Kunstler: The Fat Lady Always Sings Twice

That was the week Hillary began to look like the candidate who fell off a truck wearing a Nixon mask. Email-gate is taking on the odor of Watergate — the main ingredient of which was not the dopey crime itself but the stonewalling around it. The State Department Inspector General’s report saying definitively, no, she […]

Donald Trump Address to Oil Industry

Donald Trump is venturing Thursday into what is uncharted territory for most presidential candidates: North Dakota, the heart of America’s oil boom. And the oil industry is eager to hear what the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee is going to say at an oil conference he’s addressing Thursday afternoon in Bismarck. The businessman has not […]

Peak Petro-State – The Oil World In Chaos

Pity the poor petro-states. Once so wealthy from oil sales that they could finance wars, mega-projects, and domestic social peace simultaneously, some of them are now beset by internal strife or are on the brink of collapse as oil prices remain at ruinously low levels. Unlike other countries, which largely finance their governments through taxation, […]

Does The U.S. Have A Plan For The Post-Oil Era?

The world’s largest exporter of crude oil, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, recently announced a plan for its post-oil future. If a country almost synonymous with the oil economy can see the need for such a plan, how can the rest of the world, particularly the United States, the world’s largest consumer of petroleum, not […]

The Crisis Of Democracy

This week we look at the current turmoil in South America, where the so-called “pink tide” is beginning to recede in Venezuela and Brazil as the United Snakes seeks to exploit political and economic crises for its geopolitical gain. If you love what we do, consider supporting us! For the musical break, we’ve got Calle […]

Kunstler: Lower Away!

I hope you’re enjoying these horse latitudes of the political year, when the seas suddenly turn glassy and the Berning sun begins to roast all the diverse and inclusive hands on Hillary’s deck, who wait in anxiety for the first sign of a fresh breeze to push them toward landfall. Meanwhile, full fathom five below […]

Venezuela Descends Into Chaos… Europe and US Next

  It has been less than two months since I visited Caracas, Venezuela. While things were already very bad when I was there, they are now worse. Power shortages have deepened (and this in an oil rich country!); food is becoming scarce (some people have resorted to eating dogs and cats); people lie on concrete slabs in hospitals […]

Saudi financial crisis ‘could leave oil at $25’ as contractors face being paid in IOUs

Saudi Arabia faces a vicious liquidity squeeze as capital continues to leak out the country, with a sharp contraction of the money supply and mounting stress in the banking system. Three-month interbank offered rates in Riyadh have suddenly begun to spiral upwards, reaching the highest since the Lehman crisis in 2008. Reports that the Saudi government […]

WWIII? A “Hybrid Geo-Financial War” Between NATO and Russia Is Dangerously Escalating

Russia is preparing for war against the West. Putin is being urged to do so because the U.S. and NATO have been preparing for war themselves. Syria and Ukraine have just been warm ups. The real thing could be around the corner, and other proxy flashpoints are ready to line up. The rising tensions for […]

The Geography of Carbon Pricing

Aggregating carbon dioxide emissions consumption data at the state and regional levels, a study accounted for emissions embodied in common household goods, which vary from state to state depending on where those goods — or components thereof — were produced. Photo: Tom Bonner, courtesy of jeremylevine.com How much will your cost of living rise if […]

Saudi Arabia Needs Realism, Not a 2030 Vision

The recently published economic reform plan for Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030, is completely unrealistic, writes ex-Shell geoscientist Jilles van den Beukel.  He argues that it should be seen in the light of Mohammed bin Salman’s grab for power. The deputy crown prince, the King’s favourite and de facto ruler of the country, has a limited […]

An inconvenient truth for the Middle East and a line in the sand

When I was growing up in Lebanon, there were two or three designated culprits for everything that went wrong, whether it was the latest battle in the 1975-1990 civil war, a plunging currency or torrential rains. One was Henry Kissinger, even when he was no longer involved in American foreign policy. Another was the Central […]

Venezuela crisis deepens

It was around noon when a food truck rolled up to a Venezuelan state-subsidized supermarket in the town of Guarenas just east of the capital. But, to the fury of the long line of people waiting out front, the cargo wasn’t unloaded. Instead soldiers took it away. “We want food!” the crowd roared in protest, […]

Is Saudi Arabia calling the market’s bluff over oil?

