I was reading on Yahoo about Gazprom, Russia's energy giant. The article stated that Gazprom export revenues have soared by 43% in the past year. Yet, this type of power and control over the energy market has some analysts worried. As I've discussed before, when Russia gets angry at other nations, all it has to do to show its discontent is to cut off gas supplies, as it has done to Germany, Belarus and Georgia before. Some believe that Russia is using Gazprom as a foreign policy tool to throw its weight around Europe and control neighboring nations. There are concerns that Gazprom's supplies are not secure, since the exporting of these supplies seeems to be cut off by Russia at will. In addition, Gazprom is eliminating competition by gobbling up other smaller energy companies.

This article in Yahoo seemed to dovetail with the article I read in the Economist about Russia's use of its energy wealth. Unless fossil fuel-poor nations can figure out a way to be more independent, they are likely going to remain the pawns of Russia. A huge pipeline to the Middle East that avoids Russia entirely is one idea, as the Economist article mentioned, yet this sounds complicated and expensive to implement. Further, is Russia simply going to lie down and let this happen without any repercussions to other European nations? Won't these nations feel the brunt of Russia's displeasure with them while this pipeline infrastructure is being built? What will Europe do for energy in this interim? Averting reliance on Russia for energy seems a wise move for most of Europe, but it appears that these nations should be looking within their countries for as much in the way of resources as they can. By accessing wind and solar power, these nations could have at least a back-up if Russian gas supplies dry up or if Russia retaliates while a pipeline to the Middle East is constructed. Eventually, perhaps these alternative energy sources will become such as strong industry in these nations, that they won't need to look beyond their own borders for energy. With the way Russia is behaving in using Gazprom as a weapon, it seems best to keep ties as minimal as possible.