Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for BusinessWeek. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. It was released this week.
Labels: baku-ceyhan, georgia, oil, oil and the glory, Putin, putin's labyrinth, Russia
If Steve LeVine's aim … was to chill us to the marrow about post-Communist Russia, he has succeeded.
LeVine's reconstruction of a savagely botched anti-terrorist operation at a Moscow theatre is particularly effective.
With fresh insights into the Chechen wars and Putin’s post-presidency plans, LeVine’s important take on the all-too-real machinations and bloodthirstiness from which espionage thrillers are made is both unnerving and intriguing.
Donna Seaman, Booklist
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2 Comments:
steve, interesting analysis there at the end concerning partnering with china to build pipelines east. On oil i think your logic rings true, but on gas i'm not sure. absent liberalized gas markets in europe, doesn't europe (esp. eastern and central europe) want & need to diversify their sources of gas? i think the key is how much they're willing to pay for that diversity, whether it's lng or caspian gas.
Hi Michael. In principle you're right, but the Europeans have left the hard work of their own diversification to the U.S. It seems to me that the Europeans need to get united, and decide a strategy. If they need U.S. help, ask for it. Until then, the U.S. forward-looking strategy is breathing room for Central Asia and the Caucasus, and it doesn't matter which direction the energy goes.
One crucial point that a friend raised yesterday: who do you think is building the Chinese natural gas pipeline? Russia! The Turkmen and Chinese accommodated Russia by giving it the big, lucrative contract to actually build the line.
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