Our privacy pledge. US Declares Venezuela A Threat, Sanctions Top Officials

The United States on Monday declared Venezuela a national security threat and ordered sanctions against seven officials in the worst diplomatic dispute with the oil-rich country since socialist President Nicolas Maduro took office in 2013. President Barack Obama issued and signed the executive order, which senior administration officials said did not target the energy sector […]

How do Empires hunt bears? The control of natural resources from ancient Rome to our times

You probably know the joke that starts with the question “how do economists hunt bears?” The answer is, “they don’t, but they believe that if bears are paid enough, they’ll hunt themselves.” It is a good illustration of the awesome power of money. It doesn’t work so well with bears, but, if paid enough, people […]

Oil could lead to the downfall of ISIS

One of the key factors to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria may be as simple as disrupting oil production at facilities in northern Iraq under its control. “Focus should be put on the identification of the origin, middlemen, buyers, carriers, traders and routes through which oil produced in (ISIS)-held territory is trafficked,” wrote the […]

Why It Matters If the Dollar Is the Reserve Currency

We refer to the dollar as a “reserve currency” when referring to its use by other countries when settling their international trade accounts. For example, if Canada buys goods from China, China may prefer to be paid in US dollars rather than Canadian dollars. The US dollar is the more “marketable” money internationally, meaning that […]

Outcry and fears grow as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors

The Karachi Nuclear PowerComplex is on an earthquake-prone seafront less than 20 miles from downtown Karachi. (Max Becherer/Polaris Images for The Washington Post) By Tim Craig March 5 KARACHI, Pakistan — World leaders have fretted for years that terrorists may try to steal one of Pakistan’s nuclear bombs and detonate it in a foreign country. But […]

Oil Producers Could See “Regime Change”

As we’ve noted previously, the US-Saudi joint effort to force the Kremlin into cutting Assad loose (the end goal of course being to install a government that will acquiesce to mainlining Qatari natural gas through Syria straight into Europe thus breaking Gazprom’s stranglehold), has resulted in a bit of collateral damage for the world’s less […]

ISIS Set Iraqi Oil Fields On Fire, Stalls Military Advance

  Thick black smoke billowing from oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit is obstructing Shi’ite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers attempts to drive ISIS from the Sunni Muslim city after militants set them on fire. Reuters reports a witness and a military source said Islamic State fighters ignited the fire at the Ajil oil […]

China Has Announced Plans For A ‘World Currency’

The Chinese do not plan to live in a world dominated by the U.S. dollar for much longer.  Chinese leaders have been calling for the U.S. dollar to be replaced as the primary global reserve currency for a long time, but up until now they have never been very specific about what they would put in […]

Water Scarcity Risks Being a Source of Conflict

The depletion of freshwater resources will inevitably lead to tension, conflict and migration among large swathes of the world’s population.  Yemen, an impoverished desert country racked by years of conflict, instability and misgovernance, may soon add another dubious distinction to its unfortunate track record: At current rates, it may become the first country in the […]

Iraq forces working to encircle ISIL in Tikrit

The Iraqi army has said its strategy for retaking the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group’s stronghold of Tikrit is to surround the city before launching an assault. A senior commander said on Wednesday that operations were currently focused on preventing ISIL from launching more attacks and cutting supply lines to stop […]

Russia’s economy isn’t in tatters

Western politicians and pundits should be more careful with their predictions for the Russian economy: Reports of its demise may prove to be premature. Bashing the Russian economy has lately become a popular pastime. In his state of the nation address last month, U.S. President Barack Obama said it was “in tatters.” And last week, […]

Saudi Oil Minister: OPEC Is Neither Dead Nor Waging War On Shale Oil

Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi gave a speech in Berlin today. Here’s the full text as provided by the ministry. I’ve highlighted the important bits like where he talks about how Saudi Arabia is not waging a “war on shale” and how OPEC is not dead. Excellenzen, Damen und Herren, guten morgen. It is a […]

Libya declares force majeure on oil fields in central region

 Libya on Wednesday declared a force majeure related to 11 oil fields in the center of country, after a string of attacks against the facilities by the radical group calling itself Islamic State. In a statement posted on its website, state-owned National Oil Co. said it was no longer able to ensure security in the […]

Saudi king keeps close hand on oil in remodelling strategic team

Saudi Arabia’s subtle change of energy policymaker line-up since the accession of new King Salman in late January appears to give the monarch’s inner circle a firmer hand on the kingdom’s oil strategy than previous rulers have enjoyed. The most notable change was the promotion of the king’s son Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, long a […]

What’s America’s Fragility Score?

