It was Lord Palmerston, one of the chief architects of Britain’s imperial policy in the 19th century, who stated that a nation has no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev is putting a 21st century twist on Palmerston’s maxim and applying it to the Caspian Basin oil-and-gas game. Russia, as the state with the most to lose in the Caspian Basin at present, is heeding what Nazarbayev has to say. Following an announcement that the state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom would pay up to 50 percent more for natural gas imports from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstani officials announced December 5 they too intended to jack up the price of gas exports by roughly 36 percent. Russia seems ready to agree to the new Kazakhstani price of $190 per 1,000 cubic meters. Full Story
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