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This celebration of music takes place at Juodkrante, Liudvikas Reza summer stage, annually since The length of this festival-competition is three days where participants from six to twenty-seven years old compete in the following categories: groups, jazz soloists and soloists of all genres. During the first two days singers compete, while during the third day the Gala concert takes place where the best singers are awarded. An international jury evaluates these young aspiring artists. The jury consists of vocal coaches, singers, composers, managers, organisers of similar contests from all over the world. At the ECO Market, you can purchase products from certified farms. After an event-filled day, you can relax in the evening with music, fashion, theatre and circus performances. This festival takes place at the end of August and is meant to honour and commemorate the birth of Martin Ludwig Rhesa, a pioneer of Lithuanian folklore studies and collector of folklore who was born on the Curonian Spit. Guests have the chance to become acquainted with cultural heritage and history in various workshops, where they can learn to make weathervanes, weave scarves and sashes, knit nets, and make souvenirs from grasses. Those interested can also learn how to make and taste! Curonian dishes from the Viking period. The little ones will have a fun time playing the old-fashioned games of the Pamarys Region. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. Moments from the celebration. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Strictly Necessary Cookies Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. Enable or Disable Cookies. Cookie Policy More information about our Cookie Policy.

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Mazeikiai buying blow

British Broadcasting Corporation Home. The Friendship pipeline snakes all the way from Siberia to the largest oil refinery in Eastern Europe, in Lithuania. The walls of the headquarters of the oil refinery are lined with black-and-white photographs of Soviet-era workers, looking suitably heroic, building the plant. When Lithuania became an independent country 16 years ago, the oil kept flowing, the friendship kept going after a fashion. The taps were turned off and have never been turned on again. Is this an example of Russian bullying, normal commercial practice, coincidence or accident? The company does still get Russian oil from a sea route and is also looking to South America, so when I ask him what happened, he told me: 'We are trying to earn money in the current environment. It means we are searching for the best offer as far as supplies are concerned. So I asked him again: 'What happened to the other supply route? He ignored the question and instead said: 'Hopefully we have a connection to the sea, and that allows us to get suppliers from different sources. The Lithuanian president, Valdas Adamkus, is an interesting man, who fought the Soviets when they invaded and then fled to America where he made a career in the US environmental protection agency. We offered assistance from our specialists to repair it. No response. Formal letters came from the presidents, even came from the EU president Barroso, no response, total ignorance. What is now known as 'energy security' will be high on the agenda of the EU-Russia summit. But the politicians did The EU wants plenty of different supply routes from Russia and elsewhere and is beginning to see renewable energy as a strategic 'must' as well as an environmental imperative. But what they would really like is to be able to trust Russia, and not feel that Gazprom has them over a barrel. The Lithuanian president, like most leaders of the ex-communist countries, wants a firm, single European policy towards Russia and wants to hear that voice raised at the summit. We still want to see Russia as a good neighbour, a co-operative neighbour,' he says. If we are talking about free trade - and Russia definitely needs markets in Europe and around the world — if Russia wants to be in the World Trade Organisation, a fully-fledged market, I believe they have to play according to same rule that applies to everybody. At the end of my all-too-brief tour of Poland and two of the Baltic states, I sought out the Russian response. The Russian ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, is also an interesting man, a former deputy foreign minister. His curly grey hair and broad smile give him an avuncular appearance but when you listen to his replies you see the steel that makes him a Kremlin favourite. He says the EU-Russia relations are 'complex, multi-faceted, not without problems'. But he denies that Russia uses energy as a political tool. We never cut off pipelines in order to punish anybody. When there is a rupture in the pipeline, yes, the supply has to be cut off to avoid environmental disaster. I would say, on the contrary, as an example of politicising the energy business, I can give you a small example. Actually, the oldest nuclear power reactors are those in Britain. And as a result, the governments of those countries, applied to Russian suppliers of oil and gas for additional amounts, and Brussels begins crying wolf saying that the degree of dependence on Russians supplies is growing. I asked him about the specific example of the Lithuania refinery. Why was oil not flowing through the Friendship pipeline? And since then the technological survey of the Russian Federation has been assessing the situation from a technical point of view, and also the owner of the pipeline, which is a Russian