Russian Energy as a Challenge and a Bonus for European Security: The Caspian-Black Sea Avenue

Since the mid-2000s, the question of the politically exploitable dependency of some EU member states upon imports of Russian gas has gained such prominence that it is commonly perceived as among the crucial risks to the European security system. Even the massive economic crisis that hit the EU and Russia in 2008 and continues to torment their financial systems as of this writing (November 2011) has brought surprisingly little rethinking of the key postulates underlying the 'energy security' perspective. Indeed, 'end-of-oil' fears have largely evaporated; the role of the consumer in the energy markets has been greatly augmented; and, in retrospect, even the fiasco of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 now appears both pre-determined and not necessarily detrimental. This article does not aim at sorting out the discord between the old guidelines and new fiscal austerity. It is driven by the more limited ambition of elucidating some distortions and omissions in mainstream political thinking about energy matters. The focus is on Europe's south-eastern periphery, including Turkey, Ukraine and the Caucasus. Adapted from the source document.