Chinese President Xi Jinping with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Tehran, January 23, 2016 - After decades of distance, China is moving closer to the region’s sectarian feuds — and its vital oil reserves At the start of 2016, prospects … [Read more...] about China’s New Grand Strategy for the Middle East*
Oil Trade
The Salafis Daddy Warbucks – Saudi Arabia
The first-ever global meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) network of some 200 jurisdictions over the weekend in Paris, “to discuss actions…to combat the financing of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) …and to combat the … [Read more...] about The Salafis Daddy Warbucks – Saudi Arabia
Energy: let’s go!*
The markets - including old-fashioned American technological know-how - has almost turned the Obama Administration's original energy policies 180 degrees. But there is still a lot to be done. And it will require the cooperation of a Congress, too … [Read more...] about Energy: let’s go!*
Obama’s ISIS Legacy*
Presidential candidate and billionaire businessman Donald Trump has the right idea regarding how to stop ISIS. "I would knock out the source of their wealth, the primary source of their wealth, which is oil," he told MSNBC. A year into it, the … [Read more...] about Obama’s ISIS Legacy*
Syria-ISIS “Pragmatic Cooperation”
Left: Oil fields in Syria and Iraq, in areas controlled by ISIS (islamist-movements.com) Overview One of the interesting phenomena of the civil war in Syria is the tacit understandings between two sworn enemies: the Assad regime and the terrorist … [Read more...] about Syria-ISIS “Pragmatic Cooperation”
The Iran Deal Through an (Oil) Glass Darkly
The profit margins Big Oil requires are no longer to be made in Saudi Arabia but in Iran and Iraq. Once the US concludes a nuclear deal with Iran, Big Oil will see to it that it sticks, and Washington can turn its attention to the true cause of … [Read more...] about The Iran Deal Through an (Oil) Glass Darkly
Iran: Why?
Left: Obama Sends Iran a Nowruz Message, Calls Nuclear Talks a 'Historic Opportunity' Why is one of the world’s poorest countries [40% living in poverty, halfway down on list of countries in per capita GDP] building capital-intensive nuclear power … [Read more...] about Iran: Why?
Plunging Oil Prices: The Challenge for the Gulf Oil Economies
Left: A photo released by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) on December 24, 2014, shows KNPC's new LPG TRAIN-4 project, which processes 800 million cubic feet of natural gas, 40 kilometres south of Kuwait City Despite progress in several … [Read more...] about Plunging Oil Prices: The Challenge for the Gulf Oil Economies
Can America’s Energy Revolution Survive The Iran Deal?
There is no lack of voices warning against the dangerous implications of the nuclear agreement the Obama Administration is advancing with Iran. The opposition has mostly focused on the destabilizing geopolitical impact of a nuclear Iran and what it … [Read more...] about Can America’s Energy Revolution Survive The Iran Deal?
The Conduct & Funding of ISIS – Feb. 26–March 4, 2015*
Left: ISIS "deliberate destruction of irreplaceable objects of religious and cultural values in the museum of Mosul and burning thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the library of Mosul." Destruction of historical relics In the past two … [Read more...] about The Conduct & Funding of ISIS – Feb. 26–March 4, 2015*