company, has been assessing the feasibility of restoring it. Then I turn to the question of trade, which I referred to in my posting from Latvia, and touched on briefly in the article on Poland. He starts by talking about the Polish ban on fish flour. It only hinders the development of bilateral relations and unfortunately, due to the principle of EU solidarity among members, it hinders the overall development of EU-Russia relations. The last point is critical. The comments of the Russian ambassador are more than a touch disingenous. There continues to be an evident policy by the Russian government to coerce and bully all its neighbours and for that matter any nation or people who disagrees with it. Perhaps it is the mindset of a bigger nation to throw its weight around like an elephant in a tulip field? It's more than high time that those in power in Russia stopped treating their neighbours like errant school children. Complain about this post. Mark, at the moment Mr. Chizhov told you with a straight face that Russian veterinary and food safety standards are so much stricter than those of the EU, you should have asked him if he receives extra danger pay for representing Russia in a place with such low standards. The man is risking his health to represent his country! This interest continues through today as reported by Reuters on MM: Quote, Profile, Research is still keen on buying refining assets in Lithuania, a company official said on Monday after Russia signalled it would not resume its crude oil supply to the Baltic state. In Europe, either Northwest Europe or Lithuania,' said the official, who asked not to be named. The cut off of crude oil supplies to Lithuania is something the country has had to contend with since breaking away from Moscow and re-establishing independence. Three years ago, Russia stopped all piped shipments of oil to Latvia in an effort to gain control over the oil port at Ventspils. After reading all three articles and some of the comments, it seems that its just like the good old days. Russians accuse the US of being imperialists who are using states in Europe further their goals. While they look at themselves as just looking out for their own rightful interests. They look at Eastern European states as being ungrateful for being liberated by them from the Nazis. What they choose to ignore is the fact that except for the murder of Jews, Stalin was no different then Hitler with regards to his plans for domination, and more people died under Stalin then Hitler. The west looks at Russia as someone who is once again trying to influence the world scene, but are weary of them because they are not the most democratic freedom of press to name one and they use not the most conventional methods by western standards to archive that. If you look at the countries that Russia has tried to punish for breaking away, they have only moved further west. EU problem is its new members not Russia. Enlargement was an ill-considered political decision. Washington laid us enlargement trap and we fell into it. There's an old saying that nations don't have friends, they have interests. But even here, appearances can be deceptive. The USSR actually never had any relationship with any so called allied nation which was not exploitive and imposed by military force. Would any nation in Eastern Europe, say Hungary, Poland, or Czechoslovakia have voted to remain within the Soviet Bloc if they'd had the choice? Hungary answered that question in , Czechoslovakia in , and Poland in the early s. Even in Cuba, they vote to this very day by sailing in rickety boats risking being shot by Cuban guards only to face the shark infested waters of the Straits of Florida if they succeed in running the first gauntlet. Meanwhile, Soviet leaders did their best to re-demography is there such a word? As a result, many enclaves of ethnic Russians who feel a greater affinity for Russia than their own nation live in places like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc. What did these countries get in return for their 'friendship' imposed by Communist puppet regimes under Moscow's control? Subsidies of whatever the USSR had to offer including energy. It was never contemplated that Moscow would lose control over the pipelines which ultimately send oil and gas now west to European customers but the loss of 'the near abroad' as Russians call it has put those pipelines and the shutoff valves on what is now hostile territory. One look at the map shows that there is no way around it. The only weapon they have is the threat of cutting off energy supplies. This is a very poor weapon, especially for oil. Oil is 'fungible. Gas is more problematic especially for Western Europe, the logistics of moving it in the quantities Europe needs is great. Russia also has waiting customers for its oil and gas in China and India. Europe is clearly vulnerable to Russian blackmail. The US is not. Russia is still a banana republic, a one trick pony. Oil and gas are the one export it has which can earn it currency and the power it brings. Its economy and military are a shambles even though it still has the power to blow up the world with nuclear weapons. Putin has been both lucky and skillful. Lucky because the price of energy has risen to record heights and skillful at using it as a political weapon no matter what anyone says. The mere insinuation of a cutoff of Russian energy when Europe needs it most during the winter is enough to send chills up and down the spines of EU leaders. They won't get much sympathy from the US, not after their needless stupidity in alienating it over