By this measure, the U.S. scores very poorly: 4 out of a possible 5 on the Fragility Index.   There is a certain logic to the idea that stability is a good predictor for future stability: if a nation’s economy and governance are stable and devoid of disorder, this trajectory of stability will be durable, right? […]

Financial collapse leads to war

Scanning the headlines in the western mainstream press, and then peering behind the one-way mirror to compare that to the actual goings-on, one can’t but get the impression that America’s propagandists, and all those who follow in their wake, are struggling with all their might to concoct rationales for military action of one sort or […]

Middle East in Total Disarray

The Arab world is rife with political turmoil and violence. The Sunni Muslim Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and other jihadi terrorists are continuing their savagery within its boundaries, and Iran’s theocratic terrorist rulers are still exporting and/or solidifying their brand of the Shiite Muslim Islamic Revolution to Arab countries and territories. And the […]

Iraq launches offensive against Isis

  Iraqi security forces and Shia fighters gather in preparation for an attack on Isis strongholds Iraq’s Shia-dominated armed forces, backed by allied militiamen and a handful of Sunni tribesmen, have launched an operation to clear the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Isis, from former president Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit. Thousands […]

The European Commission Unveils Its Energy Union Plan

Summary Europe may be on its way to finding long-term relief from dependence on Russian energy. The European Commission on Feb. 25 released its Energy Union Package of proposals designed to continue developing the bloc’s energy market and energy security. The proposals, meant to establish a European Energy Union, are more a continuation of EU […]

We Will Defend Our Religion With Our Blood

The words offer chilling insight into the mind of a radical Islamist: “We will defend our religion with our blood.” Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, known commonly as Mullah Krekar, was arrested on Thursday because of what he said in an interview with Norwegian TV station NRK. “When it comes to what happened in France, naturally I […]

Oil Smuggling Highlights Challenges in Shutting Down IS Finances

In the span of one year, Islamic State militants made more than half a billion dollars by seizing government banks, illegal oil sales, kidnapping and extortion, making them one of the wealthiest terrorist organizations in the world. The United States, its allies and the United Nations are making efforts to shut down the money flows. […]

Kremlin: Ukraine has natural gas until Tuesday

Gas tap for Ukraine may close without additional payments, Russia’s energy minister says. (UPI Photo/Sergey Starostenko) The natural gas spigot could be closed for Ukraine as early as Tuesday unless it pays for more deliveries in advance, Russia’s energy minister said Friday. Russian energy company Gazprom confirmed it received $15 million from its Ukrainian counterpart, […]

US drone kills 4 in Yemen

At least four suspected al-Qaida members were killed in an overnight US drone strike on a convoy in Yemen’s southeastern province of Shabwa, a security source told Xinhua Saturday. “An unmanned US drone fired missiles on an al-Qaida convoy in Bayhan region of Shabwa province late on Friday night, killing at least four terrorists at […]

Venezuela’s oil economy in dire straits

Venezuela stands out in terms of regional economies affected most by the weak crude oil market, a research note from the International Monetary Fund said. The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, is up about 20 percent since the beginning of February, but nearly 40 percent below June 2014 levels. The IMF said […]

Putin threatens to cut off gas to Ukraine

Russia could cut off supplies to neighboring Ukraine by the end of the week if it does not get further payments from the country, a spokesman for the gas company Gazprom said Thursday. Sergei Kupriyanov said in televised remarks that “if no new funds are received from Kiev, then naturally we cannot continue delivering gas […]

Iran Televises Major Naval Drill Against Fake US Aircraft Carrier In Persian Gulf

As AP reports, with rockets roaring and guns blazing, more than a dozen swarming Iranian speedboats assaulted a replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier Wednesday during large-scale naval drills near the strategically vital entrance of the Persian Gulf. The nationally televised show of force by the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard comes just weeks ahead of a deadline for Iran […]

Nigeria wants OPEC to cut oil production

NIGERIA is among the OPEC members hardest hit by the fall in the oil price: a decline which the cartel’s hands-off approach to production has prompted. In the run-up to the presidential election (postponed earlier this month and now scheduled for March 28th) the government there has had to raise taxes and cut spending. Nigeria’s […]

Is the US Overplaying Its Energy Hand?

In the grand poker game of geopolitics, energy is often the wild card. That’s why the Middle East is such a mess: Great Powers (first Britain, more recently the United States) have been installing, propping up, toppling, threatening, or bribing regimes in that region — almost always to the detriment of indigenous populations — ever […]

OPEC Said Not to Plan Emergency Meeting Amid Falling Oil Prices

  The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plans to hold an emergency meeting amid falling oil prices, according to a delegate from the group. Crude prices have dropped almost 50 percent from a June peak as OPEC refused to cut production and U.S. output reached a three-decade high. There have been no concrete […]

The Amherst Cauldron

We have been fortunate to be outside the United States for these past three months, and able to take our news unfogged by the media cabal. The parallel universe occupied by US news is especially poignant when viewing something like the situation in the Ukraine. Lately we have been watching a rebel counteroffensive that had […]

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