Gazprom? Who Cares! Just Keep Us Warm!
OPED
What does Georgia want from the famous Russian energy giant? And vice versa, what is it that might interest Gazprom in a miniature client like Georgia? Based on what we happen to conceive from the information available to us via local press and broadcast media, the clear answer to those two simple questions is not even looming on the horizon – so far, at least.
What I think tends to take place is that the Georgian government has long been diligently obfuscating for some cause, unbeknownst to the public, its talks with Gazprom, describing the deal as an attempt to diversify the country’s access to natural gas in general. Yet the opposition to the current Georgian government is persistently qualifying the obvious courting of the Russian gas industry as the fact of betrayal of Georgia’s national interests.
What can we, the totally misinformed rank-and-file of Georgia, think in this case, being flagrantly caught between the hammer and the anvil? The thing is that we the people never know anything about the goings-on in the country’s business world – this is clearly a taboo: businesses are doing their big covert shtick, and the people are busy with their overt little goals and deeds.
But the governments have their administrative tentacles all over the place, trying to somehow control both of them. The only thing that we might physically feel is that the imported gas smells like politics here and politics like gas. This is all we might have a receptive nose and sharp ear for.
The rest is shrouded in secrecy. As a matter of fact, I don’t give a damn about what is happening with gas in this country. For our own happiness, we the consumers only need to be informed about the purity and caloric quality, and certainly be given low prices on the gas we use in everyday life.
Lucky are the nations who would only consume natural gas for heating and cooking, and not be glued to their television sets for hours in order to hear and see who is sending us gas and for how much. We all need to come home after a long day’s drudgery, use our gas-hobs to cook our dinner and then watch something on TV that will not bother us with long and drawn-out gibberish about gas politics that the big bugs up there are terribly interested in for some reasons unknown. Would this be too much for an honest working human to ask?
Let the government take care of the politics needed to provide gas that should be readily available to its subjects who are exhausted by too much politics in the natural gas business. And let us, the regular men and women in the street, get on with the business of enjoying our lives.
On a more serious note, we all have some doubts and second thoughts about the entire covered-up deal taking place between the Russian gas company and the Georgian government, but the situation could be made easier on both the governed and the governors if the Georgian administration made the content of negotiations with Gazprom biggies open and transparent so that all of us in Georgia could relax and stay happy.
And finally, let us call this one a regular human interest story – not an article on business or politics. I would love to stay away from both this time around, especially in the festive spirit of the New Year holiday, still being celebrated in both Russia and Georgia.
Gazprom is a Russian public joint stock company, born the year of Soviet demise, and involved in the business of extraction, production, transport and sale of natural gas worldwide. It is notoriously reputed for abusing its energy potential for clout in global politics.
Nugzar B. Ruhadze