issues they had no business meddling in such as Iraq's perceived threat to US security or the sham of the patently unfair Kyoto Protocol and global warming. Right, wrong, or otherwise, Americans saw Kyoto as a thinly veiled attempt by Europe to destroy its economy. Comply and go into severe recession, don't comply and risk the wrath of outraged Europeans who blame global warming on the US. Shroeder and Chirac whipped up anti-American sentiment all over Europe, now Europe will pay the penalty for this and much much more. Many Americans now see Western Europe as their enemy. It's anti capitalist and anti democratic policies fall right in line with long standing historical cultural proclivities of Europe no matter what European commentators say to the contrary. This is very good news for America. A Soviet style monolithic empire as a commercial competitor is one it knows very well how to defeat soundly. The trappings of that are also already becoming manifest. It is very amusing to sit back and watch one European centrally planned laughably stumbling effort after another fail. The one time failed try to land a probe on Mars, the disastrous unprofitably marketable A Eurosaurus Wrecks, the Galileo competitor to GPS which thankfully has been abandoned as a technical failure sparing the US the need to shoot it out of the sky as it inevitably would have and now the 'blue card' proposal. With the end of the need to operate Europe as a high cost American protectorate under a pax Americana, the leveling of the market playing field with the WTO, and heavy investments by American corporations in China and soon India, we'll see just how well the new Europe can do on its own. All it needs now is a meeting to set out its next five year plan. A joke, in five years it either complies with the rest of the EU treaty like everyone else or it faces the prospect of penalties without limit imposed without having anything to say about it. Russian powers had imprisoned former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovskiy or forced out of the country all modern capitalists who used not only to exploit old Soviet drills and old Soviet equipment, but also invested money into new geological explorations and into modern equipment. Especially under bad weather and infrastructure conditions of Russian Siberia, if not to mention extremely bad environmental impact on the taiga ecosystem and indigenous peoples of Russian North, what should worry European Greens, especially Germans who care so much about their dear Russia. But GazProm has long-term contracts some of them concluded in the Soviet times yet with EU countries for gas supplies. Due to such output falls, GazProm will just fail to meet their obligations in compliance with the contracts. They should, in terms of free market rules. What Chancellor Merkel is going to propose her country in such case? Sometimes I think like she has bad advisors or probably bad intelligence. All Russian bosses of all those companies were summoned to Kremlin that time and ordered to stop output of petrol even at the expance of their own lost profits. Unfortunately, that struggle had failed, not least because inner circle of our current President Yushchenko is connected with Russian oil companies and GazProm. Ukraine is, by the way, one of major electric energy suppliyers, produced both on nuclear power stations and hydro electric stations this is for Mr Chizhov. Mr Adamkus knows that, I know, so we all together will survive. I guess this 'new democracy' equals Kremin's peculiar term 'sovereign democracy' - which clearly allows Russia to act with precious little regard for the judgements of outsiders. What you have not mentioned in your piece is that soon after Lithuanians sold Mazaikiu Oil to a Polish company rather than to Gazprom, the plant was severly damaged by a mysterious fire and nobody in the plant or pres. Adamkus's government seem to believe that it was started by Lithuanians. It's a little surprising to hear from Mr. Ambassador that 'Russian veterinary and food safety standards are much stricter than those applied in the European Union' in view of reports that citizens of the Federation get frequently poisoned by strictly Russian vodka which, it seems, is not much safer than denaturated alcohol which some of them also consume, mixing it sometimes with eau de cologne to improve its flavour. I like very much, though, Mr. Chizhov's diagnosis that those countries acceded to the EU 'are suffering from what is sometimes called phantom pains of the past'. The ambassador did not mention the phanthom pains russia itself had to experience when the old USSR was about to collapse. These pains where not only caused by history but to a greater extend by western capitalist and russian oligarchs trying to get hold on russian oil- and gasfields and polluting the markets with all kinds of rubbish. Personally I have little doubts when the ambassador is complaining about fishy fishflour or rotten meats. These Items are traded freely within the EU, so why should not someone come and try to sell it in russia! It was during the Yeltsin years when russia went down the drain while beeing considered as a fat prey by above mentioned capitalists and oligarchs. We westerners should feel sorry for the peoble who had to feel the pain on their very own and be happy someone like Putin came and stopped the russian downfall. True, this had to be done with a iron fist. True, democracy is at danger there. True, another world power is hard to swallow for the americans. But just imagine this heavily nuclear armed country as the biggest playground for