Iraqi troops push back ISIL in oil-rich city

The Iraqi army has reached the centre of the northern city of Beiji, as they continue their effort to break the siege of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on the country’s biggest oil refinery nearby. Exclusive images obtained by Al Jazeera on Monday showed government forces pushing ahead into the rebel-controlled city, with ISIL’s […]

US, China sign symbolic emissions plan

The United States and China announced a largely symbolic plan on Wednesday to implement new limits on carbon emissions, the highlight of a summit between Barack Obama and Xi Jinping in which both leaders played down suggestions of differences and rivalry. U.S. officials said the commitments by the world’s two biggest carbon polluters came after […]

Saudi Arabia is trying to sabotage America’s shale oil boom

We’ve been here before. By “here,” I mean Saudi Arabia throwing its weight around in the global oil markets and triggering what we can only call a kind of reverse oil shock as a result. The consequences were particularly visible last Tuesday, when Saudi Arabia slashed the price at which it is willing to export […]

How the Elite Control the World

All governments past and present, regardless of their formal organization, involve the rule of the many by the few. In other words, all governments are fundamentally oligarchic. The reasons are twofold. First, governments are nonproductive organizations and can only subsist by extracting goods and services from the productive class in their territorial domain. Thus the […]

Petrodollar Panic? China Signs Currency Swap Deal With Qatar & Canada

The march of global de-dollarization continues. In the last few days, China has signed direct currency agreements with Canada becoming North America’s first offshore RMB hub, which CBC reports analysts suggest “could double maybe even triple the level of Canadian trade between Canada and China,” impacting the need for Dollars.But that is not the week’s […]

Putin builds China links as ties with west fray

When Vladimir Putin met China’s president Xi Jinping, a memorandum of understanding for a second massive gas supply deal caught most of the attention. For the Russian president, the deal may be less appealing for its commercial benefits than its ability to advance the larger goal of cementing ties with its eastern neighbour. According to […]

Iraqi army ‘reaches centre’ of oil city Beiji

Reports that army has entered northern city, near oil refinery where troops have been under siege by ISIL for months. Iraqi military forces have reached the centre of the northern oil city of Beiji to try to break a siege by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on the country’s biggest refinery, […]

China, Russia sign second mega gas deal

China and Russia on Sunday signed new agreements to boost energy cooperation, including a deal to develop a second route to supply 30 billion of natural gas to the energy-hungry Communist giant. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of a series of bilateral cooperation agreements, including an MoU […]

Saudi Arabia Takes Action After Shiites Are Attacked

Saudi Arabian security officials moved aggressively on Tuesday to crush an outbreak of anti-Shiite violence, arresting 15 people in six cities and killing two others in connection with what the Interior Ministry called a terrorist ambush on mosque worshipers in a minority Shiite community. At least two security officers were killed and two wounded in […]

Trading Oil for Coal

Obama has dragged his feet on approving or rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, but it could be a good chit to trade for protecting new EPA regulations from the GOP Senate. Rapid climate change sparks tornados and floods, battering the world and throwing Americans into a new era of fear. That’s the apocalyptic premise of […]

The diplomat who said ‘No’ to Saudi oil

Hindsight can be cruel. In 1932, amid a global economic slump, the impoverished Saudis came to London looking for a loan. They also had an offer: would Britain like to try drilling for oil? A disdainful Foreign Office mandarin gave the fateful reply, writes Matthew Teller – no loan, and no drilling. In the spring […]

Chaos In The Middle East, Paralysis In The West

Excerpted from Paul Singer’s letter to investors, CHAOS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, PARALYSIS IN THE WEST Weakness, indecision and unreliability are terrible characteristics in a dangerous world. Strength does not mean bombing everyone. It means having capabilities, choosing one’s spots, and doing what you say you will do. It is not an exaggeration to say […]

Brussels: passing the message about resource depletion

    With 24 languages deemed as “official,” the Europen Union shares some characteristics with the ancient Babel Tower (above, the parliament building in Strasbourg). The Babel of languages is one of the problems associated with trying to pass messages to politicians, but not the most important one. Rather, the main problem seems to be […]

On Iran Policy, America Is Not ‘the World’

Sometimes it’s the little things that say a lot. And when PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill and correspondent Margaret Warner (11/5/14) were discussing  various consequences of the midterm elections, this part caught my ear: IFILL: OK, second area, hot spot, Iran, where there’s been long ongoing discussion about sanctions and that coming to a head […]

Financial Collapse Will Cause Civil Unrest to Erupt in America by 2016

Economist Martin Armstrong is predicting that rising resentment against the status quo as a result of economic inequality is likely to cause a serious political uprising before 2016. “It looks more and more like a serious political uprising will erupt by 2016 once the economy turns down. That is the magic ingredient. Turn the economy […]

Why are global oil prices dropping? Vladimir Putin has a theory.

