The Bear sits on the media's head
For several years now, my primary academic obsession has been with Russian energy politics towards the Near Abroad. The clues were abundant - multitudes of examples of Russian energy companies buying up energy interests in the former Soviet republics, exerting heavy-handed pressure by threatening to cut off energy supplies to anti-Russian republics, and controlling ever greater sectors of these republics' economies. All the while the media snored, unaware that a Bear was tapping its claw on their heads.
Finally, the Bear got frustrated and sat on the heads of the media. Suddenly, oh boy! Look at this! Russia may have a foreign policy interest based on energy politics rather than on traditional military power! Amazing! Look at that! Ukraine goes against Russia, and its gas rates are raised five-fold, while Belarus' gas-rates stay steady. Hey, maybe there's something going on here! The media, squashed by the sitting Bear starts writing things up.
This drives me crazy. It's not just the media either - experts and scholars have been strangely silent on the topic. How could they not see the clues? I always figured they simply weren't interested. I guess they simply didn't get it.
So upon the suggestion of one of my friends, I am going to pull out my paper from April, rewrite it to include the latest information, and submit it for publication. If everyone else is too dense to see the all-caps writing on the wall, that's their problem, not mine.
Finally, the Bear got frustrated and sat on the heads of the media. Suddenly, oh boy! Look at this! Russia may have a foreign policy interest based on energy politics rather than on traditional military power! Amazing! Look at that! Ukraine goes against Russia, and its gas rates are raised five-fold, while Belarus' gas-rates stay steady. Hey, maybe there's something going on here! The media, squashed by the sitting Bear starts writing things up.
This drives me crazy. It's not just the media either - experts and scholars have been strangely silent on the topic. How could they not see the clues? I always figured they simply weren't interested. I guess they simply didn't get it.
So upon the suggestion of one of my friends, I am going to pull out my paper from April, rewrite it to include the latest information, and submit it for publication. If everyone else is too dense to see the all-caps writing on the wall, that's their problem, not mine.
posted by Nixie at 7:22 PM
4 Comments:
WHY DO YOU HATE MOTHER RUSSIA JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE I WILL RAISE YOUR ENERGY PRICES FIVE FOLD AND THEN WE WILL SEE WHO IS REAL SUPER POWER!!!
If issues with Gazprom were so obvious to you, why didn't you ever discuss it in any of your posts? Funny how you're claiming the media is so myopic, but the only thing you've discussed with any real interest is food, weather, television shows and your cat. Which in fact sounds like the range of subjects reported in most American newspapers. (Well, except for your cat). Pot, kettle, black?
The purpose of my blog is not to be serious or political. It's to let me write about random things in my life. People who know me personally know that I can go into passionate explorations of my favorite topics - like Russian energy or Roma rights - ad nauseum, particularly when partying.
In the past I have discussed more serious academic and political subjects on my blog, but since starting law school I've found that what little free time I have is less spent in passionate outbursts of writing and more spent cooking.
I support your defense of your blog. Obviously you have readers, but a blog is in no way the editorial page of the Times. And I love the metaphor of the Bear. Can it be a polar bear?
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