GERMANY
and the UNITED STATES are Mercury and Mars. GERMANY is Mercury, the ROMAN god
of commerce and the UNITED STATES, Mars, the god of war.
Mercury - God of Commerce
GERMANY has emerged over
the past decade as the big winner in the West from globalization, the
Exportmeister of the world in its class. It is the paradigm of a geo-economic
power, one that relies on its economic rather than its military power for its
influence and which defines its national interest largely in economic terms.
GERMANY’S world-class
companies have a global reach and a global vision. Beyond the realm of pure
politics, they are cornerstones in giving GERMANY shaping powers on the global
stage.
POWERFUL
INFLUENCE
A “shaping power” — while
not a super power — is a state that has the power to shape outcomes and events.
It offers an important status at a time when we see the emergence of a
polycentric, highly interdependent, world with rising non-Western powers
playing a larger role in global and regional decision-making.
The official GERMAN
government paper on this concept puts the idea of “Gestaltungsmacht” (as
shaping powers are called in GERMAN) in the following terms:
These countries are
economic locomotives which substantially influence regional cooperation and
also have an impact in other global regions and play an increasingly important
role in international decision making. […] We see them as more than developing
countries but as new shaping powers.
Shaping Powers base their
influence on economics and, rather than acting within the confines of
traditional alliances (such as the EU, NATO and the G-7), they fashion networks
with new actors both at home and abroad.
Given GERMANY’S great
reliance on exports and its dependence on the import of natural resources, it
needs to have a reputation as a reliable economic partner. Generally speaking,
sanctions, drawing red lines and employing military force all run counter to GERMANY’S
geo-economic interests.
In this sense, risk
aversion, already a deeply embedded trait in GERMAN political culture, is
reinforced. In my view, that has produced the Nein Nation, a GERMANY that
increasingly says no to policies which might endanger these economic interests.
Its use of sanctions against RUSSIA is an important departure from this
posture.
THE
AMERICAN MODEL
America, in contrast, is
both a major economic and military power with global security interests. The UNITED
STATES has a tendency to look to its imposing military instruments in dealing
with foreign policy. Accordingly, it has developed a national security state
which is as imposing as the GERMAN commercial one.
Mars - God of War
The resurgence of
nationalism and military force as seen in RUSSIA’S challenge in UKRAINE and the
growing CHINESE military challenge in east Asia have opened questions
concerning which type of power is best suited to operate in the 21st globalized
century.
The divergence in the
discussion over how to respond in UKRAINE, between Chancellor Merkel’s ruling
out of military options and the growing support in the UNITED STATES on arming UKRAINE,
illustrates the potential for real-life differences in these two approaches.
The GERMAN model may seem
too many AMERICANS as one-dimensional and lacking in the necessary military
tool in its diplomatic arsenal. Critics have a point when they argue that GERMANY
has let its defense capabilities atrophy. Even geo-economic powers need a
strong military to hedge against risks in an unknown future. That is certainly
something which the UKRAINE case has made clear.
ECONOMICS
WINS THE RACE
However, GERMANS are
correct to argue that a geo-economic approach will win out against the classic,
if not antique, geo-political approach of PUTIN. PUTIN seems to be at war with
globalization and the interdependence it brings. He has reversed the GORBACHEV
adaptation of PETER THE GREAT’S strategy for the modernization of RUSSIA.
As GORBACHEV understood, THE
SOVIET UNION (now RUSSIA) could not be a first-tier power if it relied too
heavily on the military dimension. In fact, it was this over-reliance on the
military dimension that led to military spending at a level of over 25% of the
GDP of the SOVIET UNION, helping to cripple its economy.
PUTIN has famously called
the collapse of the USSR the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the 20th
century. But he fails to understand that the collapse came from within from a
corroded technological and economic base.
The return of Geo-economics
That is why PUTIN’S turn
at RUSSIA’S helm will end up being another geo-political catastrophe for RUSSIA.
GERMANS are right to argue that economic power and the interdependence it has
brought will prevail over the exercise of military force and the disregard for
what ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI has called the “global awakening.”
As he wrote in 2008, “For
the first time in history, almost all of humanity is politically activated,
politically conscious and politically interactive. Global activism is
generating a surge in the quest for cultural respect and economic opportunity
in a world scarred by memories of colonial or imperial domination.”
