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word of the day: racket
Dec. 26th, 2006 09:28 amRacket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.
Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes that the racketeers instigate if unpaid. Or, "pay me so that you won't have a 'mysterious fire' in your warehouse ..."
Example: TNK-BP wants to export gas from Kovykta, in Siberia, to China. But its plans have stalled because Gazprom has refused to let the $10 billion project build a pipeline to the border and restricts it to supplying a local market that needs no more than 2.5 bcm.
“This is not an objective reason to change the licensing agreement. ... I very much hope that TNK-BP and Gazprom reach an agreement. They have no choice,” said Anatoly Ledovskikh, head of the Natural Resources Ministry’s Subsoil Resource Use Agency. He added that the ministry’s environmental watchdog had started checks at the project and that the agencies were going to discuss compliance with Kovykta’s license as soon as the checks were completed in January.
The environmental watchdog earlier said TNK-BP violated environmental laws when it built a local gas pipeline at Kovykta and requested prosecutors to investigate. They threatened to withdraw the license.
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=19901
Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes that the racketeers instigate if unpaid. Or, "pay me so that you won't have a 'mysterious fire' in your warehouse ..."
Example: TNK-BP wants to export gas from Kovykta, in Siberia, to China. But its plans have stalled because Gazprom has refused to let the $10 billion project build a pipeline to the border and restricts it to supplying a local market that needs no more than 2.5 bcm.
“This is not an objective reason to change the licensing agreement. ... I very much hope that TNK-BP and Gazprom reach an agreement. They have no choice,” said Anatoly Ledovskikh, head of the Natural Resources Ministry’s Subsoil Resource Use Agency. He added that the ministry’s environmental watchdog had started checks at the project and that the agencies were going to discuss compliance with Kovykta’s license as soon as the checks were completed in January.
The environmental watchdog earlier said TNK-BP violated environmental laws when it built a local gas pipeline at Kovykta and requested prosecutors to investigate. They threatened to withdraw the license.
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=19901
