Two distinct crises in different parts of the world. A natural disaster in Japan that has claimed more than 10,000 and rocked an entire country. And a brewing civil war in Libya that is calling into question the reliability and availability of Libyan energy. The United States and the West are big losers in both. The big winner? Russia.
As The Moscow Times points out, the crisis in Libya has Europe rushing to Moscow to buy more Russian energy. Russia already provides 2/5th of Europe’s gas imports. That number is likely to rise, particularly as the crises in Libya continues. (Ever wonder why the Kremlin is opposed to NATO military operations in Libya? It’s profitable!) And with gas prices rising, Moscow will be cashing in as Libya descends into chaos.
At the same time, the nuclear crisis in Japan has shut down electrical capacity and has the rest of the world–particularly Europe–questioning the safety of nuclear fission.
Catastrophe and crisis. The human toll is enormous. And the opportunity for strategic gain and higher profits has the ambitious looking for a chance to get a leg up. Libya accounted for about 2% of Europe’s energy and look what happened when access to those reserves where put into question. Higher dependence on Russian energy creates a strategic nightmare which is far worse.
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