Russia Threatening To Turn Off Natural Gas To Belarus w/o Doubled Price, Pipeline Control - AP

MINSK, Belarus - Residents of Belarus' capital stocked up on warm clothes and electric heaters as fears rose Tuesday that Russia is about to cut off the natural gas on which the country depends.

Russia says Belarus must pay more than twice as much for gas next year — and even more later — and turn over a half-share in its pipeline system, a major transit route to Europe, if it wants to avoid a New Year's gas shut-off.

The dispute bears strong echoes of last year's crisis between Russia and Ukraine, which caused ripples of concern in Western Europe, whose supplies of Russian gas were briefly disrupted. But in that case, Russia's price demand was seen as political pressure against a Western-leaning government; this time it is against a country whose longtime leader has close ties with Moscow.

Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich suggested Gazprom's demands are aimed at forcing President Alexander Lukashenko to cede control over the pipeline network and other attributes of sovereignty in exchange for continued Russian support for his authoritarian regime. "Through energy pressure, the Kremlin is trying to force Lukashenko to integrate according to the Russian scenario, which is extremely dangerous for Belarus," Milinkevich told The Associated Press.

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061226/ap_on_bi_ge/belarus_russia_gas_war_1

thank God the Cold War is over...they are such a freedom loving paradise now!

There are very, very many posts on this board promoting nuclear power as the ultimate solution to all of our energy woes. Ignoring the problems of reactor waste, weapons proliferation, skyrocketing operations costs and political opposition there is another problem.

The group that controls the reactors controls the country.

How easy it would be for the government of Mexico if Oaxaca had been supplied with all of it's power by one or two nuclear plants. Depending on electricity very few people would have alternative means of cooking, heating or cooling. When the people get uppity just shut there power off neat as that. Then wait while the people get hungry, cold and dirty.

Of course that's hard to do if people have generators in the form of hybrid vehicles complete with batteries. It's hard to do if half the rooftops are covered in solar panels. It's hard to do if one of the nearby ridgeline supplies wind power. The government has to control all those locations and the lines and switching centers too.

Autocrats LOVE nuclear power because it focuses political power to a degree that is otherwise hard to realize. Plutonium really is forever.

I'll bet they'll be queueing round the block at the Oaxaca Toyota dealerships, itching to put a $22k Prius on their Platinum Amex cards. Maybe they can swing around to BP Solar on the way home to buy a KW PV array with some loose change.

Except, of course, the average annual income in Oaxaca is US$1,679.

So maybe they won't.