When an Oil Price War Meets Coronavirus Fears, Markets Get Punched in the Face
A major price war between two of the worlds largest oil industries is interrupted by the fast spreading coronavirus. With the people fearing the worse and going out and buying a ton of oil the prices have dropped by at least 30%. The airports that rely on oil and other industries should benefit from this but they expect the prices to drop another 5-10% in the coming years.
This article focuses on what China refers to as “the arctic silk road', and its economic ties with Russia. The “silk road' is a natural gas pipeline that has been in the development stage for the last two years that would connect China and Russia, VIA a natural gas pipeline. This pipeline would be an addition to the already existing pipeline, the “Power of Siberia', which connects Russia’s Siberian fields to China’s historically coal burning northeast. Due to failed energy agreements with the Unites States, Russia has been expanding its relationship with China for a better economic opportunity. The area in which the silk road pipeline is being developed is in high interest due the bordering countries; Canada, United States, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Russia, all having strong interests in the arctic resources. Mainly oil, and natural gas. This article encompasses many of the key geographical concepts such as place, scale, distance, distribution, movement, region, change, process, spatial association and sustainability. “Russia is keen on maintaining control over the Northern Sea Route, due to its proximity to some important military and economic infrastructure of Russia’s, and the source of revenue it represents,' said Strafor’s Zhang. But the United States as well as other countries continue to battel for resource rights over this geographical region.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/04/siberian-pipeline-from-russia-to-china-polar-silk-road.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51423110?intlink_from_url=
Russia has agreed to boost military and economic co-operation with Venezuela to help the South American Nation deal with growing US pressure. In this article it explains how Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met with the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Shortly before this article was written the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state run airline stating that the company was being used to "shuttle corrupt officials around the world". However Lavrov states that Russia has firmly expressed their support to Venezuela's sovereignty. The Russian minister discussed that practical details would be finalized in May when Venezuela president visits Moscow. Russia is a very important ally of Venezuela because they lend billions of dollars to back their oil industry and military. The geographical location of these two countries are very different on different continents but regions such as Moscow and the country of Venezuela are discussed.
My article can be found at:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-nord-stream/u-s-sanctions-block-hurry-up-work-on-russian-gas-pipeline-officials-idUSKBN1YY0SS
The title of my article is, “U.S. sanctions block hurry-up work on Russian gas pipeline: officials'. This article explains the risk of being penalized for rushing to finish build the Russian natural gas export pipeline. The goal is to send gas under the Baltic Sea, which bypasses Ukraine and doubles the capacity of the already existing pipeline. However, the work on the project was suspended. There is about a 100-mile stretch until it is completed. This major project has been opposed in Washington since the Obama administration because it would strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economic and political grip over Europe. The U.S. sanctions are blocking the hurry-up work on the pipeline until they demonstrate good-faith efforts. This means there is a wind-down period that allows time for companies to straighten up financial arrangements and safely remove equipment. The geographic concepts in this story include the physical locations of Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic Sea. There is also a bigger concern about Russia’s tight economic group.
The article I chose can be found at https://time.com/5773586/russia-sakhalin-fisherman-stranded-ice-floe/
536 ice fishermen were stranded on an ice floe. Despite safety warnings, ice fishermen continue to visit the Sakhalin region to ice fish. This is not the first occurrence according to the Associated Press. There was an incident that involved 300 fishermen; at another time 600 fishermen were stranded. Some of the fishermen that have become stranded on ice floes in Sakhalin have utilized smaller pieces of ice to serve as rafts in an attempt to flow towards the Russian coast.
The geographical concept is Place. Russian emergency services were sent to the island of Sakhalin in eastern Siberia. The location was described as having frigid waters and drifting glacial masses.
Why Russia Starts So Many Conflicts On Its Own Borders
To Protect its borders, Russia shatters its borderlands. Because of this, Russia's Eurasian borderlands have become an uninterrupted expanse of armed conflict and war. It is part of Russias foreign policy strategy. Over the past two decades, Russia has exploited existing regional conflicts and cleavages, and created new ones. This has prevented neighboring states from turning into more organic regional groupings. However, some parts of Russia say they are a security provider and peace broker, while others are direct parties in these border conflicts. Geographically, some of the countries opt to stay out of this while their neighbors join in on the Russian backed organizations.
To celebrate.. erhm... partake in the Coronavirus enthusiasm I've an article from the Japan Times. It reports that Russia has closed their Southeastern and Far Eastern region's border to China. With the sole exception of a train that runs directly from Moscow to Beijing. The article: Europe evacuates citizens from china; Russia shuts border." It continues to briefly summarize European actions in regards to the Coronavirus. These can be easily summarized as the varying nations actions to restrict potentially infected hosts from entering their respective country.
You can find the article here to read further: "Europe evacuates citizens from china; Russia shuts border."
Geographically speaking the quarantine actions of Europe and the Russian/central asian realm is requiring significant effort to control, limit and properly quarantine passenger coming in through ports, airports and through land borders. As reported in the paper Russia has closed the border between China and Russia, however this may or may not be the best choice as if you have the border open you can more appropriately deal with people coming through border and not risk unauthorized entrances. Aside from land borders other ports of activity, sea and air, input is limited to single nodes of entry.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/04/siberian-pipeline-from-russia-to-china-polar-silk-road.html
Russia unveiled a new plan for a pipeline to expand its influences and energy market in the Arctic. The pipeline would go from Russia’s Siberian fields to Northeast China. The pipeline aligned with China's “Polar Silk Road '' plans. China's “Polar Silk Road' plan aims to use the abundant resources found in the Arctic region. Some of the key geographical features in this current event are the access and control of the Arctic regions, Russia’s political control through their own Arctic regions and sea areas, and particularly the resource rich Siberian area of Russia. The Arctic is relatively accessible to those near it and this sparks political debate over the control of such regions or the path and partnerships countries should make when developing in the Arctic.
The title of my article is "Russia says plane "almost hit" by anti-aircraft fire in Syria"
This article is about how Russia media claimed that a plane in syria was force to reroute after it was almost hit by the country's missile defense system.
The article I chose can be found here:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/30/coronavirus-russia-closes-border-with-china-to-prevent-spread.html
Coronavirus: Russia closes border with China to prevent spread of the coronavirus
In summary, the article states that 16 out of the 25 crossings along the Russian-Chinese border will be closed as of midnight on January 31st. Russia has also temporarily suspended the issuing of electronic visas to Chinese nationals.
The article goes on by informing us of the countries that have confirmed cases. These being China, France, Germany, Cambodia, South Korea, Singapore, United States, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, the Philippines, Russia, and India.
Russia now has 2 confirmed cases of coronavirus and has canceled all air travel to and from China besides the flights needed to evacuate Russians and those who are being evacuated must be in quarantine for 14 days.