Oil market watchers have been keeping a close eye on Saudi Arabia ever since it announced last month that it could very well increase oil production if and when it wanted to, but analysts at Energy Aspects explained on Tuesday that the major oil producer could be calling the market’s bluff. Saudi Arabia threatened to […]

Kunstler: Border Lines

If the Obama Justice Department was really honest about its “guidance” on transgender bathrooms, it would have stated clearly a requirement to provide a new, separate, third category of bathroom or changing room for people identifying themselves as transgender. This would have given such persons a safe, private place to perform their necessary bio-functions without […]

Saudi Arabia’s attempt to reduce reliance on oil has the world rapt

Saudi Arabia has captured the world’s attention with the announcement of an ambitious agenda, called Vision 2030, aimed at overhauling the structure of its economy. The plan would reduce historical high dependence on oil by transforming how the kingdom generates income, as well as how it spends and manages its vast resources. It is supported […]

The Future of Geopolitics and Energy Markets

Energy prices and geopolitics have been interconnected since the beginning of the twentieth century, but expanded globalization, increased industrialization, and booming fossil fuel supplies have made this relationship increasingly brittle. The political actions of energy-producing states such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and the United States impact energy prices. Conversely, energy prices affect the geopolitical […]

Isis claims responsibility for deadly suicide attack on Baghdad gas plant

Militants have launched a suicide attack on a natural gas plant near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and injuring a dozen more. During the assault, which extremist militant group Isis said it had carried out, a car was blown up at the entrance to the facility approximately 20km north of Baghdad. Six people then […]

Iraq Sees $15 Billion in Aid Through 2017 as IMF Deal Looms

Iraq’s possible loan accord with the International Monetary Fund may unlock at least $15 billion in aid this year and next, central bank chief Ali al-Allaq said, helping OPEC’s second-biggest producer repair finances battered by cheap oil and the war with Islamic State militants. Allaq said in an interview in Beirut he expects Iraq to […]

Syria – the war can be limited

Every time the Syrian Arab Army beats the jihadists, new combatants arrive in Syria in their thousands. We are therefore forced to admit that this war is being cultivated from the exterior, and that it will last as long as soldiers are sent to die. So we must understand the exterior reasons which continue to […]

New regulations for methane emissions from oil and gas

The Obama administration on Thursday announced a set of much-anticipated — and first ever — steps to regulate oil and gas industry emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas second only to carbon dioxide in its role in the climate debate. The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new rule that will target emissions from new or modified […]

The Coming War of Central Banks

Welcome to a currency war in which victory depends on your perspective. History has shifted, and we’re leaving the era of central bank convergence and entering the era of central bank divergence, i.e. open conflict. In the good old days circa 2009-2014, central banks acted in concert to flood the global banking system with easy […]

Saudi Arabia’s Desperation Hits a Peak

“Off with his head!” Okay, so maybe the order to fire Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, didn’t sound that drastic when it was issued. However, that doesn’t diminish how earth shattering this decision is for the global oil market. Think about it… Ali al-Naimi has been (arguably) one of the most important figures in […]

Difference between Trump and Clinton as president: One million barrels of oil a day

U.S. oil production is bound for a significant shake up after the presidential election in November, says a senior editor at energy-information provider Platts. “This election is going to have a major impact on the direction of U.S. and, possibly, global oil supply. Maybe the most significant impact of any election in U.S. history,” said […]

A Dire Future

Do you remember all the hopes Americans had for Obama when we elected him to his first term? Painful memories. He betrayed the voters on every one of his promises. There was no change, except for the worst as Obama went on to become one of the most vicious war criminals in world history. Despite […]

A Guide to Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Reorganize Its Government

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued more than 50 royal decrees on Saturday reorganizing the government of the world’s largest oil exporter. In a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency, the royal court said the changes were consistent with “Saudi Vision 2030,” the kingdom’s blueprint for the post-oil era, which was announced in April. […]

Noam Chomsky: American Power Under Challenge

The other day I pulled a tattered copy of The Chomsky Reader off a bookshelf of mine.  Leafing through some of the Vietnam-era essays collected in that 1987 paperback brought to life a young Tom Engelhardt who, in the mid-to-late 1960s, was undergoing a startling transition: from dreaming of serving his government to opposing it.  […]

Iran Seen Taking Its Time on Joint Action With OPEC Members

Iran says it’s almost ready to talk with other OPEC members about limiting oil production as the country’s exports recover to levels reached before international sanctions crippled crude sales. Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc say no agreement is in the cards for now. With prices up 65 percent from the 12-year low in January, joint […]

Kunstler: Trumptopia

For years, it was easy to see the political storm clouds gather over Europe with its fractious coalitions and its ancient babble of conflicts. Marine Le Pen’s Daddy, severe old Jean-Marie, was on the scene in France decades before Donald Trump ascended to glory on the noxious clouds of America’s crapified culture, attended by heavenly […]

The Battle Of Kirkuk

As fighting rocks northern Iraq’s oil-rich Kirkuk area, and air strikes attempt to take out Islamic State positions, the dust will likely either settle in favor of the Iraqi Kurds, who have played a key role in protecting this area from the ISIS advance and who could use Kirkuk to cement their independence ambitions, or […]

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