Final Word from Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Dick Cheney went to Lithuania last week and warned Vladimir Putin not to use natural-gas and oil supplies as tools of intimidation and blackmail. As he was doing so, Jiří Paroubek was sending a letter to Putin asking him to sell below-market natural gas to the CR for producing electricity. Other CEE countries are criticizing Putin for his Soviet-era energy policy, but Paroubek begged to become a tool of it. Perhaps Paroubek's letter to Putin is merely another effort - after the ousting of Alan Svoboda from ČEZ's board - to appear to take a stance against the sharp rise in energy rates that his own government rubber-stamped. Or perhaps it's more an extension of Paroubek's proposed immigration policy, which treats the Slavs as one great nation. Either way, Paroubek seems to be saying that if Gazprom isn't welcome in other EU countries, the door is still wide open in the CR.[Czech Republic U.S. United States vice president Central and Eastern Europe Soviet Union European Union Slavic]