Pardon me, but do you have gas?

Headlines the last few days have me more interested in the business section than normal. "Russian gas supplies to Czech Republic halted," "Ukraine Says Russia Halts All Gas to Europe." Combined with the temperature that has stayed well below freezing since about Christmas, what does this mean for me? Well, according to these articles, nothing too serious. The Czechs have negotiated supplies from Norway and are using reserves. The temperature is supposed to get back to average, which is around the freezing mark for this time of year, so I should be okay – still needing heat but not as much as before. Plus, the articles also state that domestic customers would be priority over industrial. However, Slovakia has declared a state of emergency and other more eastern countries, as well as the Balkans are feeling the pinch. Essentially, there is a potential for serious shortages. As I remain concerned but not overly worried at this point, I feel that I am getting a very teeny, tiny example of what life is like when an outside political power has control over important resources like food and fuel. (No, don't worry, there is no food shortage, except in the area of Ranch salad dressing…which doesn't exist here but I don't think that's a political problem.)

If I understand the current situation, Putin is hard-lining a dispute with Ukraine over gas prices, partly due to a diminishing Russian economy (and a rise in gas prices would help there) and partly because Ukraine is trying to join NATO (so Putin is thinking, let's punish them for turning against us and going with the West). I can't even imagine what it must have been like when all important decisions, regarding essentially all aspects of my life, would have been controlled by the whims and desires of bureaucrats in Russia, or the Soviet Union. As an American, I have only worried about a loss of power due to acts of God (hurricanes, ice storms, etc) not the impulses of politicians. I have lived a charmed life. I know it. And I will probably never even feel the hardship of a loss of gas this winter. But, it's got me thinking. I have friends who work in parts of the world where they do not have electricity 24-hours a day, or not at all. I have to suffer the "hardship" of not having a clothes dryer.

On another side, going back to my comment about being under the control of the Russians, I am thinking of the political economy of Europe. With the Czech Republic assuming the EU Presidency last week, all eyes turned to Prague to see how Pres. Klaus would react. Apparently, he did what previous EU presidents have done: he remained neutral. How long that will last if the Czech supply is seriously threatened will remain to be seen. Currently, in the Society of the Anthropology of Europe, we are discussing the current relevancy of doing anthropology in Europe. No one seemed to seriously question working in the Soviet Bloc, either during or immediately after the Cold War. But now, we question if what we do here is still of "profound anthropological interest." I think this most current crisis with Russia, not to mention last summer's brief war with Georgia, is at minimum an argument that we are at least living through many of the same, or at least similar, political-economic conditions that we did, or those in Europe did, during the Cold War. However, what makes it even so more interesting today is the role of the EU as an antagonist of sorts for Russia. If we want to revert to older terminology, we can see the superpower nature that Russia, like it's former skin of the USSR, is currently exhibiting. Essentially, Russia still has a large impact on the region and although the political and economic blocks have shifted, we still have a wide range of topics to explore. I know that I have been simplifying the issue here, but it's just a few thoughts on a blog after all. However, for those of us who study globalization, current conditions in Europe are fascinating and exciting but hopefully not tragic.