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Putin, Bob Hoskins and a ‘New Partner’
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| Source: Gazprom |
The South Stream gas pipeline project had a chequered history. The southern leg of Russia’s classic outflanking manoeuvres to by-pass the Ukraine transit route, it was dogged every step of its way by the EC’s preference for an alternative ‘Nabucco’ scheme, based on supplies from Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan et al. There was never a particular need for both: Nabucco foundered first, and when the EC pulled out the rug from under the Bulgarian section of South Stream as part of the current sanctions, it was only a matter of time before that, too, was scrapped.
So little Volodya has done the inevitable, and South Stream is no more. But now he has “a new partner”, namely Turkey – which is going to get some discounted gas. Well, it would be a shame to waste all the steel that’s already been forged. Pipeline gas will be a lot safer for Turkey than their previous scheme for satisfying their burgeoning energy needs, viz new nuclear power plants to be built by the Russians in, errrr, an earthquake zone.
Doesn’t the new partner thing remind you of Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday ? The aggressive little chap’s grandiose plans for redeveloping docklands with an American *consortium* collapse when they lose patience with him for getting into a shooting war he can’t control. But that’s OK, he anounces defiantly, because he has a new partner – a German mob.
That’s just before his uncomfortable ride in the back of Pierce Brosnan’s car …
ND
Source: http://www.cityunslicker.co.uk/2014/12/putin-bob-hoskins-and-new-partner.html