terrorists ever. A strong russia is a reliable russia and with no doubt a good trading partner for all EU members. EU should speak to russia with one voice, but the voice should not be overstressed by things that happened in he past. Leave history alone, start talking about the future! Of course Russia does not like Europe to talk with one voice. No country can be interested to have a powerful neighbour, its better to cohabit with the 27 dwarfs. Anyway, even if we accept the idea which I nevertheless consider actually false proposed by the Russian ambassador, that the so-called gas-diplomacy is not a way of politically punishing or pressing East Europe countries but just a common way of making business, it remains one very factual problem: the money Russia gains selling us the gas and the oil are used to improve Russia's defensive and offensive military power, this means that we are paying for the rearmament of our biggest neighbour, a neighbour which is not part of the military alliance we belong to, but it is used to raise verbal aggressiveness and political tensions toward it. Lithuania and Poland have the right to trade with whom they please. Finally in the series of three articles 'to set the scene for EU-Russia summit' a Russian was given a word Chizhov. When I read the first two articles I felt like reading 'Pravda' of the early 80's. This last one feels like the the very beginning of Perestroika in I was touched by Mr. Mardell attempts to squeeze an anti-Russian statement from the director of Mazeikiu Oil. The poor chap probably forgot that he now lives in a free country or maybe he was afraid of the long hand of KGB. And how about that heroic Lithuanian president Adamkus who was fighting the Soviet occupation of Lithuania when he was Never mind that he immigrated to Germany in Apparently he was OK with the Nazi occupation of Lithuania. The ultimate goal of the three articles is clear - to further increase the anti-Russian sentiment among the BBC readership before EU-Russia summit. After reading some of the comments I am happy to see that not all Wasterners are buying this propaganda. It will be a good idea if all sides try to avoid megaphone arguments, in other words simply propaganda. It is a matter of respect towards those common people who fought against the Nazis. Those who govern these countries have to realise that their mission is to guarantee the future of the coming generations instead of trying to make headlines in the European Press and win the sad game of false impressions. Rather sad spectacle of double standards and incoherent thinking. Not for a moment are we allowed to seriously consider the fact that selling and buying are based on a price, that if the buyer doesn't want to pay the price or vice versa , the transaction doesn't happen. Gazprom didn't 'cut of the energy', they were not paid, the buyers couldn't agree on a price - so the delivery stopped. Not any different than when I walk out of a car dealership because I don't like the price. So why do we always have to bring the archaic stereotypes into the discussion. Pipelines are not a 'right', they are controlled by the people who own them in this case Russians. They can shut them down, blow them up, fix them, or whatever. It is idiotic to argue that Lithuania has a 'right' to cheap Russian energy. Grow up and stop whining. And that Kondracki contributor who writes here, a real throwback to at least I think we re all lucky that Poland has no strategic energy resources, otherwise we would all probably have to recite Sienkiewic before turning on lights As somebody has mentioned, 'Lithuania and Poland have the right to trade with whom they please. Why not accept that Russia has right to sell its oil and gas to whom it pleases, and on the same grounds that Lithuanians and Poles trade their property in particular, disfavoring russian companies for political reasons. By the way, the latter has recently become a major theme in the western european countries, too. It is quite clear that there will not be enough of those commodities for everybody. If you wish to be among those who gets these - be prepared to pay what it takes. It all has come to a braking point. Today Iraq and Afghanistan, tomorrow Iran then Russia. American appetite is growing. A crazy idea? Iraq adventure was also a crazy idea but it came to fruition. By the way this libel campaign against Russia in our media reminds me something…. Economy should come first. We need to have Russia on board. We made a mistake with the enlargement now we have to live with it. But it does not mean that we should tolerate Washington meddling in EU affairs. Poland and other troublemakers should be put in front of a choice: missiles and other American toys or EU subsidies. To our American friends: for a change consider starting the Third world war not in Europe but on American continent. So now we see what happens: nationalist specters are back, we are swamped with immigrants, corruption and criminality. As if history taught us nothing. My diagnosis — the enlargement killed idea of Europe. Does Russia actually have any neighbours that like being Russia's neighbour? Historically, Russia has been a very expansionist and aggressive country. That mentality hasn't changed, although the means of exerting force are now largely economic and not military. Mark in comment 6 is quite right on the subject of Russia and its neighbours, but couldn't be more wrong about the EU and the US. He clearly knows little about the USSR of old. The EU is not like it at all. Brussels is much more like Washington than Moscow, meddling in the affairs of