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OilPrice.com | Geopolitics | International Geopolitics and world news analysis. Our International geopolitical news section looks at global events and the impact they have on various regions. http://oilprice.com/ Fri, 25 May 2012 4:46:41 GMT Oilprice.com (info@oilprice.com) The U.S. Turns its Back on Europe, Allowing Russia and China to Approach http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-U.S.-Turns-its-Back-on-Europe-Allowing-Russia-and-China-to-Approach.html Europe is at a pivotal point. Or, rather, it is at a point where its structural transformation can no longer be ignored. Events in Europe have finally led us to the dénouement of the 20th Century. It may presage a new Europe tied more firmly into the Eurasian heartland than old Europe. It is the end — ’though not without economic, social, and political pain — of the 20th Century form of Atlanticism. Similarly, the United States and much of the West is at a pivotal point, except that — by almost all public reaction…

]]> gregs@oilprice.com (Gregory R. Copley) Thu, 10 May 2012 22:37:38 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-U.S.-Turns-its-Back-on-Europe-Allowing-Russia-and-China-to-Approach.html How Malaysian and French Elections could be Affected by the Submarine Scandal http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/How-Malaysian-and-French-Elections-could-be-Affected-by-the-Submarine-Scandal.html Malaysia’s submarine procurement scandal was, by mid-April 2012, spilling onto the French political scene, highlighting a range of political and strategic dilemmas which ultimately impact (and reflect) on the national security capabilities of a number of Asian states. Apart from anything else, this scandal — and a number of similar scandals — highlights the stagnation of the international defense scene; it has become bogged down in politics, corruption, and endemic bureaucratic maneuver. Significantly, the issue of the Malaysian…

]]> gregs@oilprice.com (Gregory R. Copley) Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:31:34 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/How-Malaysian-and-French-Elections-could-be-Affected-by-the-Submarine-Scandal.html 5 Interesting Revelations from the Stratfor Memos http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/5-Interesting-Revelations-from-the-Stratfor-Memos.html Wikileaks is publishing internal memos of the Stratfor security analysis firm. A few tidbits have emerged in these very early days, to wit: 1. Up to 12 Pakistani active-duty and retired officers from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency knew that Osama Bin Laden was in Abbottabad and were in regular contact with him. The Pakistani chief of staff is denying the report. 2. Dow Chemicals hired Stratfor to spy on activists in Agra who continue to protest over the Bhopal environmental disaster that blinded many workers and destroyed their health.…

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]]> juancole@oilprice.com (Juan Cole) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:43:16 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/5-Interesting-Revelations-from-the-Stratfor-Memos.html Falklands Flare Up - Could a New Oil Find Re-Ignite an Old Conflict? http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Falklands-Flare-Up-Could-a-New-Oil-Find-Re-Ignite-an-Old-Conflict.html The Falkland Islands, a British windswept archipelago in the southern Atlantic off the coast of Argentina, last had its moment in the media spotlight three decades ago, when the two nations fought a brief but vicious conflict after Buenos Aires invaded the islands, providing a PR boost to Argentina’s ruling junta. But, Argentina lost, and the 11-week conflict claimed more than 900 lives, leaving Britain in control of the islands. UK analytical firm Edison Investment Research is now reporting that the Falklands’ oil industry…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:52:23 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Falklands-Flare-Up-Could-a-New-Oil-Find-Re-Ignite-an-Old-Conflict.html Natural Resource Depletion and the Changing Geopolitical Landscape http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Natural-Resource-Depletion-and-the-Changing-Geopolitical-Landscape.html From competition among hunter-gatherers for wild game to imperialist wars over precious minerals, resource wars have been fought throughout history; today, however, the competition appears set to enter a new—and perhaps unprecedented—phase. As natural resources deplete, and as the Earth’s climate becomes less stable, the world’s nations will likely compete ever more desperately for access to fossil fuels, minerals, agricultural land, and water. Nations need increasing amounts of energy and raw materials to produce economic…

