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What to do about Nord Stream?
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on May 28 that his government will do everything...
The Middle East
In search of jobs and treasure: Trump’s first overseas jaunt takes a distinctly commercial angle
U.S. President Donald Trump completed a four-day tour of the Middle East on May 13-16, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates....
Columns
EU Commission plans Russian gas phaseout as MEPs propose easing pre-winter storage targets
Ensuring gas supply security ahead of the winter season, the European Parliament approved in Strasbourg on May 8 the Commission's proposal to extend the...
The Negroni Diaries
False economy: Washington will regret closing important diplomatic posts
At this point many readers will have seen press reports indicating that a large number of American embassies and consulates are being studied for...
Economy & Business
Doom, gloom or boom?
While it is an almost painful daily task to ascertain where the Trump administration is positioned on the question of tariff policy, and traders...
Energy Policy
Romania utilizing all available resources to boost its energy independence
Romania is using all energy resources available, including natural gas as the country advances rapidly with Neptun Deep gas project and new wind and...
Germany
Germany removes key debt brake budget limits in historic move
Rushing to arrive at a workable arrangement before the new post-election German parliament convened on March 25, Friedrich Merz’s victorious CDU/CSU bloc and the...
Renewables
Caspian-Black Sea Green Energy Corridor countries push project forward
The Ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania met in Budapest on March 10, where they signed a joint letter to EU Energy Commissioner...
Critical Infrastructure
Nord Stream: Still searching for pipe dreams
The unexpected and seemingly uncoordinated start of preliminary "peace negotiations" between the U.S., Russia, (and potentially Ukraine) has fuelled speculation about the future of...
Economy & Business
Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy
True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...
USA
Donald Trump is inaugurated amidst promises of security, stability and prosperity
After storming a frigid Washington D.C. during his extended inauguration festivities on January 20, Donald J Trump, America’s 47th and 45th President, launched a...
Critical Infrastructure
Undeclared “open season” on energy infrastructure in Europe
Russia is claiming it has shot down nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Europe through...
Electoral Procedures and Fraud
Righteous indignation over Maduro’s inauguration unlikely to change Venezuela’s dark reality
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was sworn in on January 10 for his third six-year term. Promising that his third term would be one...
Columns
EU searches for alternatives before Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine stops
The Ukrainian government has repeatedly stated that it will not extend a transit agreement, which has provided political, commercial, technical and legal grounds for...
Zero Tolerance
Is there any hope for a democratic and peaceful Syria?
Most observers will argue that a democratic and peaceful Syria is just a pipedream, but at least in the first weeks since Bashar-al-Assad’s rushed...
Global Energy Supplies
OPEC+ postpones plans to increase production over supply unease
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, decided on December 5 to delay its planned...
The Negroni Diaries
Democrats and Republicans agree, the Athens embassy posting has become a sinecure
The Trump administration has just confirmed what some had suspected for several years now -- that the posting to Athens as U.S. Ambassador has...
Global Energy Insider
COP29: Multilateral diplomatic stalemate circumvented
COP29 in Baku ended in the early hours of November 24, reaching a compromise deal on finance that will advance the global climate agenda...
Zero Tolerance
Lula’s G20 Rio Summit: Forgettable but not inconsequential
Seen from the perspective of a week after the November 19-20 Rio de Janeiro Summit, but before the event has completely receded into the...
The Negroni Diaries
Dear Democrats, about that Harris coronation last summer….
Back in July, we took exception to the decisions by the leadership of the Democratic Party to anoint Kamala Harris to take over President...
Zero Tolerance
IMF pronounces victory over inflation while sounding debt and tariff warnings
The 2024 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) took place in Washington D.C. from October 21...
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan opts for nuclear power following national referendum
Following an October 6 national referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, an overwhelming majority of voters, totaling 5,561,937 people...
Zero Tolerance
UNGA 2024 overshadowed by Middle East turmoil
At the end of September, as usual, most of the world’s leaders converge on New York for the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session...
Azerbaijan
Romania talks bring green power line deal for Caspian Sea – EU energy
At a meeting in Bucharest, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary reached milestone agreements on the establishment of a Green Energy Corridor, aiming at bringing...
Oil & Gas
The plot thickens again for Nord Stream sabotage
New developments and disclosures regarding the act of sabotage that blew up the Nord Stream pipelines from Russia to Germany nearly two years ago,...
Oil & Gas
Hungary, Slovakia sweetheart deal with Brussels keeps the Russian oil flowing through Ukraine
The energy crisis that has been caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine continued after Kyiv imposed in late June of this year a...
The Negroni Diaries
Americans deserve far more than a coronation
After the NATO Summit in Washington on July 9-11, where Biden-watching essentially became the main focus, and the assassination attempt on former President Donald...