member states and always ready to grab more power. But where is the KGB-style secret police? Where is the Party and its commissars? Where is the huge army ready to invade any colony showing dangerous signs of free thought? I would also like to correct the delusions of US economic might. The US has outsourced all it could and now owes astronomic sums of money to China. The financial markets are reeling, and the US car industry is doing so badly that Japanese car makers are talking of voluntarily reducing exports in order to avoid trade wars. Prices are going up but most people's income is staying the same. Of course it is true that the Soviet Union was held together on the basis military power. On the other hand, is it not rather naive to believe that the 'West' does not exert any pressure too? Recently, France and Germany suffered somewhat severely economically and politically -simply for refusing to tow the US line regarding the invasion of Iraq. Of course the countries of 'eastern Europe' have suffered from Soviet domination -and maybe they will get a better deal from the EU -one can only hope so. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union has obviously also been a traumatic time for all involved. Most 'ex-communist' countries still seem to alternate politically between 'left' and 'right' -as each side successively proves its failings. Inside Russia, it seems that many have experienced an economic deterioration since the fall of the USSR. Ever since the collapse of the 'iron curtain' the world on both sides of the previous divide seems to have seen more of the 'ugly face' of global consumerist capitalism than its pretty face if it has one. The apparent lack of global political choice has lead to a period of unbridled expansion of US hegemony possibly held only in check by the EU. In itself, this was a missed chance: Shortly after the collapse of the USSR we were told that the 'end of history' was here and that bourgoise liberalism and democracy were automatically conquering the world as people discovered the new freedoms. Later, the disadvantages of these 'freedoms' became clear -as many people lost their jobs and their feelings of economic security while the economicm and criminal maffias seemed to get free rein. From many reports, it seems that western capitalism did not behave very nicely in the 'ex-communist' areas. In fact. In my view, there is a direct connection between the pain of the transition in eastern Europe, the debacle of the rebuilding of Iraq and the failure of the US to react adequately to Katrina and other such internal issues -including basic health care for its citizens. In fact, one wonders how much more global conflict there would have been without the personal intervention of George Soros -even though I do not believe that such powerful initiatives should be left entirely in the hands of private people and undemocratic organizations. However, if Russia is heading on a collision course with the west -then can we honestly put our hands on our hearts and claim that we did not initiate this course? It seems to me that the apparent American addiction to its military-industrial complex and the need to keep conflict levels high by promoting zero-sum games keeping the US as a winner and the rest as losers is a major cause of global tension. Kick a man when he is down and one cannot blame him if he attacks you when he manages to stand up. Indeed, why didn't we use our 'freedom' to develop more sensible fair and sustainable policies regarding energy, consumption and trade much earlier? This debate centers to much on Russia. It is called hydraulic despotism by the way. I find it far more remarkable that the US and its have not allies doe not massively invest in alternate technology. After all Al Qaida is mostly funded by Arab economies which float on oil. Any reduction of our dependance on oil hurts Al Qaida. The Romans knew already to cut the pecunia nervus bellum. So did the French, Dutch and English when at war wit Spain from the 's to the late 's. In my opinion it is criminal negligence to allow such heavy dependance on oil to continu. This agreement had nothing to do with the ownership of the factory. With closing the oil supply without any warning , Russia violated the terms of the agreement. True, not yet, at least not like the USSR we knew in our lifetimes. But Rome wasn't built in a day and over time, the similarity will become all too apparant. The same need to control every aspect of life by a centralized authority, the same mindset which insists only those at the core of political power know what is best for a vast population is identical to what gave rise to the USSR we came to know and love. It is the despotic tyrannical need for power which corrupts absolutely and becomes and end in itself. This is the legacy, the history, the culture of Europe. When that happens, any force required to keep the ruling class in power justifies itself including secret police and military force. Re-read Orwell's Animal Farm. The animals didn't expect a new tyranny when they overthrew the old one either. Comparisons of national GDPs can give an illusory view of world economics. GNP may have been a much more useful comparison but even there it is difficult to compare. Much of what China produces for example winds up as profits for overseas companies especially in the US. One Chinese producer commented on BBC recently that only 10 cents of every dollar of goods sold by China stays in China. I don't know if this is generally true but it is indicative of what's really happening. Also, China's economy is based largely on