07-07-05
The most recent charming news from Moscow concerns an outrageous resolution on which Russia’s Duma was scheduled to vote on July 6. The resolution, pushed by Russian extremist Vladimir Zhironovsky and supported by President Vladimir Putin’s United Russian faction, would call for the Russian government to raise natural gas prices for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and the Baltic states --countries that have attempted to establish liberal societies that no longer take their orders from the Kremlin.
Whether or not it passes, the resolution is aggressive. It starkly illustrates
the situation Ukraine is in when it comes to energy supplies.
Russia controls about 70 % of Ukraine’s natural gas supply. Artificially jacking up prices on Ukraine would severely dent Ukraine’s economy. It would also establish a precedent in case Moscow wants to go nuclear on its former vassals, and boost prices not only for natural gas but for oil.
A full 80 % of Ukraine’s oil is Russian. The Russians could create
socio-economic chaos in Ukraine of the sort that hasn’t been witnessed around
these parts since 1998. The gasoline spike Ukraine suffered through this spring
was only a taste of what could happen.
All this generates a question. Why doesn’t Ukraine have an energy policy that would help it deal with what are basically national security threats?
So far, the not-so-new administration’s excuse for an energy policy has been
basically to continue the status quo to which Ukraine has long adhered. That
comes down to reliance on Russia within the hoary old “friendship of nations”
framework. A better policy than that would be if Ukraine committed itself to
weaning itself away from a reliance on foreign -- that is, Russian -- energy.
Doing so will be a huge project, so the sooner President Viktor Yushchenko and the rest of them get down to business, the better. Everything should be open to rethinking, starting with the Soviet-style inefficiency of Ukrainian motor vehicles and industry and ending with this youngcountry’s flirtation with an auto-based, energy-profligate model of development.
Creating an oil-soaked society in a country with no energy supplies is insanity.
It’s bad for Ukraine’s national security. It strips Ukraine of a large measure
of its independence.
If it’s not careful, Ukraine could end up like the worst type of addict, manipulated by its dealers in Russia.
Let’s have a forward-looking energy policy, soon.
Source: www.kyivpost.com