By John Helmer in Moscow There’s a well-known Russian maxim, which can be roughly translated as: “Pull out your nose, your tail will get stuck; pull out your tail, your nose will get stuck.” The sticking place, it’s understood, is mud; murk; one unpleasantly adhesive predicament, or another. You might say this is what has […]

by John Helmer - Monday, February 18th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Through the Nabucco pipeline project, Bulgaria decides to reap the benefit of Europe’s energy demand. The fat lady has finally sung — the operatically named Nabucco gas pipeline project, intended to carry Central Asian gas to European markets, avoiding Russia, appears to have been knocked out by an agreement between […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Talk of oil supply crunch intensifies price threat as Russian output tips and additional export markets beckon. Russian oil producers have been losing oil output at Russia’s onshore fields since February of this year, and a combination of tax, investment, and technical factors has led to a forecast of “dire […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Athens this week – his second in six months, a Russian presidential record – is so unusual, its meaning may not be fully understood. Moreover, few Russians accompanying Putin are able to put into clear perspective the relationship which the president himself is trying […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 16th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian strategy for extending its alliance for energy production and energy transportation into the backyard of the United States — a region Washington views as off-limits for foreign powers, since the 19th century Monroe Doctrine — marched several paces forward this week in Moscow, during the state visit of Venezuela’s […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 28th, 2006
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By John Helmer In the Russian folk tradition, Dyed Moroz (Father Christmas) doesn’t give children their presents because they have been well-behaved all year. Instead, he responds to those who shout the loudest to catch his attention.

by John Helmer - Friday, July 14th, 2006
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For a decade Washington has been backing the Turkish and Azerbaihan governments to steer the export of Caspian region crude oil away from Russia, Russia’s newest riposte has been to ally the Russian and Iranian oil industries, and open up the shortest, cheapest, and most lucrative oil route of all, southwards out of the Caspian […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 4th, 2004
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