mass produced low cost, low quality everyday junk. The real engineering and cutting edge science happens elsewhere. Often China is where the dangerous tedious low paying semi skilled production work is done. A look at France's economy shows that half of its two trillion dollar GDP goes to medical care. What does that say about investment in its future? The recent hiccup in the subprime mortgage lending scandal in the US has rippled throughout the world. European economists told us in when the US economy was headed for a slowdown that it would not affect Europe but it was years after a minor recession in the US that much of Europe finally recovered. That may have been overlooked in the UK because the changes Prime Minister Thatcher made to the UK's economy made it far less vulnerable to vascillations abroad than the rest of Europe. Why then did so many Brits hate her? Because they are like small children who hate a doctor who forced them to swallow bitter tasting medicine, suffer the pain of an injection, or the aftermath of surgery. BTW, if you are an investor in American markets, it's always useful to watch where European investors here put their money. It's one of the most reliable negative leading indicators I've seen. US HAS heavily invested in alternative power generating technologies, among them - fuel cells, coal gasssification and new, more efficient solar panels with a little help from NASA. And the research into feasibility of fusion reactors has been going on for donkey's years. This year, for the first time since Chernobyl disaster which has created a NIMBY reaction here permits for first new nuclear power plants have been granted, and for 37 of them to boot. Ha, if you mean that they couldn't bid on contracts funded by US taxpayers to reconstruct Iraq that was nothing. France and Germany haven't even begun to suffer the consequences yet. The economic storm clouds headed towards the heartland of the EU have barely begun to gather. The entire EU economy is headed for a crash. How can that be with such a strong Euro? The US had a strong dollar It also had trade and tax surpluses as well. The reason is that the EU's economy is no longer viable. It cannot compete on any level playing field in any niche market in the world and it will never be given one sided advantages the way the US gave it in the aftermath of WWII and during the cold war to help it rebuild and keep it prosperous. There is no place it is number one in anything which it can exploit. Not in manufacturing, not in technology, not in agriculture, not in anything. It is dependent on others for much of its resources and can no longer exploit colonial possessions with force as it once did. It will not get any help or sympathy from America any longer either. Considerations of the impact on other countries such as those in Europe given when deciding American monetary and trade policy are over, replaced by a confrontation the EU begged for. They said they did not want a mono-polar world and now they have set themselves up as an anti-American pole. They will find the US a formidable adversary. Besides what comes directly from the US, American investments in China and India are growing those economies in ways which are eliminating European access to markets around the world both as suppliers of finished goods and as consumers of raw materials. Look at posting 7 by Oksana Hasiuk above. Russia will not meet its contractual obligations to supply gas and oil because not only will its output decline, some of it will be diverted to China and India. Europe will not have sufficient energy resources. Look at it as a way to enforce Kyoto reductions on Europe which it promised whether it likes it or not. The EU demanded Kyoto as it is written, now let's see how it likes living with the consequences of it, inevitable consequences the US rejected. Perhaps Hugo Chavez will help Europe out. And then again Not really. Portugal and Spain are laying as we speak a second gas line to Algeria, which has huge amount of it readily available for export. And if Green ecoterrorists hadn't managed to stop construction of new nuclear power plants in Germany and actually together with Schroder's SPD's left wing hadn't prevented Chancellor Merkel's coalition government from building any new ones now - that country would not have been vulnerable to putinesque Russia's dictate and wouldn't have to kow-tow so embarrassingly to former? KGB officers who run the Russian Federation these days. These options are, among some: clean nuclear; the classic renewables; bio oil grown from algae; hydro; small scale localised generation from multiple sources; or even clean coal. Then let's ignore Russia instead if it keeps on playing nasty I hear in all western media reports, such as the one by BBC's Mark Mardell, praising 'the walls lined with photographs of Soviet-era workers looking heroic'. They are petically used to describe 'russia's old friendships' in reference to eastern european countries. He-he, Chizlov is good! I think the modern Russian statesmen are exemplary for the 19th century international politics. On the other hand, US and Europe like to give the impression that they have moved on. But every now and then we hear about the US imposing economic sanctions on the countries it doesn't like for some ideological reasons, no? And be supported by most EU countries previous french and german goverments being notable exceptions. How different is that from Russian bullying? EU did impose political and economical decisions on the ascending members to dismantle their Russian-built nuclear stations way before the end