Global oil prices have been plummeting, and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday offered a theory why: politics. Oil prices fell to a four-year low this week, and that has further tightened the screws on Russia’s economy, already hit hard by sanctions and fears of recession. The Russian ruble has been plummeting, in part because […]

Ukraine and Russia strike gas deal

Moscow to resume gas exports into Ukraine throughout winter despite rivalry in EU brokered deal. Moscow and Kiev have agreed to a deal that will guarantee that Russian gas exports flow into Ukraine throughout the winter despite their intense rivalry over the fighting in eastern Ukraine. In a signing ceremony on Thursday following protracted negotiations, […]

The collapse of oil prices and energy security in Europe

  This is a written version of the brief talk I gave at the hearing of the EU parliament on energy security in Brussels on Nov 5, 2014. It is not a transcription, but a shortened version that tries to maintain the substance of what I said. In the picture, you can see the audience […]

Saudi, Venezuelan Oil Officials Meet, a Sign of Pressure on OPEC Countries

Top officials from major oil producers Venezuela and Saudi Arabia held a rare bilateral meeting Wednesday as OPEC member countries grapple with a continuing price slump. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez, who until recently was head of state energy giant Petróleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, and is the country’s OPEC representative—and Saudi Oil Minister Ali […]

U.S. Returns Fire in Saudi Arabia’s Oil War

One day after Saudi Arabia declared war on U.S. oil producers by lowering prices in an attempt to dump cheap crude in the United States (US) market, the White House and private oil companies responded.  White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the U.S. is monitoring the global oil supply and demand situation but has […]

Crude jumps on rumor of oil pipeline blast in Saudi Arabia

U.S. and Brent crude futures extended gains on Wednesday on an unconfirmed market rumor of an oil pipeline explosion in Saudi Arabia. Oil futures had already been lifted by a government report showing a smaller-than-expected rise in U.S. crude stocks and drops in gasoline and distillate inventories. Brent December crude futures were up $1.60 at $84.42 […]

Webster Tarpley on the Peak Oil myth

Webster Griffin Tarpley (born 1946) is an American author, historian, economist, journalist and lecturer. He is not a member of any political party and a former member of the U.S. Labor Party.

Prince Alwaleed: Saudi reliance on oil ‘dangerous’

The fall of crude oil prices below $80 a barrel proves Saudi Arabia’s reliance on petroleum revenue is “dangerous”, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on Tuesday. “Clearly the fact that the price of oil went down to below 80 proved that we were correct by asking the government to have other sources of income”, […]

Israel must move quickly to develop Leviathan gas reservoir

“We are urging Israel to move quickly,” US envoy says at the Israel Energy and Business Convention in Tel Aviv. Acknowledging the enormous economic and strategic prospects available to Israel’s expanding natural gas sector, US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro warned on Monday that the country must stabilize its investment environment in order to attract […]

Financial reserves of oil-producing countries vulnerable to depletion

A specialized economist said that the financial reserves and surpluses of oil-producing countries are vulnerable to depletion in the event of continuing decline of global oil prices and with the pace of public spending remaining around the current high levels. Professor of economics at the College of Administrative Sciences, Kuwait University, Dr. Mohammed Al-Saqqa said […]

Iran a ‘time bomb’ for oil prices

Markets should look for “a significant additional political risk premium on the price of Brent” if nuclear arms talks between Iran and major world powers break down, Nomura has warned. If Iran walks away from the negotiation table over the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology in the country, markets could easily be spooked over the […]

The End Of An Era: Is The US Petrodollar Under Threat?

Recent trade deals and high-level cooperation between Russia and China have set off alarm bells in the West as policymakers and oil and gas executives watch the balance of power in global energy markets shift to the East.  The reasons for the cozier relationship between the two giant powers are, of course, rooted in the […]

Russia-Ukraine Agree Terms On Gas-Supply Through March

Good news for the cold-showering, snow-covered Ukrainians… Russia has reached an interim agreement to supply natural gas to Ukraine through March according to Bloomberg. Of course, this will be paid for by more IMF loans (thank you US Taxpayer), pushing Ukraine further into debt and more dependent upon the West. *RUSSIA CONFIRMS GAS SUPPLY RESUMPTION […]

Water Trading: Studies Call for Market-based Water Use System

The Hamilton Project at Brookings and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment recently hosted a forum on the water crisis in the US. This resulted in the release of two interesting new discussion papers – “New Directions for US Water Policy” – charting feasible paths for improving water management in the US in the […]

Putin to Western elites: Play-time is over

  Most people in the English-speaking parts of the world missed Putin’s speech at the Valdai conference in Sochi a few days ago, and, chances are, those of you who have heard of the speech didn’t get a chance to read it, and missed its importance. (For your convenience, I am pasting in the full […]

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