BERLIN -- Joschka Fischer, the former student radical, Green Party leader, German foreign minister and Princeton professor, is aware of the irony in his latest career move: strategic consultant for a transnational pipeline. But as he often did with his previous positions, Mr. Fischer is mixing a bit of idealism with a heavy dose of realism.Mr. Fischer is convinced that Europe's energy shortages last January, caused by a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas, were the turning point for the new European gas pipeline. Called Nabucco and stretching for 2,050 miles, the new pipeline is expected to cost 8 billion euros ($11.4 billion). Europe cannot wait for another crisis to begin to diversify its suppliers, he argues, as another cold wave grips the Continent.Beyond the imperative of supplying energy, however, Mr. Fischer sees immense strategic implications in Nabucco for the European Union, and especially its relations with Turkey -- a NATO member and candidate to join the bloc -- as well as its eastern neighbors Azerbaijan and Iraq, where Nabucco hopes to buy its gas.
BERLIN -- Joschka Fischer, the former student radical, Green Party leader, German foreign minister and Princeton professor, is aware of the irony in his latest career move: strategic consultant for a transnational pipeline.
But as he often did with his previous positions, Mr. Fischer is mixing a bit of idealism with a heavy dose of realism.
Mr. Fischer is convinced that Europe's energy shortages last January, caused by a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas, were the turning point for the new European gas pipeline. Called Nabucco and stretching for 2,050 miles, the new pipeline is expected to cost 8 billion euros ($11.4 billion). Europe cannot wait for another crisis to begin to diversify its suppliers, he argues, as another cold wave grips the Continent.
Beyond the imperative of supplying energy, however, Mr. Fischer sees immense strategic implications in Nabucco for the European Union, and especially its relations with Turkey -- a NATO member and candidate to join the bloc -- as well as its eastern neighbors Azerbaijan and Iraq, where Nabucco hopes to buy its gas.
