Consumption & Demand

Iraq’s Oil: The Greatest Prize Of All?

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The subject of Iraqi oil is one which has fascinated me for a number of years, so in this post I’ll outline why I believe that Iraq probably has the world’s largest oil reserves – or, as Daniel Yergin once said of the middle east, it is “the greatest single prize in all history” (echoing a similar statement by George Kennan at the end of world war 2).

The Five Stages of Collapse

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The talk you are about to hear is the result of a lengthy process on my part. My specialty is in thinking about and, unfortunately, predicting collapse. My method is based on comparison: I watched the Soviet Union collapse, and, since I am also familiar with the details of the situation in the United States, I can make comparisons between these two failed superpowers.

I was born and grew up in Russia, and I traveled back to Russia repeatedly between the late 80s and mid-90s. This allowed me to gain a solid understanding of the dynamics of the collapse process as it unfolded there.