Oil, Jihad and Destiny: Will declining oil production plunge our planet into a Depression?

Since neither production nor consumption have historically followed a smooth curve – up or down – and since there is an economic interaction between demand, consumption and production, we should expect the peak of consumption to be characterized by a series of alternating cycles. Periods of shortage will be separated by periods of surplus. [Chapters 1 and 2 of Ronald Cooke’s Oil, Jihad and Destiny]

Reversing the Polarity – Bretton Woods revisited?

… The requirement is therefore for an Energy “Clearing Union” comprising all market participant constituencies whether producers, consumers or intermediaries, constituted as an “International Energy Trade Association” (“IETA”) and served by a consortium of providers of services such as communications, technology, risk management and so on.

USA plans to expand military presence in Azerbaijan, promises $100mil for Caspian guard

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Azerbaijan (an Asian republic of the former USSR) on April 12th. It became Rumsfeld’s second visit to the republic in four months — that is why it can hardly be treated as a formal visit of no particular importance.

$4 a gallon

America is over. America is like Wile E. Coyote after he’s run out a few paces past the edge of the cliff – he’ll take a few more steps in midair before he looks down. Then, when he sees that there’s nothing under him, he’ll fall. Many Americans suspect that they’re running on thin air, but they haven’t looked down yet. When they do …