Energy differences between Russia and European countries have created an opportunity for the GUAM states — Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova — to assume a more prominent role in Europe’s institutional architecture. Until now, the GUAM has been overshadowed by more prominent institutions such as NATO, the European Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Most recent attention has focused on how GUAM might help EU members pursue their energy diversification strategy. GUAM includes both energy-producing (Azerbaijan) and energy-transit (Azerbaijan again but also Georgia and potentially Ukraine) countries. The pivotal geographic location of GUAM members — which have direct access [...]
While the United States debates the benefits of weaning itself from foreign oil, one Western hemisphere neighbor has already moved boldly to achieve energy independence: Brazil. With record levels of ethanol production and the recent discovery of a monster underwater oil field, South America’s largest country is on its way to becoming energy self-sufficient. Brazil’s favorable energy position is due to a combination of foresight and good fortune: the government’s decision years ago to mandate ethanol production to reduce oil dependency and the find of the massive offshore Tupi oil fields. The discovery, in November last year, of the Tupi [...]
IRIBA, Chad — Four years after some quarter-million people fled ethnic cleansing in Sudan’s Darfur province for the relative safety of eastern Chad, one of the world’s most persistent humanitarian crises shows no signs of letting up. Indeed, there are signs that Darfuri refugees are in Chad to stay, despite acute shortages of water, firewood and food. Today the Darfuri refugees are housed in a dozen U.N.-administered camps that, over time, have become more like permanent towns and less like the squalid tent cities of popular conception. But appearances can be deceiving: Despite seeming self-sufficient on the surface, the camps [...]
