Energy Alliance Fuels Fears
On September 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a gas pipeline pact that had been negotiated between his nation and Germany.
Stretching 750 miles under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, the pipeline is planned to be completed by 2010. Yet curiously, it will bypass the Baltic States and Poland, even though it would be cheaper to sign “right of way” contracts with these countries, allowing the pipeline to traverse their territory. Why choose the costlier option of building the pipeline under the sea?
According to former Lithuanian head of state and European parliamentarian Vytautas Landsbergis, “The new Russian-German alliance, which is today called an ‘energy alliance,’ is a plan to change the political map of Europe” (Deutsche Welle, September 8).
That political map Landsbergis refers to is the European Union. This union is said to be built on democratic principles, including equality and transparency. Any independent move made by a member that gives it an upper-hand over other members upsets the balance of power.
Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski agrees that there could be a plan to change Europe in the offing. Citing the energy alliance, he recently said that the deal was struck over his head and added, “From the point of view of the European Union … of common EU policy toward Russia, it is not a good situation if one EU member, an important country, Germany, conducts such a policy over our heads and over EU heads” (Mail and Guardian, September 8).
President Kwasniewski also added, “[T]he fact that neither Poland nor the Baltic States were consulted gives rise to suspicions that there is a political dimension to the project” (EU Business, September 8; emphasis ours).
“The Baltic States and Poland are particularly wary of pacts struck behind their backs between Germany and Russia,” Poland’s president said, because they remind them of Germany’s imperialist past and its subsequent result: Poland and the Baltic States were annexed by the Soviet Union after Russia and Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939.
So while Russian-German relations warm up, Eastern European countries fear the prospect of history repeating itself. As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, “This revives ominous memories of previous Russo-German cooperation” (September 6).
Germany, for its part, is quite clear about its intention to pursue its relationship with Russia despite Eastern European discomfort. “We have now a very deep cooperation,” German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said. “It is known that both countries are very close when it comes to energy. But we are developing a strategic partnership …” (International Herald Tribune,April 12).
According to Stratfor, the Baltic Sea pipeline venture, along with other agreements made earlier this year, is “evidence of a substantial, real alliance taking shape” (April 12).
It is this stylized cooperation that allowed Germany to secure its eastern flank and focus its energies on dominating Europe prior to World War ii.
“Most West European leaders are themselves anxious not to notice this threat. If they did, they might have to do something about it” (Chicago Sun-Times, op. cit.)
For their part, Poland and the Baltic States can’t be blamed for noticing the historic parallels.
As the saying goes, if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. In the case of Russo-German relations, this energy alliance points to the fact that some treacherous history might be repeating itself.
