Russian Oil

R

rock45

Active member
I was wondering what if the USA shifted it's oil purchases from the Middle East to Russia, does Russia produce enough?

I'm looking at it as way to take a little of the power away from the Saudi's and others from the region.

Another reason is Venezuela, could Venezuela find somebody who could refined their heavy crude? And at the levels we do currently? If we could pick up the barrels from somebody else wouldn't be a good way of putting him in his place?

Is this to crazy of an idea?
 
Actually the US doesn't get much oil from the Middle East EXCEPT from Saudi Arabia
the top oil importers to the US are:


http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

CANADA
SAUDI ARABIA
MEXICO
VENEZUELA
NIGERIA
IRAQ
ANGOLA
ALGERIA
KUWAIT
BRAZIL
ECUADOR
COLOMBIA
RUSSIA
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
UNITED KINGDOM

As for Russia, their capacity is pretty capped as they supply oil and gas to most of Western Europe. They do supply some to the US, but their main customer is Europe.
 
Putting that much focus on the Russians would be dangerous, and would only help the Medvedev/Putin hand. Especially since Russia, is attempting to destabilize the E.U. by working with individual countries. (Shamefully, I must regret that it is our former Chancellor who is in their pocket).

As long as transparency, credibility and a lack of accountability pervades Russian relations, I think that should be enough detterant from most countries outside of the E.U. to deal with Russia. Especially since they are attempting to control the price and flow of natural gas and oil. Not to mention cut off the supply to their own closest ally, Belarus.
 
Gebirgsjäger said:
Putting that much focus on the Russians would be dangerous, and would only help the Medvedev/Putin hand. Especially since Russia, is attempting to destabilize the E.U. by working with individual countries. (Shamefully, I must regret that it is our former Chancellor who is in their pocket).

As long as transparency, credibility and a lack of accountability pervades Russian relations, I think that should be enough detterant from most countries outside of the E.U. to deal with Russia. Especially since they are attempting to control the price and flow of natural gas and oil. Not to mention cut off the supply to their own closest ally, Belarus.
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He's working Merkel like she's a piece of rubber. In their first meeting, Putin and Merkel were chatting informally about animals, and it came up that Merkel was afraid of dogs. Every meeting between the two since then has been attended by Putin's Labrador Retriever.

At least one country has sat up and taken notice of Russia's new power. Poland finally accepted to the Missile deal with the US in return for assistance to modernize their military.

However I think that the South Ossetian conflict shows how much America currently cares about the situation. Or does care but cannot act. The Russians know this and will exploit it with all their increasing might. And their natural gas supply to Europe means that they're literately the big bad boy with all the money. Unless Europle can somehow get off of Natural Gas the russians will have a lot of power for years to come.
 
The Other Guy said:
He's working Merkel like she's a piece of rubber. In their first meeting, Putin and Merkel were chatting informally about animals, and it came up that Merkel was afraid of dogs. Every meeting between the two since then has been attended by Putin's Labrador Retriever.

At least one country has sat up and taken notice of Russia's new power. Poland finally accepted to the Missile deal with the US in return for assistance to modernize their military.

However I think that the South Ossetian conflict shows how much America currently cares about the situation. Or does care but cannot act. The Russians know this and will exploit it with all their increasing might. And their natural gas supply to Europe means that they're literately the big bad boy with all the money. Unless Europle can somehow get off of Natural Gas the russians will have a lot of power for years to come.
Click to expand...

I think the sad reality is, that Poland has for centuries relied on belief that the pacts they make will somehow ensure their survival in case of a threat against them. While I do understand the overall negative reaction and move away from the Eastern bloc, since for forty-four years they had been occupied and generally been under the thumb of the Kremlin, none the less, the fact that in the last twenty years since the round-table talks. Poland seems to have learned nothing from history.

