By Vestnik Kavkaza
Teetering on the brink of economic collapse, Europe wonders - is Russia a mighty state? Today's issue of the business magazine Forbes wonders about this in the article "How large are energy reserves of Russia?» The issue of gas supplies to the EU is far more than actual, especially against the background of relentless conflict in Ukraine. Despite all the attempts to develop an alternative scenario of energy supply bypassing Moscow, the European Community cannot ignore the fact that Russia accounts for 80% of energy supplies in the world, and the world's strategic hydrocarbon reserves.
In Moscow, in contrast to Europe, where there is no clear plan of how to provide themselves with energy in the coming years without the participation of Russian resources, there is an energy strategy until 2035 and partners who are willing to cooperate on mutually agreed terms on a continuous basis. But the European community has a plan of globalization, stated as an ambitious project of the Commonwealth countries in the trap of interdependencies. Of course, the sanctions against Russia played a significant role, but again, not in favor of Europe, whose markets are suffering loss of contracts, and large industrial enterprises are forced to sell their assets to China to get out of debt.
No matter how the EU strongly opposes Moscow, they cannot close their eyes to the fact, for example, that Russia occupies third place in the world for oil and is the second largest exporter in the world of energy. The answer to the question of whether Russia is a mighty power is obvious, and it is very disappointing for Europe.
"War is good for business," the independent American media resource OpEdNews.com writes today in relation to the US aggression against Iran. What's really going on and why is America so afraid of Iran's nuclear program? After all, if you think about it, even if Iran is developing nuclear weapons, what that means to the United States, where there are hundreds of warheads, dozens in Israel and at least another nine countries have a similar arsenal. In any case, the leaders of Iran are not suicidal and understand that in the event of any military aggression, the country will simply be wiped out. Then who benefits from an endless debate about the existence in Iran of nuclear weapons?
The answer is very simple - manufacturers and suppliers of weapons, most of which are concentrated precisely in the US, are rubbing their hands in anticipation of the contracts and benefits that can be obtained from another Middle East war. The interests of the Pentagon should also be taken into account, which at the slightest opportunity will declare war or a military operation to get huge funding from the budget to maintain the patriotic spirit of the United States. However, even with such a factual situation, Iran has enough diplomatic wisdom and endurance not to aggravate relations with the United States, but at the same time has a clear foreign policy.
The plans and the actual situation with regard to the outcome of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program is highlighted today in the American newspaper the LA Times. If all goes according to plan for the United States, the US diplomats return home victorious, reaching a historic agreement. If everything happens as planned for Iran, the Iranian diplomats in their turn will liberate the country from sanctions for at least the next few years and will be able to freely exercise its nuclear program. Today, however, the prospects for the two countries are still far from ideal.
None of the parties is ready to make the considerable concessions that are necessary to reach an agreement, but compromise is still unlikely. 18 months of negotiations at the highest level and the situation still remains in the "search for solutions" and does not advance in the long run a single step. For Iran, this situation is acceptable, as the supreme leader has repeatedly said he will not tolerate interference in the internal affairs of the country; and for the US the situation is threatening because Obama needs to show at least some results to a furious Congress. On Thursday, a new round of mutual exchange requirements will be started, but no one knows whether the desired result will be achieved by at least of one of the parties.
