Russia's huge oil and gas conglomerate, Gazprom, is not only the world's largest energy distributor, but also controls most of the gas supplies shipped to Eastern and Central Europe.  Because of this near monopoly, Russian President Putin routinely punishes newly democratic former Soviet Republics and Eastern European nations for aligning with the West by restricting or completely shutting off their natural gas supplies.  All with the help  of former Germany Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder I might add.However, steps are being taken by French President Sarkozy to counter Putin's resource nationalism by pushing the merger of two of France's utility giants.  Voice of America reports  today that a merger between state-owned energy company Gaz de France, and the private utility Suez is expected to be complete in early 2008.  The new company, called GDF Suez, will have an estimated value of $123 million and will be the...(Read Full Post)