It's been an up-and-down year for the Nabucco natural gas pipeline. Just as work on the long-stalled project seems set to finally begin, some shift -- usually at the hand of Russian energy giant Gazprom -- alters the commercial landscape and Nabucco's chances appear to recede. But the pipeline's supporters have just selected a big name in European politics to help push the project toward realization -- former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
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The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has sought to promote itself as a "rising beast in the East" and an Asian counter to NATO. But for all the experience under its belt, the SCO -- which formally gathers Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan -- is looking less formidable than usual.
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As Central Asian leaders have increasingly sounded the alarm of the security threat posed by foreign militants, a familiar name has entered the argument -- the Taliban. Is the threat of the Taliban real, or merely fear mongering?
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A year ago, Gazprom was sitting on top of the world, but the fortunes of Russia's state gas company have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. While the company still ranks among the world's most valuable, it's worth less than half what it was in 2008, and a number of problems lurk on the horizon.
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Boasting huge hydrocarbon reserves, Central Asia has become accustomed to the stream of foreign companies and politicians who visit hoping to lock up energy deals. For the most part, European representatives have returned home empty-handed. But with Central Asian states seeking to break Russia's dominance of their energy-export routes, they are hitting the road to court the EU.
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