Powering Europe : Russia, Ukraine, and the Energy Squeeze

Seeking clarity about the conflict in Ukraine and responding to the urgent need to analyze Europe's energy prospects outside of Russia, Kandiyoti links analysis of real energy infrastructure with analysis of the political and economic dynamics unfolding at local, national, regional, and global levels The crisis in Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Crimea have prompted the United States and the European Union to examine their energy options. While Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas supplies looms large as a major liability for Europe, Russia's dependence on the $100 billion income from gas exports may deal Europe a stronger hand. Seeking clarity about the current conflict and its energy implications - and responding to the urgent need to critically analyze Europe's short-to-medium term prospects for safely and reliably sourcing future energy imports from sources other than Russia - this book examines the major elements of the European energy equation, contextualizing them within the disorderly breakup of the Soviet Union, post-Soviet developments in Eastern Europe, and the current geopolitical topography of the continent. Accessible and jargon-free, this book asks how and why Ukraine has emerged as the cockpit of a geopolitical contest that has been festering for nearly two decades, and offers insight into the view from Moscow. Finally, it examines Europe's energy options outside of Russia, assessing each not only in terms of technical feasibility and possible lead-time, but also, crucially, in terms of the added costs and geopolitical implications of altering supplies and suppliers, ranging from the continental United States to West Africa to the Eastern Mediterranean to Turkmenistan and possibly even Iran Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-10 Europe, Russia, Ukraine: One Continent?....Pages 11-31 A Quietly Voracious Continent: Europe’s Oil and Gas Imports....Pages 32-48 Natural Gas as a Political Weapon?....Pages 49-65 Nabucco, South Stream and the Southern Gas Corridor....Pages 66-82 Russian Geopolitics and Ukrainian War....Pages 83-115 Economic Warfare and Europe’s Gas Supplies....Pages 116-137 New Cold War?....Pages 138-152 Back Matter....Pages 153-156