A New Cold War With Russia?

Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), a major power when it comes to forging our “bipartisan” foreign policy of global meddling, thinks we are at “war” — “energy war” — with Russia. Over at Dailykos.com, Jérôme Guillet, a Paris-based banker and an authority on Gazprom’s business practices, debunks the “war” hysteria generated by Lugar and his warmongering confreres over at the War Street Journal and the Washington Post. A snippet:

I am sure that a lot of people would be surprised to learn that market driven price increases are “predatory”. Let’s all remember that the issue is that these countries are getting gas at subsidized prices – because Russia chooses to do so in exchange for political advantage. If it feels that it is not getting the political gains it was seeking or expecting, why would it be abnormal to switch back to market conditions? Actually, papers like the WaPo or the WSJ, if they were consistent (yeah, I know…) should berate Georgia and Azerbaijan for selling out politically to Russia for market-distorting, and fleeting, benefits. Paying the market price for gas sends the proper signal to their consumers and investors, and increasing prices will lead, by market mechanisms, to lower gas demand and a better allocation of resources. Right? So why argue that these countries should get subsidized gas? From Russia?

How odd that a writer for a left-progressive site, such as Kos, would understand the market processes of Russian energy production, and its implications, far better than some alleged “libertarians,” such as Andrei Illarionov of the Cato Institute, who, together with Robert Amsterdam — a shill for Russian oligarch-gangster Mikhail Khodorkovsky — describes Putin’s Russia as a “new kind” of state, i.e. a “threat” along the lines suggested by Sen. Lugar. Â