Defense & Security
NATO Summit: “Trump-proofing” Ukraine support while Biden appearances under a microscope
The July 9-11 NATO Summit was originally envisioned as a celebration of the alliance’s 75th anniversary at the organization’s founding venue in Washington D.C.,...
Energy
Russia failing to replace lucrative European gas deliveries with sales to China
Russia’s attempts to build the Power of Siberia 2 (PS-2) natural gas pipeline to China appear to be stalling despite repeated statements from Moscow...
Invasion of Ukraine
G7 Summit focuses on Ukraine support and shattering Russia’s wartime economy
Despite last week’s expert punditry (itself almost indistinguishable from AI) on the latest G7 decisions as exhibited by the “instant experts” on global issues...
Interviews
Tackling new threats to critical energy infrastructure
The explosions that targeted the Nord Stream pipelines from Russia to Germany in September 2022 and the suspected sabotage of Baltic-connector pipeline, which supplies...
North Macedonia
North Macedonia: Resuming course towards the political dark side?
As most analysts predicted after the strong showing of the nationalist presidential candidate in the first-round presidential elections on April 24, VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian...
Defense & Security
New U.S.-Japan-Philippines Pacific bulwark established
The leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States met in Washington April 11 for the first ever trilateral summit with a deep...
Nuclear
The influence of Russia’s nuclear industry steadily expanding in Turkey
Turkey's decision last month that Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom will build the country’s second nuclear power plant, most likely at a site...
Kazakhstan
Pro-nuclear leaders push atomic energy to cut CO2 emissions, boost security of supply
A global push to expand nuclear power continued recently as world leaders from more than 30 countries and the European Union met at the...
The Negroni Diaries
With Sweden now a NATO member, what’s next?
Sweden completed the necessary diplomatic formalities on March 7, depositing its instrument of accession with the U.S. State Department in Washington, which manages the...
Columns
Eyeing competitors, OPEC+ countries will keep cutting oil production
Several OPEC+ countries are extending additional voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day, aimed at supporting what they are labeling "the stability and...
Russia Sanctions
Russia sanctions remain a powerful tool to support Ukraine’s defense
Western leaders should not dismiss the two-year long sanctions campaign (as opposed to the 2014 Crimea sanctions) as unsuccessful simply because the Kremlin has...
Azerbaijan
Chosen to host COP29, Azerbaijan draws special attention to its energy policy
Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov visited the U.S. this week where he held talks with World Bank representatives, U.S. government officials and investors, discussing...
Transport
Investors Forum brings the Middle Corridor into EU-wide focus
Huge investment numbers were thrown around in Brussels January 29-30 at the Global Gateway Investors Forum for the European Union – Central Asia Transport...
Columns
Record-high American LNG exports reinforce EU energy security drive
US liquefied natural gas, or LNG, exports reportedly hit monthly and annual record highs in December, positioning the United States to potentially become the...
Columns
COP28 reaches compromise deal to transition away from fossil fuels
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) closed on December 13 with a compromise deal. Instead of “phase out” or “phase down,” the agreement...
Palestinian Territories
What will it take to prevent a Gaza reconstruction fiasco?
Let us be unequivocal about the current war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas - the latter declared this war on Israeli...
Transport
Kazakhstan accelerating efforts to expand the strategic Middle Corridor
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which is frequently referred to as the Middle Corridor, is a multilateral institutional development project linking the containerized rail...
Minerals, Mining and Rare Earths
IEA warns transitions bring new risks to energy security
Clean technology and critical mineral supply chains are highly geographically concentrated, the International Energy Agency warned in its World Energy Outlook for 2023 and...
Columns
After offshore gas pipe suspected sabotage, Finland switches to LNG
Finland has switched to liquified natural gas supplies to cover the country’s needs following a decision on October 8 to shut down the Balticconnector...
United Nations
UN General Assembly 2023: More progress urgently needed on Sustainable Development Goals
The 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicked off in New York as planned on September 18, with global attention focused on the so-called...
Iran
Domestic operatives carried out cyberattacks on Iranian regime websites
Treadstone 71, a provider of cyber security consulting and training services, has published a new report on highly-publicized breaches of Iranian government websites and...
Armenia
With Armenia defeated tensions between Yerevan and Russia reach a turning point
Relations between Armenia and its traditional strategic partner Russia are deteriorating fast. With Yerevan's fundamental defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh - the 30-year-old Moscow-backed separatist region...
Africa
Nairobi Declaration calls for global tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport, aviation
As the curtains came down at the Africa Climate Summit (ACS23), heads of state and government adopted the Nairobi Declaration, calling on world leaders...
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