BBC NEWS | Europe | Russo-German gas deal irks Poland: "energy security is now one of the principal issues driving international diplomacy.
Russia's emergence as an energy superpower, ready and willing to use its market strength as a diplomatic tool, makes less powerful countries like Poland worried, he says.
The Baltic pipeline episode underscores the difficulty of separating energy diplomacy from old-fashioned power politics, our correspondent says. "
Russia is actively looking for ways to leverage its valuable energy resources into a strategic control point. Modern industrial and financial technologies enable her to overcome geographical disadvantage, which used to limit access to high-profit markets. The "death of distance", which people usually associate with distribution of information over the Internet, is now happening in geo-politics.
Major infrastructure changes, such as global networks, railroads, power lines, volume shipping, and etc., require time and investments. But when they actually happen new opportunities and threats arise en masse, because suppliers[sources] and consumers [tools] can be added [connected] to the system almost at will. Chaos ensues, therefore, changes to the "control" sub-system, i.e. trade relations, politics, treaties, wars, emerge (eventually) as well.
Russia now has a chance to create an energy "Operating System" of EuroAsia.
Could be an interesting chapter in "control points" book.
tags: distribution control points
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