“Those who like it hot are unlikely to be disappointed by 2015. Different scenarios are still possible as far as the actual taste of it is concerned, but the aftertaste is not in any doubt. Hot and bitter contrasts sharply with icy-cold. What kind of heritage has the year 2014 left for us? Will it be chilly old peace, or a new Cold War?” – PIR Center Director Vladimir Orlov.

“We should realize that the shale revolution, despite its name, did not start suddenly without any prerequisites. On the contrary, its foundation was laid by the US state policy in the late 1970s following the oil shocks. The US Government decided then to promote research to ensure national energy security including alternative production of oil and gas on the US territory. Moreover, special taxation of the oil and gas industry in the United States stimulates development of small innovative companies which initially became the drivers of the shale revolution”, – Andrey Shadurskiy, Senior Lecturer, Saint-Petersburg State University. 

The latest issue of the Security Index journal is partly devoted to the development of the global nuclear energy sector and nuclear infrastructure. Against the backdrop of the oil-and-gas needle and amid the continued devaluation of the Russian currency, the Russian nuclear energy sector seems to offer what may well be the only tangible, comprehensive, and carefully thought-out answer to economic upheavals. This particular branch of the Russian high-tech sector is not a prototype but a working engine.