New world chaos or total GAS war

Russian gas and the Gaza Strip, Ukraine, Europe, Israel and the USA - the key figures playing January poker - embody the New Year syndrome. A military crisis was taking shape between India and Pakistan at the end of 2008 and, if this conflict had occurred, this would have been a completely different story, perhaps a shorter one. But notorious crisis, whether financial or the Middle East crisis, made its own adjustments to global chaos. The year had to start with something. While everyone hoped for the best, things went in the opposite direction. Europe is in shock and confusion as it freezes without Russian gas, while Russia tries to compromise Ukraine and risks compromising itself, and Israel is mercilessly pounding Palestine. Even though Hamas continues to bomb Israel using the civilian population as cover, this does not affect the actions of the Israeli side. As a result, the rank-and-file suffers, dying under bombardment in Gaza and freezing without gas in Europe. The only thing still difficult to get used to is that even happy Europeans are suffering today. This inspires fear - the world really is upside down. Everyone is suffering. And you can no longer escape to "a place where everything is ok".

"Rise or fall" - this is how we can describe the current gas war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia resumed gas supplies to Europe on 13 January, while Ukraine cut them off again, citing a lack of fuel in the country. Who is playing with whom - Russia with Ukraine or Ukraine with Russia? Or perhaps Ukraine and Russia are playing with Europe in order to cover up their "dealings" i.e. corrupt games? We do not know! If we think logically, Kiev would not frame itself all the time. However, Europe no longer trusts pro-Western Ukraine, which is what Kiev was striving to achieve. Let them say now that Europeans will begin searching for alternative energy suppliers and let the European Commission threaten Gazprom and Naftohaz. The aim has been achieved - Moscow has made it clear to Kiev, the European Union and the USA that Ukraine must remain in the Russian sphere of influence and cannot join NATO. In any case, Ukraine has made it clear to Russia that it may change the rules of the game at any time. As for the search for alternative suppliers to Europe, this will happen, as it were, when "a shrimp learns to whistle". The US accusations that the European Union lacks a single energy policy towards Russia and prolongs the unfavourable situation with gas pipelines will not change anything, as "powerful" Washington has also lost its economic hegemony in the world and no-one believes it any more. In general, no-one believes anyone any more. This is the outcome of financial crisis and the new world order, as the world is in deep chaos at the moment. Although Europe sees the crisis in the Middle East and Israel's aggressive policy as the "disproportionate use of force by Israelis", which is also a message to Washington, most anti-Israeli demonstrators in Europe are still representatives of the Muslim minority. Thus the latter cannot count on full support from Europeans. A Guardian journalist said that "a European understands Israel's concern for every soldier better than the heroism of a kamikaze and the 'living shields' of women and children. A European rejects religious fanaticism, ethnic instincts and xenophobia". And so the confrontation between Palestine and Israel will remain an open question - Hamas will not stop bombing Israel, while Israel, as an independent state, cannot stop defending its citizens and country, and everything will continue as before.

In this mishmash, the issue of Russia's free handover of weapons worth $800m to Armenia, surfaced again. Although Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy, a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, later denied this information, the question remains open until the Azerbaijani side receives an official reply. In this regard, it would be better to refrain from comment. We would not like to think that Russia, which acts as a peacekeeper in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, has made such a mistake as to give Armenia weapons worth twice the military budget of that country. Such events have indeed taken place throughout the entire conflict, but the current state of affairs is not conducive to such a step. Firstly, on the initiative of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia signed the first joint document in 14 years - the Moscow Declaration. The armament of one of the conflicting sides casts a shadow, to put it mildly, on such good intentions. Secondly, Moscow must realize that while previously it was possible to put pressure on Azerbaijan with such a move, today it is almost impossible. Unlike Armenia, the current economic and military might of Azerbaijan allows it to talk to anyone as an equal partner. On the other hand, it is not in Moscow's interests to damage its relations with another state in the region, especially after it has lost Georgia forever. It is not worth sacrificing partnership with Azerbaijan for the sake of Armenia, which has almost no political or economic weight in the region. At the same time, Moscow is a city of contrasts. For this reason, Azerbaijan should be extremely careful on this issue. Trust but verify. Only in this way can we retain our position in the fluctuations of global chaos.