/ International

• From Shanghai to Rotterdam: The New Iron Silk Road

  The 21st century will see the revival of the Silk Road that ages ago connected Asia to Europe. Or rather, the revival of many cross roads as a great deal of sub regional routes of importance has been included in the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway Network project (TAR). Within a few years an intercontinental highway will link Shanghai and Rotterdam in South Holland, and this will be a windfall for landlocked-Central Asian countries whose access to regional and world markets rests on an efficient road system. The Trans-Asian Railway Network, already romantically dubbed the “Iron Silk Road,” is the culmination of…

• Global Uprisings and the Failure of Modern Economics and Modern Politics

  Media reports often fail to connect recurring demonstrations in Greece and Spain with those in the Middle East and North Africa (Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain). After all, the MENA demonstrations are ostensibly about democracy, while European countries already have functioning electoral systems. Protestors in Greece and Spain are instead decrying austerity programs resulting from governmental efforts to rein in deficits and debt burdens. At the core, though, all of these uprisings are about the simultaneous failure of modern economics and modern politics—even though systems differ somewhat from country to country. People in all of the nations mentioned have one…

• Resource Wars: Geopolitics in a World of Dwindling Energy Supplies

  As nations compete for currency advantages, they are also eyeing the world’s diminishing resources—fossil fuels, minerals, agricultural land, and water. Resource wars have been fought since the dawn of history, but today the competition is entering a new phase. Nations need increasing amounts of energy and materials to produce economic growth, but—as we have seen—the costs of supplying new increments of energy and materials are increasing. In many cases all that remains are lower-quality resources that have high extraction costs. In some instances, securing access to these resources requires military expenditures as well. Meanwhile the struggle for the control of resources…

• Is NATO Being Used by Washington In Libya to Hurt Chinese Interests?

  As U.S. Secretary of Defense continues his victory lap around U.S. foreign bases, scolding NATO allies along the way for failing to pull their weight in the alliance, it is well worth noting that many of the NATO member states committed only under intense U.S. pressure to operations in Afghanistan, while Libya has generated even less enthusiasm in European capitals. One of the great advantages of the end of the cold War two decades ago, coupled with the rise of the Internet is that readers worldwide now have an open window into the Russian press and society. Of course, there…

• China and Russia Increasing the Speed of Military Modernization

  The Kremlin recently revealed that Moscow has pledged $640 billion in an effort to bring 80% of the Russian military establishment up to modern standards by 2020. Consequently, Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister in charge of arms procurement, recently suggested to the media that the Russian defense ministry plans to buy around 600 airplanes and 1000 helicopters. He further stated that the Ministry was planning to fund the development of a “new liquid fuel heavy intercontinental ballistic missile to replace aging RS-18 Stilleto and RS-20 Satan”. These missiles would be able to carry up to 10 warheads with solid fuel…

• Special Report on World Corruption

  Iraq and Afghanistan sit near the top of a list of the world’s most corrupt nations despite years of occupation by Anglo-American forces and more than $1 trillion of US taxpayers’ money having been spent on the two nations since 2001. The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from the Berlin-based watchdog rated Somalia, with a score of 1.1 out of 10, as the world’s most corrupt nation, closely followed by Afghanistan and Myanmar with scores of 1.4, and Iraq on 1.5. The least corrupt were New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark, on 9.3 (See table attached). “Unstable governments with a history…

• From the Battlefield to the Boardroom: Operation Jellyfish

  We don’t normally publish press releases at OilPrice.com – but felt the below by Jellyfish would be of great interest to visitors. Regular readers are aware that we follow trends in the energy, finance and geopolitical arena’s and the impact they have on economies and companies worldwide. We are aware that good Information and Intelligence are vital to competing effectively in today’s international business environment, yet with increasing global geopolitical tension, growing competition for resources and rapid commodity price inflation, companies nowadays are faced with challenges quite unlike those seen in the past. We predict companies like Jellyfish will be…

• India-Pakistan Talks Positive for American Interests in the Region

  The dialogue that occurred on March 28-29 between India and Pakistan signaled a positive shift in posture between the two countries after almost two and a half years of stalled talks. While very few in the international community see any chance of a compromise on the Kashmir issue, a thawing of relations between the two countries must be seen as a positive for American interests in the region. If the two countries can begin to cooperate on issues of terrorism and intelligence and see that they both share common enemies, they will see each other as allies and not existential…

• The Race for Arctic Energy Resources

  Soon ships will be able to sail across an open Arctic Ocean during the summer months. The low humming of freight vessels will be a regular sound. The reduced presence of massive multi-year sea-ice is rapidly becoming a reality as the thicker and older ice is being exported from the region. The thinner and more fragile seasonal sea-ice layer, partly replacing the old and thicker ice, is no match for modern icebreakers or even strengthened freight containers. A Norwegian cargo-ship has already traversed the Northeast Passage: faster than expected and without encountering any major challenges. The increased shipping in the…

• More about Libya

  Many years ago in Chicago, a man that I knew and heartily disliked, married to a beautiful actress and dancer, abandoned his bed in the middle of the night, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, put on his clothes, and left his apartment for the purpose of making  a ‘citizen’s arrest’. Exactly why he regarded that nuthouse behaviour as meaningful is something that I never found out, nor was I interested in finding out, nor was I interested in where he went to carry out this sacred mission, although I knew where he did not go. He did not go…