of their designed operation time. Safety of the reactors in Bulgaria was checked numerous times by the International Agency and it was always up to the highest standards. In fact, the technical experts gave opinion that the operational time can be extended beyond the original design. Yet the reactors had to be switched off 2 minutes before the start of , as the country entered EU. By the way, this was the single biggest issue causing anti-EU attitudes in Bulgaria. It is also true that this caused an energy deficit across the Balkans - as the cheap Bulgarian exports on which most of our neighbours were relying on, had to be cancelled. This counts countries even poorer than us, with unstable economies and politic situations. I have been to Kosovo - houses there are still on diesel generators. Western Europe complains about the lowering of gas pressure in ? Well the Balkans depend mostly on electricity - for warmth in the winter and some cool in summer. During the record heatwave this summer entire Albania and Macedonia were left out without electricity because the Greek air conditioners were sucking up too much. And about banning food exports to Russia - probably it is bullying, but one cannot state for sure, unless the actual companies blamed by Russia are investigated. I have not seen such investigation in Western newspapers, have you? Please, note that alot of the smaller companies in the new countries did not make EU-quality products. When their country joined the EU they had to reorient from home markets to export for former Soviet republics, Arab countries, etc. At least that is what happened in Bulgaria. So the fact that somebody can export meat to EU, does not mean that the other meat he exports elsewhere is of the same quality. I wouldn't be surprised if an independent FSB Commission would find traces of polonium in Polish meat. It amazes me to see how many people in Poland and the Baltic states have strong anti-Russian sentiments. They still think that Russia wants to invade them or punish them for no reason. They think that their countries were the only ones that suffered because of the communism, but they should wake up and see that the biggest damage was done to Russia itself. Millions of Russians perished during the collectivisation period alone. The so-called 'Golodomor' in the Ukraine was not a genocide directed against the Ukrainians - it was part of the collectivisation process which negatively affected all regions of the former USSR. Farm production in all of the USSR fell after that. Then there were various repressions and executions of enemies of the states. Again, the largest loss of human life was in Russia. And now the 'West' complains that Russia is getting stronger. When it was weak, it could be toyed with and if it was not obedient, it could be punished. Now it is no longer possible to punish it and that annoys many governments in the 'West'. Yes, Russia is not happy with the attitude towards it and it has the right to defend its own national interests, just like any other country. Take US, for example, if some state threatens its national interests, that state is in most cases penalised by various means, including economic sanctions. Same goes for the UK and other major countries. I really do not see a point in bullying Russia, because by bullying Russia, you only cause more problems for yourselves. The leaders of the EU have made a good point not so long ago by deciding not to teach Russia how to live, but by rather cooperating with it. One should accept that not all countries want to have exactly the same standards and ideals, but all of us want to live in happiness and prosperity on this planet. USSR was actually the only true winner of that war as it gained half of the continent, while all others had only lost their resources with no gains at all best example being actually UK. Then USSR occupied dozen of countries for 40 years and did not hesitate to kill it's citizens up to late 80's if you consider what happened in Afganistan or even up to now if you look at Chechnya. Does such a 'tracking record' of russian foreign policy make the mistrust to the russian authorities really so difficult for you to understand? Your statement that Russia is worse-off after the fall of the USSR is violating several nations' rights to enjoy independence. Unless one simply considers the return of stolen property to be a 'worse-off' deal for the thief indeed. The West is not objecting Russia being strong. I believe it's objecting Russia's authorities behavior including murdering other countries citizens rather. The West would even love to see the russian citizens being strong, instead of seeing the powerty of most of them nowdays. If you accept the current russian foreign politics, you should actually call for the restore of the british empire in India and Middle East as well. Only then such a world politics view would be consistent. WW2 is entirely on Western Europe's consience. It happened because of the mutual grievances left over from the WW1, which was also a European creation. Add Napoleon into it, and see why Europe has been a very, very dangerous neightbour for Russia, one much more conniving and agressive then Russia itself despite all the smooth European rethoric. Why complicate the truth when it is quite plain to see? Russian agreement with Hitler happened after Britain and the gang first refused to accept Russia as a partner against him In any case, I cannot see how it could have possibly affected Hitler's initial intention to dominate the world, Russia included. Therefore, to say that the suffering inflicted upon