]]> postcarbon@oilprice.com (Post Carbon) Thu, 19 Jan 2012 0:18:27 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Natural-Resource-Depletion-and-the-Changing-Geopolitical-Landscape.html The Hemispheric Implications of Hugo Chavez's Illness http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-Hemispheric-Implications-Of-Hugo-Chavezs-Illness.html The recent dramatic pronouncement that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez underwent cancer treatment in Cuba reverberated far beyond Venezuela, depressing his allies and elating his enemies. While the leader of his self-proclaimed "Bolivarian revolution" is second only to his good buddy Fidel Castro in Washington's black book, the fact remains that Chavez has discreetly deployed Venezuela's vast oil and cash reserves to assist the struggling economies of a number of his Central American neighbors, which has earned him deep gratitude. Ever the showman…

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]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 17 Jan 2012 3:38:09 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-Hemispheric-Implications-Of-Hugo-Chavezs-Illness.html Pakistan to Tax NATO Transit Supplies? http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Pakistan-To-Tax-NATO-Transit-Supplies.html Consider – every single drop of fuel used by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces, largely composed of 90,000 U.S. military troops, must be brought into Afghanistan from outside the country. But the ISAF troops aren’t the only mouths to feed in Afghanistan, as in 2010 the Pentagon's Central Command put the number of contractors for the U.S. military at 107,000. For the last two months, not a drop of fuel, munitions or food has been delivered through Pakistan, as following a 26 November NATO aerial assault on two border posts…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:37:02 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Pakistan-To-Tax-NATO-Transit-Supplies.html Obama Administration Finds Few Asian Takers for Oil Sanctions Against Iran http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Obama-Administration-Finds-Few-Asian-Takers-For-Oil-Sanctions-Against-Iran.html U.S. President Barack Obama recently signed a law imposing more sanctions on Iran's exports to punish Iran over its civilian nuclear uranium enrichment program, which Tehran insists is completely peaceful and allowable under IAEA regulations, but which Washington and Tel Aviv portray as masking a covert attempt to develop nuclear weapons. Under the legislation, restrictions have been imposed on Iran's central bank with the objective of stifling Iranian oil exports, and the European Union has also hinted that more economic sanctions will be imposed…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:49:24 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Obama-Administration-Finds-Few-Asian-Takers-For-Oil-Sanctions-Against-Iran.html Ahmedinejad Visits Latin America, Washington Implores and Seethes http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Ahmedinejad-Visits-Latin-America-Washington-Implores-And-Seethes.html At the best of times, the U.S. government is regarded as somewhat out of touch with what’s happening in the American “heartland,” much less the world at large, so much so that the phrase “inside the Beltway” was coined to define the syndrome. But every now and again, an incident occurs that so perfectly encapsulates Washington’s self-absorbed navel gazing that little further comment is needed. On 9 January U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland provided such a “Kodak moment” to the Washington press corps. The object…

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]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:15:14 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Ahmedinejad-Visits-Latin-America-Washington-Implores-And-Seethes.html Eight Strategic Factors to Consider in 2012 http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Eight-Strategic-Factors-To-Consider-In-2012.html Rarely in the past six decades has global context counted for as much in strategic forecasting — trend analysis — as it does at the dawn of 2012. Reliance on stove-piped analysis of “strategic sectors” — such as economic and financial issues, security issues, politics, geopolitics, resources and energy, sociology and religion, and so on — will produce skewed and unreliable estimates, and will tend to favor linear extrapolations of recent experience. A study of broad contextual factors, including an expanded view…

]]> stratstud@oilprice.com (Strategic Studies) Wed, 04 Jan 2012 3:23:01 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Eight-Strategic-Factors-To-Consider-In-2012.html Afghan Newspaper Lambasts China as Rapacious Exploiter http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Afghan-Newspaper-Lambasts-China-As-Rapacious-Exploiter.html With the news that the U.S. is holding secret talks with the Taliban in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, many Afghans are looking towards a future when military operations cease and the country can begin to recover from more than three decades of war. Afghanistan’s infrastructure will require foreign aid in the billions, but the Pushtun-language independent Afghan newspaper Cheragh on 28 December published an editorial lambasting one of Afghanistan’s neighbors, which has the potential to inject billions of dollars in aid, but has so far contributed…

