losing influence in the region, and its allies risk losing access to energy resources.Azerbaijan, which is bordered by Russia to the north and Iran to the south, has access to the Caspian Sea in the east - owns the rights to significant oil and gas reserves that have been opened to foreign investors from Europe and the United States via the Southern Gas Corridor.Problems in the Nagorno-Karabakh region force the United States to talk about the measures that can be taken against Azerbaijan if the situation is not resolved in the very near future. These statements are not satisfying for the leadership of Azerbaijan, which sees it as a policy of double standards.Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the US, explained that without a common strategy, the US is wasting efforts to solve the problems in the region. Today, the United States, from a strategic point of view, has far fewer friends in the region than it had beforeDespite the problems and sanctions on Russia, it prevails, writes The New York Times in an article entitled “Against the Odds, Russian Oil Output Seen Near Record This Year”. The collapse of oil prices and the Western sanctions will not affect oil and gas production, which will be a record high this year.Russia is likely to continue to compete with Saudi Arabia for oil production, and despite the decline in prices, can control the situation in the upcoming years.Strongly oriented to succeed, government and energy company giants are going against the wind, and are skeptical about changes in the global market. Russia's largest oil leaders such as Lukoil and Surgutneftegaz do not plan to cut oil production in the coming year. Gazprom plans further to increase production volumes after a 6-percent increase in production last year.Another article in the New York Times called "Sanctions Hurt Russia, but Still Far From Changing Minds." Sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine are compounded by unstable oil prices, but Moscow has the financial capacity to hold policy over the next two years without changes.US President Barack Obama says that the Russian economy is now "broken to pieces" - the unemployment rate is just over 5 percent, and the external debt of about 30 per cent of national output, and these two factors make some leading Western countries envy "troubled" Russia."Officials who have developed sanctions may be satisfied - their interim goal has been achieved, if the purpose was to harm the economy of Russia," said Christopher Granville, Managing Director of London consulting company Trusted Sources.However, the subsequent sanctions may be more painful for the world economy as a whole than for Russia. For example, the issue of excluding Russia from the international SWIFT payment system.Russia is the second largest SWIFT client in the world after the United States. Such a step could lead to debt defaults that will hurt primarily European banks, and then the Belgian economy as a whole.Thus, two years of sanctions will be pretty tough, but not impossible for Russia.The Korean newspaper Korea Joong Ang Daily reported today on cooperation between Russian and Korean companies in an article entitled "K-Water and RusHydro will cooperate"The Russian company, a giant in the hydropower industry, has signed an agreement with the South Korean Agency for Water Resources to work together on large-scale projects of cooperation in the energy sector in the Far East and in South Korea.The memorandum was signed in Moscow on Friday between RusHydro, the largest producer of hydroelectric power in Russia, and South Korea's state corporation K-WaterThe agreement was signed for a period of 2 years, aimed at cooperation in the fields of hydropower, renewable energy, water and environmental issues, as well as the design, construction, operation and maintenance of hydraulic structures.Iranian news portal Paywand writes about the future plans of Iran's nuclear program in its article " Iran Law To Resume Nuclear Activities In Response To Sanctions." On February 3 the Iranian parliament voted to accelerate the discussion of the bill on the resumption of all activities in the nuclear program, despite new sanctions by the United StatesThe bill states that in the case of new US sanctions, Iran is obliged to immediately resume all nuclear activities that had been frozen in exchange for relief of sanctions in accordance with the Geneva interim agreement that Iran and the six world powers reached in 2013.In its turn, last week the US Senate Banking Committee approved a bill to impose new sanctions against Iran if the governments of both countries do not come to an agreement by the end of June. President Barack Obama has warned that he would veto any bill to impose new sanctions on Iran, as new sanctions could harm the ongoing negotiations with Iran.Iranian officials have also warned the USA against new sanctions. The chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said on February 3 that "any new decision of the US Congress [on sanctions] would be a violation of the Geneva Agreement and face a serious reaction from the Iranian parliament."

The Washington Times today published an article about Azerbaijan’s warning to the United States - "Azerbaijan warns U.S. will lose Eurasia influence without clear strategy"The leaders of Azerbaijan said on Tuesday that the Obama administration should formulate a clear long-term geopolitical strategy for Eurasia, warning that America is in danger of losing influence in the region, and its allies risk losing access to energy resources.