TIME
TO REFOCUS U.S. POWER
The issue for the UNITED
STATES is that it is of course a geo-political power as well as a geo-economic
power. But the country’s leadership has to realize that it is increasingly
neglecting its geo-economic power in favor of its military dimension, at the
cost of its influence.
The limits of military
power have been made very clear by the U.S. experience in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN,
while the neglect of economic power has become increasingly salient.
At the recent IMF and
World Bank spring meetings, concerns about AMERICA’S declining economic power
dominated the week. It was WASHINGTON’S blunder in opposing the ASIAN
Infrastructure and Investment Bank, which led geo-economic GERMANY and other key
EUROPEAN partners to join the Bank.
This blunder followed the
failure of the U.S. Congress to enact IMF reform, which would have recognized
the shift in the global economic balance toward ASIA — something successive
U.S. administrations have long advocated, chiding “old EUROPE.”
On a broader level, the
continuing gridlock in WASHINGTON endangers economic reform at home, including
much-needed infrastructure investment.
The potential free trade
agreements which would enhance AMERICAN leadership both in ASIA and the PACIFIC
are very contentious as well on CAPITOL HILL, which will not please nations in ASIA
and EUROPE. TPP and TTIP are at the heart of the new geo-economics and will
have a longer term impact on AMERICAN influence than its response to UKRAINE.
If the UNITED STATES wants
to continue to be a shaping power in this century, it will have to reduce it’s
over concentration on military options — which remarkably has been a bipartisan
phenomenon. The UNITED STATES needs to rediscover its geo-economic potential.
Otherwise, it risks making the mistakes of PUTIN — and losing the insights of MERKEL.
Editor’s
note: This article has been adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from Stephen F. Szabo article published in The Globalist .
The real reason why the INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS and the corporate media denounce ARGENTINA
No profits for HEDGE FUNDS if ARGENTINA
does not default
U.N. Security Council and
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND need to be reformed
ARGENTINA is being assaulted by the
vulture funds with the complicity of the U.S. justice system
Financial speculation that sabotages
countries and intentionally creates poverty, is terrorism
Fighting terrorism: addressing the
roots, not just the symptoms
Fanning the flames of instability
US - double edged sword policies
Vulture funds and economic terrorism
Intentional destabilization of
economy in order to hinder ARGENTINA paying its debt
Ludicrous: What companies in the world yield profits of
1,600 percent over a five-year period?
ELLIOT MANAGEMENT and AMIA prosecutor
ALBERTO NISMAN
VULTURE FUNDS / HEDGE FUNDS are
financing the conservative party in BRITAIN
ARGENTINA’S natural resources and the
RUSSIAN connection
RUSSIAN energy GIANT GAZPROM team up
with YPF
A countries financial independence –
the biggest threat for the INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKET and its institutions
IMF caused ARGENTINA’S financial ruin
ARGENTINA and WASHINGTON’S rivalry
with MOSCOW
THE
REAL REASON WHY THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND THE CORPORATE
MEDIA DENOUNCE ARGENTINA
Emphasizing
that both ARGENTINA and the world were at an important crossroads, ARGENTINE
President CRISTINA FERNÁNDEZ DE KIRCHNER addressed the start of the 69th
session of the U.N. General Assembly in a speech that undoubtedly upset the
policy mandarins and security gurus in the WASHINGTON Beltway and their
counterparts on WALL STREET.
Despite its hard-hitting
points and its ties to a legal battle in NEW YORK, her speech at the U.N.
General Assembly went mostly, if not totally, unreported in NORTH AMERICAN
mainstream media.
U.N.
SECURITY COUNCIL AND INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND NEED TO BE REFORMED
The ARGENTINE President started
her speech by saying that it is of the utmost importance for the U.N. General
Assembly to establish a treaty for a universal system for restructuring
sovereign debt. The U.N. Security Council and INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND need
real reform, not talk about reform, she added.
The ARGENTINE leader
lamented to the U.N. General Assembly that BUENOS AIRES faces economic
blackmail, explaining that the ARGENTINE people have been paying a debt that
others deliberately generated and imposed on them. Despite the circumstances, ARGENTINA
has paid most of this debt off, but only because the ARGENTINE government
restructured its debt and repayment formula with 92.4 percent of its
bondholders during two different debt restructuring agreements and debt swaps
in 2005 and 2010.
