日本での忙しい毎日が続いておりまして、今日は久々の更新です。
来週の講演会ですが、既に教えた方々から、色々なフィードバックという形でさらに進化したものとなっております。
個人的には戦略学や地政学の原理というのはけっこう使えるものということをあらためて実感しております。
さて、今日は久々に「地政学的」なニュースがありました。
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Russian PM casts doubt over US$9.4bn pipeline
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suggested Wednesday that Russia might call off construction of the Europe-bound Nord Stream natural gas pipeline unless Europe offers more support for the project.
By CATRINA STEWART
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suggested Wednesday that Russia might call off construction of the Europe-bound Nord Stream natural gas pipeline unless Europe offers more support for the project.
The 7.4 billion euro (US$9.4 billion) export project is intended to bypass Poland and the Baltic countries, running from Russia to Europe along the bed of the Baltic Sea. Russia wants to diversify its westward export routes to decrease reliance on its neighbors.
However, some Baltic Sea nations oppose the pipeline on environmental grounds and it has added to European concerns about overreliance on Russian gas.
(中略)
The 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) pipeline is intended to carry 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of gas each year from the northwestern Russian port of Vyborg to the northern German port of Greifswald, bypassing current routes through Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.
Work on the pipeline is scheduled to start next year and be completed by 2012.
(中略)
Concerned about its growing dependence on imported oil and gas, the European Union is trying to widen its range of energy supplies and transport routes. It relies on Russia for about one quarter of its gas needs.
Russia's state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom currently holds 51 percent of the project, while German energy companies E.ON Ruhrgas AG and Wintershall AG each hold 20 percent. Dutch company Gasunie has a 9 percent share.
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ノードストリームですが、これはEU側に対する「キャンセルするぞ!」というプーチン側からの脅し(ブラフ)ですね(苦笑
次はおなじみゴードン・チャンです。オバマの対中国経済政策について触れております。
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Will Obama Restrict Trade with China?
Gordon G. Chang 11.10.08, 12:00 AM ET
(中略)
The assumption, in the U.S. as well as China, is that Obama will try to govern from the middle and adopt pro-globalization positions on trade with the Chinese. After all, one of his advisers assured the Canadians he would not, as he promised during the primaries, renegotiate NAFTA or pull America out of it. And both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush abandoned harsh electioneering rhetoric on China after winning office.
Yet history might not repeat itself in coming years, especially because political factors both in China and the U.S. will inhibit Obama's ability to change his announced positions on trade. In China, Beijing is taking steps that will inevitably aggravate relations with trading partners. In July, for example, central government leaders stopped the appreciation of the renminbi in an apparent attempt to preserve a cost advantage for the country's exporters. Then, Beijing strengthened export incentives, a maneuver bound to rile China's trading partners and give rise to disputes.
Moreover, the moves to boost exports have helped depress consumption, which is in fact beginning to slow. Slowing consumption, of course, will tend to lessen the demand for foreign goods over time. One of the Bush administration's strong arguments for free trade with China is that America's sales to that country are growing. Obviously, when that growth slows or stops, the case against protectionism weakens, at least from a political point of view. China's leaders are still mercantilists, and they are acting quickly to defend their outsized trade surpluses in a declining global economy.
In the U.S., on the other hand, internal factors also point to a move away from free trade policies
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中国とアメリカとの貿易関係は悪くなる、ということを言っております。
まあ不況になるから当然といえば当然なんですが、やはり世界はアウタルキーを目指すことになるのでしょうか。自由貿易で生きている日本にとってはやや分が悪い時代になってきているような。