Heating wars

Having lost the cold war in a spending battle that almost bankrupted Moscow, the Russians seem determined to come out on top in the heating war. This July, energy companies from Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria agreed to build the Nabucco gas pipeline, designed to funnel non-Russian energy into Europe through Turkey. Moscow stands accused of bullying its former satellite Ukraine by turning the gas taps on and off at will, in the process also disrupting supplies to Europe fed by the Ukrainian pipeline. The Russians counter-attacked on at least three fronts. The first was to gather support for a rival pipeline, called South Stream, which would equally avoid Ukraine by forging a link with Turkey under the Black Sea. Anxious to flex its geographic muscles, Turkey signed up for this rival venture too. For Ankara it was an opportunity for a double whammy. It showed the European Union