ARGENTINA
IS BEING ASSAULTED BY THE VULTURE FUNDS WITH THE COMPLICITY OF THE U.S. JUSTICE
SYSTEM
The instruments of
economic fraud have been referred to by the ARGENTINE President and others as
“vulture funds” — a term, President KIRCHNER noted, that was not coined by
indignant SOUTH AMERICAN or AFRICAN leaders, but by GORDON BROWN in 2002, when
he was BRITISH Chancellor of the Exchequer.
KIRCHNER averred that ARGENTINA
was being assaulted by the vulture funds with the complicity of the U.S.
justice system, in a process that she describes as “economic and financial
terrorism.” Which have acted “as true destabilizers of the economy,” she told
the U.N. General Assembly.
Background
Information: International Financial Institutions
INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS VERSUS ARGENTINA
TERRORISTS
ARE NOT ONLY THOSE WHO KILL PEOPLE BY PLANTING BOMBS, BUT ALSO THOSE WHO USE
FINANCIAL SPECULATION TO SABOTAGE COUNTRIES AND INTENTIONALLY CREATE POVERTY
Economic and financial
terrorism was the motif of ARGENTINA’S message to the U.N. The Argentine leader
told the U.N. that terrorists are not
only those who kill people by planting bombs, but also those who use financial
speculation to sabotage countries and intentionally create poverty.
Addressing
economic terrorism would be a major boon to dealing with the thugs recruiting
young people that go on foolish crusades because they have lost hope and the
opportunity to be productive members of society, she said.
FIGHTING
TERRORISM: ADDRESSING THE ROOTS, NOT JUST THE SYMPTOMS
Her
point was that the roots of terrorism run much deeper than people simply
picking up guns and cutting off heads in the name of morbid and twisted
worldviews, and ending the cycle of violence starts with addressing its roots,
not just its symptoms.
Those roots lie in the
wrong policies and economic sabotage that is disrupting the world, whereas
groups like AL-QAIDA and the ISLAMIC STATE of IRAQ and SYRIA are merely the
symptoms.
FANNING
THE FLAMES OF INSTABILITY
Ultimately, the ARGENTINE
President accused WASHINGTON of fanning the flames of instability. This becomes
very clear when her speech to the U.N. General Assembly is cross-examined with
her speech to the U.N. Security Council after the unanimous adoption of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 2178, which calls for the prevention of the “international
flow of terrorist fighters to and from conflict zones.” Both speeches were
delivered on the same day and conveyed the same ideas and themes.
In the presence of world
leaders and high-ranking officials gathered at the U.N. Security Council, the
ARGENTINE President told U.S. President BARACK OBAMA and his entourage that the
U.S. approach to fighting terrorism has had zero success and has only destabilized
the world and helped terrorist organizations proliferate. Thus it is illogical
to continue to employ strategies that consistently fail. This was part of her
emphasis that the methodology and methods used by WASHINGTON to contest
terrorism were wrong, further bolstering her argument that the policy-linked
and economic causes of terrorism had to be addressed.
US
- DOUBLE EDGED SWORD POLICIES
Although she kept it
diplomatic inside the chamber of the U.N. Security Council, she rhetorically
asked who was supplying ISIS militants with weapons. She did not mention the
names of any countries, but her tacit point was that the U.S. and its allies
have armed ISIS by supplying SYRIAN anti-government forces with weapons.
The
president also pointed out many of the contradictions involved in the U.S.
fight against ISIS, how AL-QAIDA was nurtured to fight MOSCOW, and how the SYRIAN
government was vilified and the same non-state actors that the world was
condemning were presented as “freedom fighters” just a year earlier. The RUSSIAN
and the CHINESE positions at the U.N. Security Council were more or less
tacitly aligned with that of the ARGENTINE President, which is why MOSCOW
called for a general conference to be held by the U.N. to analyze the roots of
terrorism.
While speaking to the
U.N. General Assembly, she pointed out that great powers easily change the
definitions of friend and enemy and tailor the definition of who is a terrorist
and who is not to suit their own interests. “You do not fight terrorism by beating
the drums of war,” she explained.
Later, she would tell the
gathering, “Forgive me, but I am totally mistrustful” after exploring the
contradictions in the fight against terrorism. “The things we see on television
are petty fiction.”
