It is becoming winter and what that means in this part of the world is that Ukraine will start her bull with Gas Delivery issues.

So everyone listen and you can almost hear the sound of the gas valve being twisted shut as it grates and squeals as the gas flow is being restricted once again. I have seen 4 winters now and this is the pattern that never ceases to amaze me.

It starts with Ukraine making a series of statements about how they will not accept this and that. Then it becomes a series of we are not sure what will happen. Then the Ukraine President has several fits about how Russia is ripping Ukraine off. They also always promise that all will be OK. This goes on and on until one day Ukraine just stops letting gas flow to Europe and then Ukraine tries to steal enough gas to get themselves through the winter…..

Russia has posted a article in Russia Today:

KIEV, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – Under the existing contracts with Gazprom, Ukraine will be unable to guarantee gas supplies from Russia to Europe during the 2010-11 winter season, the Ukrainian president’s point man on energy security said Tuesday.

Bohdan Sokolovskiy said, however, that Ukraine was fully prepared to ensure Russian gas transits during the upcoming winter period.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has repeatedly said that the gas deal agreed by the Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers in January should be renegotiated.

In particular, he is unhappy with the current transit fee, which he says means Ukraine’s state-controlled energy company Naftogaz receives at least $2.5 billion a year less than it should.

Sokolovskiy warned that unless the deal was reviewed, “2010 and 2011 will be unpredictable in terms of gas transit.”

Here we go again!

I would like to see a winter with out Ukraine messing up the gas flow to Europe. I do remember last year that I was in Ukraine in January for a visa run and Ukraine was out of gas at that time.

As the picture depicts – The world looks at Russia as the tyrant and Ukraine as the lesser of the evil. Ukraine plays this game every year but it seems to be getting old…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Two major things happened in Russia the last few days.

1. Putin went to China for major talks.
2. Hillary Clinton came to Russia to try to get a Iran sanction scheme going.

So what happened? Glad you asked!

1. Putin walked away with a much stronger tie with China and energy deals worth billions that extend far into the future. China will be securing 20% of her energy from Russia in the future.
2. Then Hillary ran into a brick wall and the USA had to eat crow, over all the Iran sanction talk from American press and government sources.

You need to understand that the future is in Asia not America…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

PS: Then to top it off: It seems that the US delegation that came with Hillary Clinton spent all night partying at Russian bars. The next morning they were not a very sharp looking group of delegates. The word on TV was: “The USA officials did not look very well early in the morning when they had to work.” This of course comes from the fact that the delegates were seen buying beer at local kiosks and then they went bar hopping… (Oops)