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WikiLeaks cables: Oil giants squeeze Chávez as Venezuela struggles
Rory Carroll, Guardian
American diplomats say president is now desperate to attract foreign partners after nationalisation frightened many away
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Venezuela’s tottering economy is forcing Hugo Chávez to make deals with foreign corporations to save his socialist revolution from going broke.
The Venezuelan president has courted European, American and Asian companies in behind-the-scenes negotiations that highlight a severe financial crunch in his government.
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, is the engine of the economy but buckled when given an ultimatum by its Italian counterpart and has scrambled to attract foreign partners, according to confidential US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.
The memos depict an unfolding economic fiasco and suggest some of Chávez’s key allies – Argentina, Brazil and Cuba – are gravely concerned at Venezuela’s direction.
(9 December 2010)
WikiLeaks climate change cables: the unanswered questions
Damian Carrington, Guardian
The WikiLeaks climate cables I have reported over the past week have left some important questions unanswered. And no one is especially keen to do so, given that while the US often comes out worst in the cables, its foreign counterparts are rarely shown in a flattering light either.
I posted the very limited US and EU reactions yesterday which can be summarised thus:
• US – “no comment”, except you can’t ask for money and then accuse us of bribery
• EU – the US cables only report one side of the story (I’ve asked for the other side of the story)
• Bolivia, which vociferously opposes the Copenhagen Accord and is sharply criticised in the cables, responded strongly
Below are my key remaining questions, which I am sending to the relevant embassies and spokespeople. I will report back if and when I get replies. If you have other questions, let me know in the comments below. If you want to ask the same questions to the relevant authorities wherever you are, please do so and let me know how you get on. I’m on Twitter as @dpcarrington.
Spying at the United Nations
How has your country responded to being targeted by US spying at the UN?
Sent to the named target nations: Austria, Burkina Faso, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam
(9 December 2010)
Wikileaks: U.S. turned the pope into its enforcer on Copenhagen climate talks
Holly Richmond, Grist
So the pope isn’t running America — not YET at least — but WikiLeaks today published a cable indicating he’s at least been pulling some strings on our behalf:
The Vatican agreed to help the United States in behind-the-scenes lobbying of states to join the Copenhagen Accord on climate change, a US embassy cable published by WikiLeaks showed Thursday.
The cable reported a meeting between diplomats at the US embassy to the Holy See and a Vatican official in charge of climate change talks, who “agreed to encourage other countries discreetly to associate themselves with the Accord.”
(9 December 2010)
Wikileaks: What the Chevron-Kazak Cellphone Row Reveals About Big Oil Overseas
Kirsten Korosec, BNET
A U.S. embassy cable released this week as part of WikiLeaks massive secret government document dump shows just how difficult it is for international oil companies to negotiate the political and culturally sensitive waters in emerging countries like Kazakhstan.
The cable, which was also reported in the Guardian, describes an encounter between Chevron (CVX) and KazMunaiGas‘ first vice president Maskat Idenov over a cell phone number back in 2008 that led to the expulsion of two executives – Guy Hollingsworth, president for Chevron Eurasia, Europe and Middle East Exploration and Production, and James Johnson, strategic business unit managing director — from a meeting.
,,, At first glance, it provides a powerful and entertaining lesson on international business relations. But it also speaks to the broader issue of energy resources and the plight of major integrated oil and gas companies.
Gone are the days of easy-to-access oil. Which leaves U.S. and international oil majors with these choices: Work in technologically complex areas like the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or offshore Brazil; in costly areas that have may serious future environmental complications, like Canada’s oil sands; or in politically unstable regions that ooze with protectionist measures.
(30 November 2010)
