Energy is the new global currency. It is then no wonder why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an undeniable Israel-hater, welcomed with full ceremonial pomp the president of Israel in Ankara.
By ARIEL HARKHAM, Jerusalem Post,
Energy: who has it, who needs it and how can we secure it, are the critical questions facing every nation today. It is this single global commodity that presents Israel, with its energy rich off-shore resources, a golden opportunity to be in a commanding position when all the dust settles in Europe.
History often foretells that times of necessity will dispel our most precious allusions. And this is never so much the case, as in times of war. Today, with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine underway, plastered on every TV and all over social media, we are beginning to wake up to a global paradigm shift. Generational security doctrines and economic orthodoxies that have been rooted in a post-WWII global order are faltering in the face of a Sino-Russian alliance flexing its muscles.
Yet as tectonic shifts are taking place around parliaments and capitals around the world, it is at the kitchen table and the tightening purse strings that are the real drivers shaping these new political alignments. Nowhere has this become more evident than at the gas pump – 40% of European gas was supplied by Russia. It follows that since this energy flow has stopped, prices have surged to record levels in Europe and the United States.
Energy is the new global currency. It is then no wonder why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an undeniable Israel-hater, welcomed with full ceremonial pomp the president of Israel in Ankara last week. Erdogan is many things, but he is no fool, and he can see what everyone can: that Israel, if it chooses, could become the nexus point for an energy-hungry Europe desperately searching for alternatives.
This is not merely a question of supplying Europe the energy Israel possesses (estimated reserves of 800 billion cubic meters), it is the gas pipeline agreement that Israel has signed with Cyprus and Greece that is most significant. This single national project would transform Israel into a major global energy hub. Like Istanbul, Jerusalem is perfectly situated between the east and west, and this pipeline initiative is what is driving Erdogan’s crocodile diplomacy and motivating his Libyan adventure so as to make greater counter-claims on the shipping routes between Cyprus and Greece.
