GUYANA CHRONICLE THURSDAY May 22, 2014
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As Putin looks east…
China, Russia sign US$400 billion gas deal
THE long-awaited agreement is a political triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is courting partners in Asia as those in Europe and the United States seek to isolate him over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. Commercially, much depends on the price and other terms of the contract, which has been more than a decade in the making. China had the upper hand
as talks entered the home stretch, aware of Putin’s face-off with the West. But both sides could take positives from a deal that will directly link Russia’s huge gas fields to Asia’s booming market for the first time - via thousands of miles of new pipeline across Siberia that form part of the package. “This is the biggest contract in the history of the gas sector of the former USSR,” said Putin, after the agree-
ment was signed in Shanghai between state-controlled entities Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). “Our Chinese friends are difficult, hard negotiators,” he said, noting that talks went on until 4 a.m. “Through mutual compromise we managed to reach not only acceptable, but rather satisfactory, terms on this contract for both sides. Both sides were in the end pleased by the compro-
mise reached on price and other terms,” the president said. Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping applauded as they witnessed the deal being signed before the Russian leader was to leave Shanghai at the end of a twoday visit. The agreement came in time for a major economic
summit in St. Petersburg starting today. About a dozen chief executives and chairmen of major U.S. and European firms have withdrawn from the forum over the Ukraine crisis. Putin loyalist and senior parliamentarian Alexei Pushkov, who was included on a U.S. list of sanctions imposed in the wake of the cri-
sis in Ukraine, said the gas deal showed Russia could not be isolated. “B. Obama should abandon the policy of isolating Russia: it will not work,” he tweeted, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama, who has pushed for greater Western punishment of Russia.
Cuba blocks Yoani Sanchez’s dissident newspaper (BBC) The Cuban govern- zilian media outfits. ment has blocked an online The editors of yoannewspaper launched by i$landia do not identify well-known dissident blog- themselves, but they are ger Yoani Sanchez, hours believed to be Cuban govafter it went live. ernment officials. Web users in Cuba are Cuban media, including being diverted to another website, which accuses Ms Sanchez of having hidden political interests. Ms Sanchez said her website, called 14ymedio, would provide daily news about the communist-run country. She insisted it would not be a platform against the government. But web users in Cuba reported that they were Yoani Sanchez was one being diverted to a web- of the activists allowed site calling itself “yoan- to travel abroad after i$landia”, which accuses Ms Sanchez of being “ob- the government eased restrictions in 2013 sessed with money”. “This website is from a group of people who had the country’s three national enough of seeing Yoani San- newspapers, are under strict chez presenting herself as the state control. But President Raul CasMother Teresa of Calcutta of Cuban dissidents,” says an tro has eased restrictions on dissidents in recent years, article on the site. It adds that Ms Sanchez allowing opponents of the is “probably the richest Cu- government - including Sanban on the island” and is chez - to travel abroad. In her blog published in funded by Spanish and Bra-
the online paper’s first edition, Sanchez says 14ymedio has been an obsession for her for more than four years. She says she wants the paper to “contribute information so that Cubans can decide with more maturity their own destinies”. Its first edition also features a report from a Havana hospital, describing the work of nurses and other staff on night duty and the victims of violence they attend to. It also showcases a lengthy interview with jailed opposition writer Angel Santiesteban. But not all its contents is of a political nature. There is also advice on how to deal with dry or damaged hair and a sports feature on why Cuban football is getting less coverage and state backing than baseball. Sanchez achieved international recognition with her prize-winning blog Generation Y, in which she criticised the restrictions on freedom of speech and movement imposed on the island since the 1959 revolution.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (L) and China’s President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai yesterday (Reuters photo)