No 5 (2024)

This article investigates controversial relations between energy security and energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables that are observed in petroleum producing countries, since energy transition jeopardizes the long-term future of the oil and gas sector because it entails a gradual reduction in hydrocarbon production. This problem represents a serious challenge for all petroleum-producing countries, but this challenge is particularly serious in the United States, which recovered its former status of energy superpower due to the shale revolution. Simultaneously, it intends to become a global leader of energy transition under the presidency of Joe Biden. In general, the policy of oil companies’ decarbonization is influenced by a number of factors: government climate policy, activities of international organizations, attitudes of financial institutions, shareholders, investors, NGOs and consumers. While European oil companies feel quite a stable and consistent pressure from all these factors that force them to pursue a fairly radical decarbonization policy, the situation in the US is not that straightforward. On the one hand, government climate policy has recently sharply fluctuated, from Barak Obama to Donald Trump to Joe Biden, sending controversial messages to oil corporations. While currently decarbonization policy is a priority of Joe Biden’s administration, if Donald Trump wins the 2024 elections, the future of energy transition in the US might be challenged because he has always strongly focused on strengthening US energy security. On the other hand, the leading US oil companies through their lobbying efforts exert a significant influence on the government climate policy, seeking to ensure a long-term future of hydrocarbons and trying to find a balance between energy security and energy transition that would benefit them. They realize that it would be feasible for them to become leaders of the energy transition by adapting it to their strategic needs.

The article examines the evolution of Washington's policy towards the countries of Central Asia. The reasons for the growing US interest in the Central Asian countries, as well as its recently extremely proactive policy against the backdrop of a fierce confrontation with Russia, have been identified. A step-by-step analysis of Washington’s position regarding this region, together with the old and new formats of both bilateral and regional cooperation, is given in the context of the Global South agenda becoming extremely urgent against the backdrop of increasing competition for the region carried out by its key players – China, Russia, and the United States. At the same time, the role and significance of Central Asia could change depending on the place this region will occupy in the constantly changing scale of US priorities while implementing its policy towards the post-Soviet space.

This article examines the history of the formation of borders in the North Pacific Ocean from the late 18th to the first quarter of the 19th century. This period was marked by the struggle between the United States and Russia for control of the North American territory. Russia was the first to declare its claims by announcing the expansion of its possessions to the south. Unlike in 1799, when Russia declared its overseas colonies without any objections from the United States, the 1821 attempt to expand the territory of Russian colonies by 10 degrees led to heightened tensions in Russian-American relations. Negotiations ensued, and the Russian government was forced to make concessions. As a result, in 1824, a convention was concluded between Russia and the United States, which defined the boundaries of their respective possessions in the region. The article, employing an interdisciplinary approach, utilizes new archival materials and, perhaps for the first time, conducts a linguistic analysis of the texts of the convention.

A representative of the realist school of international relations, Jake Sullivan is the National Security Advisor in the Biden administration. He developed his skills as a foreign policy analyst while occupying senior positions at the State Department under Hillary Clinton. His correspondence with Clinton, once made public, revealed him as a skilled political realist. Sullivan has since become one of the most influential figures in Washington, renowned for his negotiating prowess and ability to find compromise.