APS Diplomat News Service articles from February 2008

APS Diplomat News Service archives from February 2008

Russia Under Putin Is Moving The Energy Weapon Across The Globe; Emphasis On Africa:.
February 4, 2008... *** Col. Qadhafi Is About To Make Another Switch: Two Days Before AU's Summit In Addis Ababa Opened Jan. 31, He Warned That If The African Rulers Did Not Adopt His Ideas He Would Abandon Them In Favour Of Europe And/Or The Arab World ***...

Focus On Nigeria.
February 4, 2008... Gazprom wants access to Nigeria's gas reserves, Africa's largest. It has approached the political leadership in Abuja on investing in Nigeria's energy infrastructure in a big way, in return for gas and oil E&P rights in the country, and on...

South Stream Vs Nabucco.
February 4, 2008... President Putin has personally pursued Gazprom's thrusts into Europe and the Far East. Having secured the 55 BCM/year Nord Stream - now being built under the Baltic Sea to the German coast - for the northern part of Europe with its first phase...

Gazprom Price Increases.
February 4, 2008... Gazprom has warned European consumers should expect stiff increases in gas prices as the soaring cost of oil feeds into contracts for the sale of Russian gas into Europe. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan already have raised 2008 prices of gas being...

Iran & The GCC Are Hit By Inflation; Tehran Faces Severe Political Implications.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
February 11, 2008... *** Iran Has Begun To Deploy New Centrifuges - The IR-2s - To Speed Up Uranium Enrichment, And New Space Satellites In A Project Which Has Alarmed Even Its Russian Allies; The US Is Pressing For More Penalties *** Syria Has Again Thwarted...

A Boom In Dubai's Overseas Property Thrusts - The Case Of Limitless.
February 11, 2008... On the other hand, petroleum now accounts for a small part of Dubai's GDP, with the emirate having beaten its oil-rich neighbours in the race to diversify national economies away from fossil fuels. A firm aptly called Limitless, a Dubai...

Contrast In Iran - A Nuclear Plan Too Expensive For A Theocracy.
February 11, 2008... Because of its nuclear programme - which the US and its allies suspect is to produce atomic weapons, though Tehran keeps insisting is for peaceful purposes - the Shi'ite theocracy is unable to get any of its big commercial ventures off the...

US Money For Russia Linked To Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant.
February 11, 2008... However, the US Department of Energy (DoE) is subsidising two Russian nuclear institutes which are building key parts of Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf, which Washington has spent years trying to stop, according to a US...

Tehran Says Sanctions Are Backfiring.
February 11, 2008... Iran's business community is launching its own campaign to counter Western economic pressure on Tehran, arguing that European companies were missing big new opportunities. Iran's Chamber of Commerce President Mohammad Nahavandian, one of the...

Ahmadi-Nejad's Home Front.(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)
February 11, 2008... President Ahmadi-Nejad has hit the headlines around the world for his defiance of Washington, repeated promises of Israel's imminent destruction, grand-standing on Palestinian issues, and his government's support of Shi'ite militias in Lebanon...

Iran's Energy Crisis.
February 11, 2008... Ahmadi-Nejad is also blamed for the worst energy crisis Iran is now facing. In one of the coldest winters Iranians is experiencing in recent memory, the government is failing to provide natural gas to tens of thousands of people across the...

The Swelling GCC Wealth & Implications.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
February 11, 2008... With high crude oil prices, GCC states have emerged as major players on the global financial stage, snapping up stakes in prominent Western retailers, stock markets and investment banks. This fortune portends both promise and risk for economies...

Abu Dhabi Economy Grows Fast.
February 11, 2008... At the Abu Dhabi Economic Forum which opened on Feb. 3, top officials announced that Abu Dhabi's GDP will grow by at least 8.2% in 2008 and an average of 13% in the years to follow. Nasser bin Ahmad al-Suwaidi, chairman of the Abu Dhabi...

Lebanon, Syria & Iran Shaken By Hariri Day & Murder Of Hizbullah War Chief Mughniyeh.(Rafic Hariri)(Imad Mughniyeh)
February 18, 2008... *** Jumblatt At The Feb. 14 Rally Said The Assad Regime Killed Mughniyeh; At The Same Event Sa'd Hariri Said Assad Was An 'Israeli Product' - The Same Accusation The Syrian Ruler Had Made Against The March 14 Coalition In Lebanon After...

Hizbullah's Threats.
February 18, 2008... At Mughniyeh's funeral, Nasrallah on Feb. 14 threatened to strike at Israeli targets in various parts of the world, in what he called an "open war". In a fiery eulogy delivered by video linkup at the funeral, an angry Nasrallah told those...

Bush Expands Sanctions On Assad Officials.
February 18, 2008... President Bush on Feb. 13 ordered expanded financial sanctions against senior Syrian officials and their associates in his latest bid to step up pressure on Damascus. The White House said the measures were intended to freeze US assets of those...

Pakistan Hangs Between A Difficult Democracy & Chaos - With Implications For Kabul.
February 25, 2008... *** IRGC Commander Ja'fari, One Of The Supremacists In The Iranian Theocracy, On Feb. 18 Repeated The Feb. 14 Vow Of Hizbullah Chief Nasrallah That His Leb. Fighters Will Destroy Israel 'In The Near Future', Calling The Jewish State...