VULTURE
FUNDS AND ECONOMIC TERRORISM
The
crux of ARGENTINA’S bitterness has been its ongoing dispute with vulture funds.
According to the ARGENTINE government, it is deliberately being economically
destabilized so that it will fall back on its debt repayments. Defaulting will
cause interest to accrue on ARGENTINA’S debt, thus increasing it, and
therefore, maximizing profits for its creditors and bondholders.
The vulture funds are
comprised of a minority of ARGENTINA’S debt-owners. The two main antagonists
are the U.S.-based hedge funds NML CAPITAL and AURELIUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT.
These are the same debt-owners that refused to accept the restructuring of ARGENTINE
debt when repayment was being renegotiated by BUENOS AIRES.
NO
PROFITS FOR THE HEDGE FUNDS IF ARGENTINA DOES NOT DEFAULT
These vulture funds did
not accept the ARGENTINE debt restructuring formula because they could not
profit unless the ARGENTINE'S defaulted on the debt these funds owned. Originally, these hedge funds planned to
sue ARGENTINA after it defaulted on its debt to maximize their monetary returns
or to increase the amount owed by BUENOS AIRES through debt accumulation.
These holdouts could not make a profit without this and it is precisely with
these intentions that they refused to accept any re-negotiations that would
allow ARGENTINA to pay its debts through a repayment schedule. Instead, they
demanded full payment of the debts owed to them.
INTENTIONAL
DESTABILIZATION OF ECONOMY IN ORDER TO HINDER ARGENTINA PAYING ITS DEBT
It
is under this framework that it has been in the interest of these holdouts for
the economic situation in ARGENTINA to deteriorate. Not only has it been in the
interest of these hedge funds, but it has been their aim to economically damage
and destabilize ARGENTINA so that it will not be able to make its debt payments.
This is where the U.S. justice system comes in as what the ARGENTINE President describes
as an “accomplice” to the economic and financial terrorism of the vulture
funds.
WHAT
COMPANIES IN THE WORLD YIELD PROFITS OF 1,600 PERCENT OVER A FIVE-YEAR PERIOD?
After failing to stop the
restructuring of ARGENTINA’S debt, the U.S. court system came to the aid of
these vulture funds. Judge THOMAS GRIESA, a federal judge for the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of NEW YORK State, not only awarded the vulture funds over 1,600
percent interest on what was owed in terms of face value for a five-year period,
but also blocked ARGENTINA from paying its other debt-holders until BUENOS
AIRES paid the vulture funds in full, including the interest and a daily fine.
The ruling was made in 2012, but was enforced after court-mediated negotiations
broke down with the ARGENTINE'S accusing DANIEL POLLACK of incompetence on Aug.
1, 2014.
Background
Information:
IN
JULY 2011 Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring wrote: US COURT RULING ON
ARGENTINE BOND DEFAULT
Not only was Judge GRIESA’S
ruling denounced as legally unfair, but it has no connection to any business or
financial norms. This is why KIRCHNER
asked the U.N. General Assembly what companies in the world yield profits of
1,600 percent over a five-year period.
U.S.
POLICY AND THE VULTURE FUNDS
In ARGENTINA, GRIESA’S legal
ruling has been seen as an attempt to obstruct ARGENTINA from making its debt
payments. His ruling makes it impossible
for ARGENTINA to pay back its debts without borrowing more money and accruing
more debt. It also nullifies ARGENTINA’S deals with the other bondholders
because of a clause in the debt restructuring that gives them the legal right
to ask for the most profitable terms of repayment should those terms be brought
about.
ELLIOT
MANAGEMENT AND ITS ALLEGED CONNECTION TO LATE AMIA PROSECUTOR ALBERTO NISMAN
Meanwhile, the vulture
funds have lobbied the U.S. Congress for years. They took the opportunity to
launch a renewed assault on ARGENTINA, saying that it was a terrorist state
once it signed an agreement on Jan. 27, 2013 for judicial cooperation with IRAN
to investigate the 1992 and 1994 bombings of the ISRAELI Embassy in ARGENTINA
and the ARGENTINE ISRAELITE MUTUAL ASSOCIATION building.
