Ken Silverstein
Ken Silverstein's 'The Secret World of Oil' explores a murky business on which the west depends. Oil is the world's most important traded commodity. It powers our cars and drives our industry. And surging energy demand in developing countries from China to Brazil means its significance will only grow.
But how much do we really know about the business? Some of its public faces are familiar – the Gulf potentates, the bosses of BP and ExxonMobil, energy ministers in Europe and the US
The Kazakh authorities did everything possible to prevent journalists spoiling the party when President Nursultan Nazarbayev received his Russian and Belarusian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Aleksander Lukashenko, in Astana on 29 May for the signing of the treaty creating the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Kazakhstan and Belarus on Thursday into a new Eurasian Economic Union built to rival the United States, EU and China - but the absence of Ukraine undermined his dream of restoring Soviet glory days.
It won't exactly mean going back to the USSR, but Vladimir Putin is laying the foundations of a huge trading bloc which opponents see as an attempt to recreate at least part of the lost Soviet empire.
Associated Press reports that, facing public opposition and allegations of official corruption, Krakow, Poland, is withdrawing its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. It follows Stockholm, which pulled out in December due to concerns over costs. This leaves four cities officially in the running: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing, China; Lviv, Ukraine; and Oslo, Norway.
As Austrian media „Die Kronen Zeitung" is reporting, the former Kazakh Ambassador to Austria and the International Institutions Rakhat Aliyev - European crime units investigate against him on charges of double murder, torture, abduction and money-laundering - can travel around Europe in private learjets.
Two prominent activists lobbying against Kazakhstan's membership in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) – due to be created next week – have been hauled in for interrogation by Kazakhstan's domestic intelligence service over an alleged plot by Russian nationalists to destabilize the country.