America cares nothing about Poland's sovereignty. In fact the reason why they placed those missiles on Poland, is to ensure that at least some of the nuclear missiles that would be send on America, will be diverted to Poland and the rest of the Eastern Europe where the batteries have been placed.

Merkel may be influenced, but I think it is the overall failure of the E.U. to ensure that Russia only negotiates with the Bloc. It was Schröder after all who undermined the gas negotiations and decided to over step the E.U. by negotiating with the Russians for the pipeline running through the Baltic. Now, he enjoys a seat on the board of Gazprom.

Either way though, while Poland may recognize the power of Russia, I think it's foolish to tow a line that America is towing, especially when the United States has lost so much of its prestige and reputation on the world stage. I think Poland needs to carve out its own sovereign, independant diplomacy; while they should ensure that they do not overcede the rules and regulations imposed by the E.U., I think they need to recognize that the E.U. is the most important community they should be aligning themselves with.
 
Gebirgsjäger said:
I think the sad reality is, that Poland has for centuries relied on belief that the pacts they make will somehow ensure their survival in case of a threat against them. While I do understand the overall negative reaction and move away from the Eastern bloc, since for forty-four years they had been occupied and generally been under the thumb of the Kremlin, none the less, the fact that in the last twenty years since the round-table talks. Poland seems to have learned nothing from history.

America cares nothing about Poland's sovereignty. In fact the reason why they placed those missiles on Poland, is to ensure that at least some of the nuclear missiles that would be send on America, will be diverted to Poland and the rest of the Eastern Europe where the batteries have been placed.

Merkel may be influenced, but I think it is the overall failure of the E.U. to ensure that Russia only negotiates with the Bloc. It was Schröder after all who undermined the gas negotiations and decided to over step the E.U. by negotiating with the Russians for the pipeline running through the Baltic. Now, he enjoys a seat on the board of Gazprom.

Either way though, while Poland may recognize the power of Russia, I think it's foolish to tow a line that America is towing, especially when the United States has lost so much of its prestige and reputation on the world stage. I think Poland needs to carve out its own sovereign, independant diplomacy; while they should ensure that they do not overcede the rules and regulations imposed by the E.U., I think they need to recognize that the E.U. is the most important community they should be aligning themselves with.
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They have no other choice. They're in between the Eastern Bloc and Germany. They're somewhat forced to rely on foreign powers to help them. They have westernized their military. And they're counting that NATO will not ignore the invasion of one of its members, combined with the more modern military.

Do note that Poland was the only country to fight the Soviet Union in war and win.
 
While the geo-political position of Poland has been its weakest point throughout much of its history. I think that the overall siding with the United States right after the fall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union is by all means, and was by all means a mistake. The fact remains that Poland has always sacrificed its men and sovereignty for the "good" of its neighbours. From the Muslim invaders, when Jan III Sobieski defeated them at Vienna, to the overall effort they gave to fighting the German forces during the Second World War. In both cases, shortly after Poland would be sold off to the highest bidder. In the case of Jan III Sobieski, they were sold off by a bunch of their own nobleman to Russia, Prussia and Austro-Hungary, and in the case of the Second World War, those Western Allies that had promised Poland that they would come in case of invasion, Poland was sold to the Soviet Union, as part of its buffer zone.

I think Poland, in its idealistic, emotional sense has been abused by the people it has historically seen as friends. The United States nor Western Europe is any different. From the obsolete rocket defense system being placed on Polish soil, to the economic and social conditions that Poland has to follow in order to tow the E.U. standards, I think overall Poland has historically and even contemporarily gained the shorter end of the stick.

As for defeating the Soviets in the war of 1920, I cannot deny that, but at the same time, I think we must recognise that while the victory had been substantial, Soviet Russia had been involved in a gruelling four year war, had a massive revolution and was still fighting a civil war between the White Russians and the Bolsheviks. The Trotsky/Lenin Third Internationale attempt to spread Revolution past its borders was, for the lack of a better word half-arsed.
 
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