 

Azerbaijan, which is bordered by Russia to the north and Iran to the south, has access to the Caspian Sea in the east - owns the rights to significant oil and gas reserves that have been opened to foreign investors from Europe and the United States via the Southern Gas Corridor.

 

Problems in the Nagorno-Karabakh region force the United States to talk about the measures that can be taken against Azerbaijan if the situation is not resolved in the very near future. These statements are not satisfying for the leadership of Azerbaijan, which sees it as a policy of double standards.

 

Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the US, explained that without a common strategy, the US is wasting efforts to solve the problems in the region. Today, the United States, from a strategic point of view, has far fewer friends in the region than it had before

 

Despite the problems and sanctions on Russia, it prevails, writes The New York Times in an article entitled “Against the Odds, Russian Oil Output Seen Near Record This Year”. The collapse of oil prices and the Western sanctions will not affect oil and gas production, which will be a record high this year.Russia is likely to continue to compete with Saudi Arabia for oil production, and despite the decline in prices, can control the situation in the upcoming years.

 

Strongly oriented to succeed, government and energy company giants are going against the wind, and are skeptical about changes in the global market. Russia's largest oil leaders such as Lukoil and Surgutneftegaz do not plan to cut oil production in the coming year. Gazprom plans further to increase production volumes after a 6-percent increase in production last year.

 

Another article in the New York Times called "Sanctions Hurt Russia, but Still Far From Changing Minds." Sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine are compounded by unstable oil prices, but Moscow has the financial capacity to hold policy over the next two years without changes.

 

US President Barack Obama says that the Russian economy is now "broken to pieces" - the unemployment rate is just over 5 percent, and the external debt of about 30 per cent of national output, and these two factors make some leading Western countries envy "troubled" Russia.

 

"Officials who have developed sanctions may be satisfied - their interim goal has been achieved, if the purpose was to harm the economy of Russia," said Christopher Granville, Managing Director of London consulting company Trusted Sources.

 

However, the subsequent sanctions may be more painful for the world economy as a whole than for Russia. For example, the issue of excluding Russia from the international SWIFT payment system.

 

Russia is the second largest SWIFT client in the world after the United States. Such a step could lead to debt defaults that will hurt primarily European banks, and then the Belgian economy as a whole.

 

Thus, two years of sanctions will be pretty tough, but not impossible for Russia.

 

The Korean newspaper Korea Joong Ang Daily reported today on cooperation between Russian and Korean companies in an article entitled "K-Water and RusHydro will cooperate"

 

The Russian company, a giant in the hydropower industry, has signed an agreement with the South Korean Agency for Water Resources to work together on large-scale projects of cooperation in the energy sector in the Far East and in South Korea.

 

The memorandum was signed in Moscow on Friday between RusHydro, the largest producer of hydroelectric power in Russia, and South Korea's state corporation K-Water

 

The agreement was signed for a period of 2 years, aimed at cooperation in the fields of hydropower, renewable energy, water and environmental issues, as well as the design, construction, operation and maintenance of hydraulic structures.

 

Iranian news portal Paywand writes about the future plans of Iran's nuclear program in its article " Iran Law To Resume Nuclear Activities In Response To Sanctions." On February 3 the Iranian parliament voted to accelerate the discussion of the bill on the resumption of all activities in the nuclear program, despite new sanctions by the United States

 

The bill states that in the case of new US sanctions, Iran is obliged to immediately resume all nuclear activities that had been frozen in exchange for relief of sanctions in accordance with the Geneva interim agreement that Iran and the six world powers reached in 2013.

 

In its turn, last week the US Senate Banking Committee approved a bill to impose new sanctions against Iran if the governments of both countries do not come to an agreement by the end of June. President Barack Obama has warned that he would veto any bill to impose new sanctions on Iran, as new sanctions could harm the ongoing negotiations with Iran.

 

Iranian officials have also warned the USA against new sanctions. The chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said on February 3 that "any new decision of the US Congress [on sanctions] would be a violation of the Geneva Agreement and face a serious reaction from the Iranian parliament."