Thus
it comes as no surprise that ALBEROT NISMAN, the prosecutor investigating the
AMIA bombing, who died under mysterious circumstances, prior of “exposing” the ARGENTINE
President in front of a Congressional committee, has been brought into
connections with Vulture Funds ELLIOT MANAGEMENT.
Judge RODOLFO CANICOBA
CORRAL, in charge of the investigations into the death of the prosecutor, is
currently trying to obtain details on foreign bank accounts shared by late AMIA
special prosecutor ALBERTO NISMAN, his family and computer analyst DIEGO
LAGOMARSINO, as well as his possible connection between his account and ELLIOT
MANAGEMENT, the HEDGE FUND owned by billionaire PAUL SINGER. ELLIOT is one of
the main so called “vulture funds” behind the charges against ARGENTINA over
its technical defaulted national debt.
See also:
SIXTEEN
OF EUROPE’S 50 MOST PROLIFIC VULTURE FUNDS / HEDGE FUNDS ARE FINANCING THE
CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN BRITAIN at:
While the position of the
hedge fund holdouts may have been sheer opportunism, they lobby and got the
U.S. Congress involved. ARGENTINA was sharply criticized by U.S. officials for
initiating a dialogue with IRAN to cooperate in its investigations. Tensions
reached a point where the Argentine government said that those opposing the
agreement between BUENOS AIRES and TEHRAN would be responsible if there was a
third terrorist bombing inside ARGENTINA against any Jewish or ISRAELI targets.
ARGENTINA’S reaction to
Judge GRIESA’S legal ruling has been to get lawmakers in BUENOS AIRES to pass
legislation on debt repayment. BUENOS AIRES has accused the U.S. of being
complicit with the “economic terrorists” who are trying to hold the country
hostage. The ARGENTINE government even asked the U.S. government to prevent its
domestic laws from being imposed on ARGENTINA, but to no avail. ARGENTINE demands
that the U.S. Supreme Court review its appeals were also rejected on June 16.
ARGENTINA’S
ENERGY RESERVES AND THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION
At the U.N., KIRCHNER
even went on to accuse WASHINGTON of plotting to overthrow her and her
democratically-elected government. On Sept. 30, about one week after she
criticized the U.S. at the U.N., KIRCHNER delivered a televised address telling
her people that if she was murdered, not to “look to the MIDDLE EAST, but look
to the north” at the U.S. government. She asserted that the U.S. State
Department’s warning about a terrorist threat from ISIS inside ARGENTINA was a
fictitious smokescreen and that the ISIS threats against her were essentially
the handiwork of WASHINGTON.
It is no mere coincidence
that KIRCHNER looked at OBAMA while speaking at the U.N. Security Council while
concluding her speech by saying that ARGENTINA’S large untapped energy reserves
could prove to be a curse, alluding to U.S. meddling and interference in
energy-rich countries.
After CHINA, ARGENTINA has
the second highest amount of recoverable shale gas. BUENOS AIRES is poised to
turn from a fuel importer into an energy exporter. In 2012, the ARGENTINE
government was involved in a dispute with the SPANISH oil corporation REPOSOL
over the recovery of what was once ARGENTINA’S national energy corporation, YACIMIENTOS
PETROLÍFEROS FISCALEs. YPF was nationalized through a law passed on March 3,
2012, in which the ARGENTINE government received a 51-percent controlling share
in the corporation.
RUSSIAN
ENERGY GIANT GAZPROM TEAM UP WITH YPF
Meanwhile, the RUSSIAN
Federation is going to assist BUENOS AIRES in exploring, developing and
exploiting its natural gas reserves. This is one of the reasons that RUSSIAN
President VLADIMIR PUTIN visited ARGENTINA. Days after KIRCHNER spoke at the
U.N., ARGENTINA and RUSSIA signed an important bilateral energy contract to
explore and develop ARGENTINA’S natural gas reserves — an agreement that will
see RUSSIAN energy giant GAZPROM team up with YPF.
Not only has PUTIN
announced that ARGENTINA is a RUSSIAN strategic partner, but Moscow is helping ARGENTINA
divest itself from U.S. influence. This is why PUTIN visited ARGENTINA ahead of
the U.N. General Assembly meeting and the reason why he and KIRCHNER jointly
inaugurated the SPANISH-language RUSSIAN satellite channel RT EN ESPAÑOL (RT SPANISH)
or RT Actualidad (RT News) in a teleconference. It is clear that the RUSSIAN
channel’s new presence in ARGENTINA is aimed at fighting U.S. influence in an
information war.
