As many as 2,000 additional troops -- including a number of U.S. forces -- may be headed to Afghanistan in the coming weeks under a plan being proposed by Gen. David Petraeus, CNN has learned.

• September 6, 2010

September 2010
John Van Pool
EGF Turkey Geopolitics Analyst

Key positions:

• British Prime Minster David Cameron’s recent speech to the Turkish Parliament, which gave strong support for Ankara’s EU membership bid, is likely to have caused more reaction from European national leaders had it been delivered in Brussels 


• Last month’s agreement between Chevron and Turkish Petroleum to explore two deep-water wells in the Black Sea is a reflection of the Turkish government’s efforts to make the country self sufficient in oil and gas production by 2023 


• Italian energy company ENI has attempted to reach a compromise for its role in the competing Nabucco and South Stream pipelines by reaching an agreement with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan in which compressed natural gas reserves will be transported by ship across the Caspian Sea, which will provide supplies to both pipelines without alienating either project’s backers. 


• Turkey’s National Security Policy Document (also known as the ‘Secret Constitution’), which is due to be reviewed shortly, will identify energy security as the country’s most pressing strategic issue, and will remove Russia, amongst other neighbours, from the countries it would consider as potential enemies. READ MORE

• September 6, 2010

Lithuania's Energy Ministry has drawn up guidelines to establish a Lithuanian natural gas trading exchange.

• September 4, 2010

American knowledge of Russia's nuclear capabilities will dwindle if a new nuclear arms treaty with Moscow is not ratified, the chief U.S. negotiator argued as a Senate panel on Friday scheduled a vote on the document.

• September 4, 2010

The Black Sea is a cradle of civilization, trade and cultures, but today it is also a region of unresolved conflicts, porous borders and rivalries.

• September 3, 2010

The future for European coal generation looks gloomy with the odds stacked against new coal plants but if Turkey is included in the European zone a very different picture emerges, analysts say

• September 3, 2010

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip met with Khalid Irani, the minister for energy and natural resources from the Kingdom of Jordan, and the delegation accompanying him at the Stenbock House today. The main aim of the Jordanian delegation’s visit to Estonia is to learn more about the country’s oil shale industry.

• September 3, 2010

China’s policy towards Iran, especially with respect to nuclear proliferation, and its reported sale of solid-fuel missiles to Saudi Arabia, are further indicators of China’s global strategy to challenge what it perceives as declining US power.

• September 3, 2010