The Importance of Energy Politics - Assignment Example

Energy Politics Energy is a property of an object that can be converted into the form. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Energy is so important to every nation and when the area is said to be rich in any energy, much attention is given to the place. Central Asia is known for its richness in oil and natural gas resources. This has brought great interest in the area China, Russia, and the UK. Russia are one of the biggest producers of energy while on the other hand, China is one of the largest users of energy and this has brought on the fight for the access and control of the region so that the countries can be able meet their needs. Central Asia have been one most important area going even back to history and was even called "The Great Game." For example, there have been conflicts between the Russian empire and the British Empire for the control in Central Asia. During the post-colonial period, the area was of great impact for its where the geopolitical power setup of the Great Powers and the then regional authorities used to compete for power (Kim 1901).The year 2001United States attacked by al-Qaeda. These lead the United States to invade the Afghanistan with the aim of doing away with the Taliban regime which had al-Qaeda operate in the area. But by the end of 2001, the Taliban regime had already lost almost all the control of the area, and they headed out to the Pakistan tribal areas. Many authors used to view "The New Game" as a way of being winning contact to the petroleum politics and Central Asia. The battle control of energy resources would be a “great game” in the 19th century and could bring conflict all in the fight for power in Central Asia (Kissinger, 131). There have been problems caused by the presence of China in the Central Asia. This has drawn the attention from all over the world like Russia and China have had their interests crashing and this cause the two powers to compete against each other. The competition between the two has been seen as a significant threat to security as the two have a great effect on the world. The two countries also have had significant assets in the Central Asia which has made them have top choices when the issues of border security arise. In Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have also been on the site and mind of many shareholders. This is because they produce of natural gases and oil. But Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have not been getting the best out of the investors as they are attractive in the fossil fuel reserves. Kazakhstan is been seen as a potential producer of oil in years to come (Hammond). Russia views the handling of Central Asia energy resources as a way to join its economic interests and the overall political agenda of the Russia that is to be a superpower state. This would regulate their domestic energy prices. On the other hand, China has been a leading importer of natural gas. The consumption continues to increase, and this makes the region politically unstable. China is enhancing different imports of oils that are all to improve the energy security of China. Energy is of most important to countries and these calls for countries to fight for power. These demands for governments to review tradeoffs between energy security and other national goals. Energy policy requires foreign combinations of foreign national safety and other trade policies that will be guidelines for investors programs and tax. There should also be room for private sectors to construct and enlarge most of their pipelines, power plants, and other infrastructures. This will help to rebuild energy infrastructures and make them be expanded rapidly. Large consumptions of energy at times see the disruptions of most of the Petroleum Reserves. For example, in Libya, there have been pipeline closures by militia groups who have made export of oil hard. In other countries like Nigeria, the delta conflicts have always been making oil sites to close most of the times. In Iraq also, there have been a decline in the export of oil due to attacks from Kirkuk to Ceyhan in Turkey. When upkeep time comes, there also develops a reduction of exports that is usually hundred thousand barrels. The International Energy Agency has its policies that some are to build strategic reserves of the crude oil and petroleum products. These will play a part when there is a disruption for there would be sharing their energy. This will see the normal production of energy not been interrupted in any way (“Strategic Energy Plan”). In other instances, an American history calls for clear and full outlook for policies that would go on to solve Americans problems in the long term. There is believe that the survey and the misuse of the hydrocarbon resources that are mostly found in the Northern slope of Alaska will bring into account new resources that would reduce the amount of which the United states depends on imports of oil. These will go an excellent way to impact on the prices of oil in the United States, and this kind of stability provides economic growth in the nation as well as durable solutions of energy. The importance of this energy has seen countries forming alliances that will unite them. The Sino-Russia Treaty of Friendly Cooperation, which is set to enhance good and friendship and cooperation and relation. The Treaty is set to unite and work between the two for a period of 30 years. After the attacks of the al-Qaeda, the United States made some policies in central Asia. The policies were to maintain in the region and to the independence of Central Asian state as well as the creation of military centers which will be all to make the military well equipped to fight terrorism from the Islamic terror groups. The Russian China trusts all sets to protect them against unipolar world order. This relation can be terminated only if the China challenges the United States which is a potential step and this would come to interrupt the relation and cooperation between the Russia and China and this makes Russia to view Chana as their great threat to their financial and economic stability (“Strategic Energy Plan 205”). The world at large live in the fear of nuclear weapons and nuclear attacks. The fear is not mainly on the nuclear weapons but on the amount of damage that a nuclear attack can cause. Mr. Kissinger had shared his views of that the spread of nuclear weapons to 30-40 countries will cause the world to have a future disaster. This will be caused because different countries have different systems values and with experience or skill, their thoughts and calculations on attacks pose a great threat to the world. This has come to rise due to the abuse of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which has happened mostly in Korea and Iran. The Republic of Korea does conduct nuclear tests while Iran has remained to be defiant to the Security Council over its activities that involve nuclear weapons. The factors such as failed disarmament obligations of nuclear weapons on states have not been fully applied. There has also been a rise in the black market in the advance of technology that has led to increased sales of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon designs. There have also been questions on Energy Atomic Agencies ability to detect the undeclared nuclear activities in order to safeguard the society. The world at large is also concerned on the exception of India from the full scope which involves the upkeep the standards of the nuclear supply. The non-proliferation regime consists of relating and mutual reinforcing elements which usually gives the legal expression on the non-proliferation norm. They trust and verify the objectives of the Treaty. The important elements of the rule are a nuclear export which calls for nuclear coordination through the Nuclear Supply Group, national intelligence activities between governments and the IAEA even in the sharing of information and mutual regimes which includes nuclear weapon free zones in various regions in the world. The 2005 NTP review conference is been seen as weakening of the support of the treaty as there is no withstanding of the spread. These sees Iran breach the contract by not being committed to the NPT and further giving threats of withdrawing from the nuclear program. Other challenges are caused by India itself by proposing an extended nuclear cooperation which would see some NTP Parties (Pilot 178). The main aim of the NTP was to hold different parties together, but this step would not at all be able to safeguard the conditions of nuclear supply. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should be well set when it comes to decision making. Questions rise on how IAEA are prepared to handle parties that are not obeying with the given Treaty. The difference between the obedience findings and the ability of the Security Council is the ability of the Security Council ability to resolve non-complying countries. The main challenge is the control of the proliferation-sensitive technology which is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime (Kissinger). When the countries gets to enjoy the freedom of having nuclear energy, the improvement and the reusing becomes readily available and accessible to bodies with nuclear weapons and this dents the security of all (“Strategic Energy Plan 312”). Just as Mr. Kissinger proposed, there should be global conferences that should be among the nuclear powers and the conferences should be able to form a discussion on energy and creation. Works Cited Energy Information Administration. International Energy Outlook 2010 - Natural Gas. Report Read More