While I was on temporary duty in Tajikistan, I saw these billboards all over Dushanbe, and I thought they were pretty amusing. I'll explain why.People in the US have been talking about "energy independence" for years, and they talk about it even in developing countries like Tajikistan. But it's not quite the same.
At the top left of this sign is the name of a big Russian oil and gas company, Gazprom (and I guess this is a bit of a lesson on the Cyrillic alphabet as well). Below the company name, it basically says "foreign oil and gas" (zarubezhni neft i gaz). The next two lines below that are in Tajik. Then the last two lines are in Russian. They say "Together towards the energy independence of Tajikistan!"
In the US, we're trying to reduce foreign energy sources, but Gazprom wants to think that energy independence will come from relying on a foreign provider. Maybe Gazprom thinks that no one in Tajikistan remembers Russia cutting off Ukraine's gas supply a few winters ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment