Slovenia's signature of the agreement enables the project, which has so far been on paper only, to get implemented. This means that the alternative European Nabucco project has probably failed, Delo notes.
The Nabucco project has been the most intensively promoted by the US, which is why Delo deems it obvious that this is the very reason the former US Secretary of State, the "artful lobbyist" Madeleine Albright, has recently called on Slovenia.
The Slovenian government is once again caught in the crossfire between the two superpowers. Because of good short-term reasons, it seems to have disobeyed US instructions this time.
After it has bought up virtually all annual gas production of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and in part also of Turkmenistan, Russia skilfully sabotaged the competition so that they have ended up without their own resources. Russia even got ahead of them in Turkey.
"Nabucco is an opera, not a pipeline," Gazprom boss Alexey Miller publicly ridiculed the Euro-American gas project a few years ago. It was him who has visited the Slovenian capital mots frequently to woo Slovenian officials to participate in South Stream.
If not well, Slovenia negotiated with Russia at least better than all other participating countries, Delo says, while warning that triumph can soon turn into a Pyrrhic victory.
In part because it is not clear what the response of the EU will be, and even more because Russia uses gas as a weapon in the implementation of its political goals, Delo says.
The paper advises that Slovenia follow the Russian saying that one should not praise the day before it is over, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in response to his Slovenian counterpart's comment that Slovenia would win Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Russia.