Russians is somehow due to Russia's politics is just wild and crazy. As to speaking to Russia with one voice, these days it can be achieved only artificially and only for a short time. Eu countries do have different interests, and people in EU business and diplomatic circles tend to see beyond the usual anti Russian propaganda. Fact is, too many people in high places, smarter then you and me, do not see Russia as a threat. A lot of those who do either fail to appreciate how the definition of danger changed in the 21st century, or openly represent US interests in Europe reference to my other post regarding the East European elites. Or both. Either way, those who thought that Russia in the 90s would follow the footsteps of Hitlerian Germany and nuke the world were proved wrong; most of the peoples of the Soviet union proved to be highly civilised as the country disintegrated without the major civil war, and Russia is becoming a moderate player on the world stage, playing a crucial role in the battle against terrorism and trying to prevent Bush from expanding his disastrous aggression into Iran. Mr Chishov may denie that oil or gas are used as a political coercive tool. He is a diplomat and after all that is what diplomats do. However it is nothing out of the ordinary to use trade as a tool of foreign policy. You name a major Western State which does not do the same. So this being settled I would just ask; If Russia's sudden pipeline problem was a political decission which it probably was, what would you say Mazeiku's sale to a Polish company rather than to a Russian company was or what about the sale of the Lithunian Port facility to an American company rather than a Russian company? Insignificant little Nations, Russian bullying is the echo of your foreign policy. Learn from it. For the latest updates across BBC blogs, visit the Blogs homepage. Nick Robinson: 'Britain is standing by to give more money to the IMF so that it can, in turn, lend more money Douglas Fraser: 'With a mighty thud, the Ledger has been slammed shut. Thanks for reading it. But it's not finished - far Brian Taylor: 'Thank you for reading my blog. It has now moved to a new home, with a fresh format. Visit my Betsan Powys: 'It was an inspired conversation. What shall we call a blog written by someone called Betsan? How about Richard Black: 'Thanks for having read my blog over the last few years. As of today, it is moving to a new Jonathan Amos: 'Things are changing. The BBC's Spaceman has been assigned a new ship for his thoughts. So, as of today, this Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. But friendships can come to a sudden end. Not a bit of it. Free trade The EU wants plenty of different supply routes from Russia and elsewhere and is beginning to see renewable energy as a strategic 'must' as well as an environmental imperative. No politics. Does Russia bully its old allies? Bookmark with: del. Comments Post your comment 1. At PM on 24 Oct , vonheath wrote: The comments of the Russian ambassador are more than a touch disingenous. At PM on 24 Oct , Reuven wrote: After reading all three articles and some of the comments, it seems that its just like the good old days. Somewhere down the line I think relations will stabilize, but not anytime soon. At PM on 24 Oct , Mark wrote: There's an old saying that nations don't have friends, they have interests. At PM on 24 Oct , G. Klaus wrote: The ambassador did not mention the phanthom pains russia itself had to experience when the old USSR was about to collapse. This does not seem to be the result of a wise policy. At AM on 25 Oct , john wrote: It will be a good idea if all sides try to avoid megaphone arguments, in other words simply propaganda. At AM on 25 Oct , Juraj wrote: Rather sad spectacle of double standards and incoherent thinking. The 20th century was America's century. The 21st isn't. At PM on 25 Oct , trevor batten wrote: Of course it is true that the Soviet Union was held together on the basis military power. And by the way any alternative is likely to be helpfull in CO2-reduction. At AM on 26 Oct , Mirek Kondracki wrote: 'I find it far more remarkable that the US and its have not allies doe not massively invest in alternate technology. At AM on 26 Oct , Mark wrote: trevor batten 22 'Recently France and Germany suffered somewhat severely economically and politically- simply for refusing to tow the US line regarding the invasion of Iraq. At AM on 26 Oct , Mirek Kondracki wrote: 'Gas is more problematic especially for Western Europe, the logistics of moving it in the quantities Europe needs is great. Chizlov however raises valid points ignored by everybody else here. At PM on 26 Oct , Mirek Kondracki wrote: And about banning food exports to Russia - probably it is bullying, but one cannot state for sure, unless the actual companies blamed by Russia are investigated. At AM on 27 Oct , Mirek Kondracki wrote: 'I find it far more remarkable that the US and its have not allies doe not massively invest in alternate technology. Second World War brought more death and misery to Russia than to any other country in the world. And by the way, the evidence of Litvinenko case has so far been very convincing. Jump to more content from this blog About this blog. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? I read them all, so please have your say. Latest from BBC News blogs. Subscribe to Mark Mardell's America. You can stay up to date with Mark Mardell's America via these feeds. More from this blog Topical posts on this blog. Mark Mardell. Settings Sign out.

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