Kiev promises 'restraint' as army nears rebels in Donetsk
Having the U.S. turn from energy importer to energy exporter changes geopolitics
July 10, 2014 12:00 AM
Since midpoint in the last decade, America’s shale-energy balance sheet has grown ever more positive. The abundance today of shale-enabled oil and natural gas defines many places where investment and economic activity had once been scarce. Just look at Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Texas and many other states.
But there’s another benefit — albeit one which few Americans easily discern: The shale revolution is generating national security and geopolitical assets, real-world consequences moving more sharply into focus in recent weeks.
Just the potential for sizable U.S. energy exports gives pause to petro-dictators and expansionist bullies, forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, to downscale his ambitions.
Central Europe’s game of power poker these days rests not on tanks and missiles but on Russia’s gas-supply monopoly. Natural gas reaches West European buyers via pipelines crossing Ukraine. In earlier years, Russian behavior had sparked some periodic heartache about this monopoly but, in recent months, the angst has congealed into a determination to weaken Russia’s grip.
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FULL Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article - here.
Kiev promises 'restraint' as army nears rebels in Donetsk
COMMENT
See also:
Beneath the Ukraine Crisis: Shale Gas
By Nat Parry
Global Research, April 25, 2014
Consortiumnews 24 April 2014
Behind the geopolitics pitting Russia against the West – and the ethnic tensions tearing Ukraine east and west – another backdrop for understanding this deepening conflict is the big-money competition for Ukraine’s oil and natural gas.
The crisis gripping Ukraine has plunged transatlantic relations to their lowest point since the Cold War and threatens to send Ukraine into an armed conflict with potentially dire consequences for the country and the wider region.
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Ukraine has Europe’s third-largest shale gas reserves at 42 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While for years U.S. oil companies have been pressing for shale gas development in countries such as Britain, Poland, France and Bulgaria only to be rebuffed by significant opposition ...
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Global Research article - here.
Good read.
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