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Q&A: Why Europe needs Russian gas

The threat from Russian state monopoly Gazprom to cut off the gas flow to one of its neighbours, Ukraine, has again raised questions about the security of Europe’s energy supply. What sparked the latest crisis? Ukraine and Russia face negotiations over the renewal of gas supply contracts every year, but by midnight on 31 December 2008 they had failed to agree on the price Kiev should pay for gas in 2009. After initially offering to supply Ukraine at a price of $418 (£288; 299 euros) per 1,000 cubic metres of gas, Gazprom eventually dropped the offer to $250. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that price, less than half of what most countries in Europe pay, was very generous. But Ukraine rejected this offer and Moscow accused Kiev of blackmail by threatening supplies. Ukraine later offered $235 – but Gazprom has reverted to its previous demand, of $418. Meanwhile, Gazprom says that it is owed about $2bn by the Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz; $1.6bn in backdated bills and a further in $450m fines for late payments. Naftogaz claims it has fulfilled its obligations by paying $1.5bn to RosUkrEnergo – a Switzerland-registered gas trading company – and says if Gazprom has not received the money is not Ukraine’s fault. Is this politics or economics? Gazprom used to be a Russian ministry before becoming a private company, and it remains very closely connected to the state – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a former chairman of the company. Critics say that Russia is using its energy resources as a political weapon to pressure European and former Soviet countries to adopt favourable stances towards Moscow. But threats to disrupt exports, and the fact that it has carried out such threats in the past, have damaged Russia’s reputation as a reliable gas supplier. Meanwhile, Gazprom has suggested that “political forces” in the pro-Western Ukrainian administration are seeking to provoke a wider conflict with Russia. Mr Putin has been highly critical of Ukraine’s leaders, blaming the dispute on a “clan war” between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko. Is Europe’s gas supply threatened? Moscow says it could be, but Kiev has insisted that it will maintain supplies. Gazprom controls about a third of the world’s gas reserves and it is responsible for a quarter of Europe’s supplies. Most of Europe’s gas is piped via Ukraine, and when Gazprom shut down the pipeline in 2006, the flow to the rest of Europe fell, in some areas, by 40%. Customers as far away as France were affected. This time, the Ukrainian authorities say they do have plenty of reserves and have reassured the European Commission, but these supplies will not be unending. Gazprom had already embarked on plans for pipelines that bypass Ukraine and Belarus, former Soviet states which are currently essential for transit. Gazprom has two major projects, Nord Stream and South Stream. Nord Stream will run for 1200km along the bed of the Baltic Sea, and South Stream under the Black Sea. Gazprom has signed up big European partners: Italy’s ENI for South Stream, and German companies E.ON Ruhrgas and Wintershall – along with Dutch provider Gasunie – for Nord Stream. Is the EU happy about relying on Russian gas? The EU has major concerns about security of supply and is moving ahead with a pipeline plan of its own. Nabucco will bring gas from Central Asia and the Caspian across Turkey into the European Union. But it will have only enough capacity to provide a small proportion, perhaps 5%, of Europe’s needs. So Europe needs Gazprom, and that is why European companies and their governments have actively embraced the two projects. Austria is likely to serve as a hub for both. EU officials say that even during the Cold War the Russian gas supply was stable, so it is better to rely on Gazprom than potentially unstable sources such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7240462.stm

Underwater Cultural Heritage

Safeguarding the Underwater Cultural Heritage

• III. century wreck, Italy © UNESCO/E. Trainito

“Underwater cultural heritage” encompasses all traces of human existence that lie or were lying under water and have a cultural or historical character.

Recognizing the urgent need to preserve and protect such heritage, UNESCO elaborated the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2001.

• Consult the Information Brochure
• Consult the Frequently Asked Questions (in html or pdf)

To link to this site, please use:
www.unesco.org/culture/en/underwater

Ludwig van Beethoven,HIS LIFE AT A GLANCE

MASTER OF MUSIC IN SILENCE

This small house in Bonn is where Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770 and lived

until he moved to Vienna in 1792. The Beethoven House is now a museum with a large collection of manuscripts, instruments and other possessions that once belonged to the famous composer.

his portrait of Beethoven at the age of 13 is the earliest authenticated depiction of the composer. Young Ludwig’s first music teacher was his father, Johann van Beethoven, who had an alcohol problem and was known to be very harsh. Nevertheless, Beethoven’s talent was recognized at an early age and at 13 he had already published three piano sonatas and regularly played the piano, harpsichord and viola at the court in Bonn.

Beethoven studied under the famous Classical composer Joseph Haydn. He played for Haydn at the ball room and music hall “La Redoute,” which still hosts concerts and balls today. Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” is also said to have had one of its first performances there. The classicist building is located in Bad Godesberg, near Bonn.

In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna where he studied under a number of masters. The young composer had hoped to meet Mozart, but he arrived a year after Mozart’s death. Although Beethoven was seen as a virtuoso, his patrons often neglected to support him sufficiently and he fell into heavy debt

Beethoven began losing his hearing in 1796 and by 1814 he was nearly completely deaf. This ear horn was designed for Beethoven by his friend, the Viennese inventor Johann Maelzel. Beethoven used conversation books to communicate with people in writing. But, although his deafness did not stop his composing, it made conversation difficult.

In 1802, shortly after Beethoven began to lose his hearing, the composer moved to Heiligenstadt just outside Vienna. This photograph, taken in 1898, shows a main street in Heiligenstadt. During his stay here, Beethoven wrote his famous “Heiligenstadt Testament,” a letter to his brothers Johann and Carl which he never sent. The testament expresses his struggle against the continuous loss of his hearing.

This painting depicts the “incident at Teplitz” in 1812 when Beethoven was walking with Johann Wolfgang Goethe (on the left, in the background) and refused to bow when passing the imperial family, whereas the famous German writer did. Beethoven had high hopes for his first meeting with Goethe in 1812, but the poet described the composer as “very introverted.” At this stage of his life Beethoven was troubled and not producing much new material

This is an image of Beethoven’s last piano. He learned to play the piano at a very young age and composed numerous sonatas, concertos and other works for the instrument. Beethoven was fascinated by the Enlightenment and the new Romanticism movement in Europe and his music was very influential in the transition of musical style from Classicism to Romanticism.

The Ninth Symphony is probably Beethoven’s most famous work and, today, it is the anthem of the European Union. It is said that by the time he was conducting the first performance of the symphony, the composer’s deafness had become so great that he had to be turned around to see the wild applause. Hearing nothing, he is said to have wep

eethoven finished his famous Ninth Symphony in 1824 while living in this building on Ungargasse in Vienna. At this period the composer was looking after his nephew Karl, who he took charge of in 1815 after the boy’s father, Beethoven’s brother, had died. The relationship between the composer and the boy was difficult and in 1826 Karl attempted suicide. Beethoven was devastated

Beethoven died on March 26, 1827, after his general health and the condition of his liver had gradually gotten worse. This painting by Franz Stober depicts Beethoven’s funeral on March 29 in Vienna. Around 20,000 people are thought to have attended the ceremony.

This reproduction of Beethoven’s skull is from the Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University in California. The skull was donated to the center by a Californian business man, who is a descendant of a Viennese doctor named Romeo Seligmann. The doctor had secretly been given fragments of Beethoven’s skull when the composer’s remains were exhumed in 1863.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3592269,00.html