RUSSIAN ties with ARGENTINA
have been strengthening since 2010, well before PUTIN’S recent announcement
that ARGENTINA and RUSSIA are strategic partners. GAZPROM had secured a
contract to sell liquefied natural gas to ARGENTINA. ARGENTINA also sided with RUSSIA,
CHINA and IRAN against any plans orchestrated by the U.S. to attack SYRIA after
the SAUDI-backed insurgents launched chemical attacks in GHOUTA that WASHINGTON
was trying to pin on DAMASCUS. It even closed ranks with RUSSIA, CHINA, INDIA,
INDONESIA, SOUTH AFRICA and BRAZIL on the issue in last year’s G20 summit at ST.
PETERSBURG.
ARGENTINA
AND THE GLOBAL ENERGY AND FINANCIAL WAR
A
truly independent country that on top of it does not fall for the debt trap
instigated by the INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS is considered a threat.
If such country then also has a vast amount of natural resource at its
disposal, it becomes clear as to why the obsessive negative views of ARGENTINA
by the WORLD FINANCIAL MARKETS root on the danger that ARGENTINA poses for these
financial institutions (public and private) at a time other countries will
finally follow in ARGENTINE'S footsteps of defaulting debt and restructuring.
For
example SPAIN, GREECE and the such that sooner or later will have to find
alternative ways to restructure their debts since the IMF-ECB policies are not
succeeding in significantly reduce the debt burden, even under strict austerity
measure. (citing Andrés reader comment)
A
COUNTRIES FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE – THE BIGGEST THREAT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL MARKET AND ITS INSTITUTIONS
The ARGENTINE government
believes that WASHINGTON does not want ARGENTINA
to be independent. More than that, however, it should be clear that the vulture funds are an instrument of pressure
being used against Argentina to destabilize it. In the words of the
ARGENTINE President, the “vulture look a lot like the eagles of empire.”
IMF
CAUSED ARGENTINA’S FINANCIAL RUIN
Even
at the U.N., Kirchner said that the policies of the WASHINGTON-based IMF, which
BUENOS AIRES had followed to the tee, were what systematically caused
Argentina’s financial ruin and instability in 2001. In other words, the
indebting neoliberal policies that led to her LATIN AMERICAN country’s debt
were imposed.The
ARGENTINE leader’s stated that the system of debt in the global financial
system has been used to shackle many countries as an unjust instrument of
domination and as a form of aggression on sovereignty.
When
ARGENTINA was the “Sunny boy” of the IMF under president MENEM, who
unquestionably followed IMF doctrine of privatizing state
assets......................................
The destabilization of ARGENTINA
and actions against its government should also be read in the broader context
of WASHINGTON’S rivalry with MOSCOW and a global energy war.
It is no coincidence that
the U.S. State Department has been heavily promoting the exportation of U.S.
shale gas and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for the last few years. Nor is
it a coincidence that U.S. energy conglomerates have been involved in intense
negotiations to control shale gas reserves around the world, including in POLAND,
UKRAINE and ROMANIA. Excluding RUSSIA’S reserves, POLAND and UKRAINE have the first and third largest
deposits of shale gas in EUROPE. This is why the U.S. has been a strong
supporter of KIEV’S attempts to regain control over EAST UKRAINE, where much of
the shale gas concessions that have gone to U.S. companies are located.
Background
Information: NATURAL RESOURCES
ARGENTINE SHALE GAS
PRODUCTION COULD ALTER THE SOUTHERN CONES GEOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE
The shale gas factor is
also part of the equation in U.S. tensions with RUSSIA. WASHINGTON has pushed
the EUROPEAN UNION to sanction the RUSSIAN energy sector to essentially lockout
GAZPROM as a competitor to the relatively more expensive shale gas being sold
by the U.S. Not only does U.S. shale gas being supplied from NORTH AMERICA have
to be fracked, liquefied and then transported to EUROPE, but fracking
operations cannot afford low natural gas prices.
This
means that competing producers need to be derailed or excluded from the
international market, thus, looking at the vulture fund scandal within this
framework seems to answer a lot of questions.
Editor’s
Note:
This article has been adapt by
Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from the original article