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]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Wed, 04 Jan 2012 3:05:23 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Afghan-Newspaper-Lambasts-China-As-Rapacious-Exploiter.html 7 Geopolitical Predictions for 2012 http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/7-Geopolitical-Predictions-For-2012.html As we begin a new year, it is customary to look back at all 2011 brought us. How many dictators fell or lost their lives, while their people found a new sense of empowerment and civic activism? How many countries are still left in an uncertain instability? Economic turmoil continued throughout the global community, although some countries came out of the year in better shape here than others. One war ended, but as the world hit 7 billion people, the world could be increasing instability. Could the developments of 2012 be as fascinating and global…

]]> diplomat@oilprice.com (Diplomatic Courier) Wed, 04 Jan 2012 1:13:27 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/7-Geopolitical-Predictions-For-2012.html Pakistani Editorial Says Nuclear War with India "Inevitable" as Water Dispute Continues http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Pakistani-Editorial-Says-Nuclear-War-With-India-Inevitable-As-Water-Dispute-Continues.html Every now and again, one reads an editorial that stops the reader in his tracks. On 8 December, with the headline "War Inevitable To Tackle Indian Water Aggression," Pakistan’s Urdu-language Nawa-e Waqt, issued such a screed. Nawa-e Waqt bluntly commented on India’s Kashmiri water polices and Islamabad’s failure up to now to stop New Delhi’s efforts to construct hydroelectric dams in Kashmir, “India should be forcibly prevented from constructing these dams. If it fails to constrain itself, we should not hesitate in launching nuclear war…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 09 Dec 2011 0:42:59 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Pakistani-Editorial-Says-Nuclear-War-With-India-Inevitable-As-Water-Dispute-Continues.html Furious at Latest U.S. Attack, Pakistan Shuts Down Resupply Routes to Afghanistan "Permanently" http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Furious-At-Latest-U.S.-Attack-Pakistan-Shuts-Down-Resupply-Routes-To-Afghanistan-Permanently.html NATO recently literally shot itself in the foot, imperiling the resupply of International Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan by shooting up two Pakistani border posts in a “hot pursuit’ raid. Given that roughly 100 fuel tanker trucks along with 200 other trucks loaded with NATO supplies cross into Afghanistan each day from Pakistan, Pakistan’s closure of the border has ominous long-term consequences for the logistical resupply of ISAF forces, even as Pentagon officials downplay the issue and scramble for alternative resupply routes.…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Thu, 01 Dec 2011 2:52:10 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Furious-At-Latest-U.S.-Attack-Pakistan-Shuts-Down-Resupply-Routes-To-Afghanistan-Permanently.html Tensions Increasing Over Caspian Energy Riches http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Tensions-Increasing-Over-Caspian-Energy-Riches.html On 16 November in Astrakhan Lukoil president, Vagit Alekperov told journalists that his company will spend over $16 billion over the next decade to develop the country’s Caspian offshore Korchagin and Filanovskii oil and natural gas fields in the Caspian, at the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Astrakhan Region. An equitable division of the Caspian’s offshore resources have bedeviled the region since the December 1991 implosion of the USSR, putting the Soviet Union’s previous cozy arrangements with the Shah’s Iran “into the…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:17:36 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Tensions-Increasing-Over-Caspian-Energy-Riches.html Is Occupy Wall Street Just the First Step in a Global Anxiety Attack http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Is-Occupy-Wall-Street-Just-The-First-Step-In-A-Global-Anxiety-Attack.html There’s plenty of analysis out there about the Occupy Wall Street movement and its spreading global tentacles. What does it mean? What do the protesters want? Will it continue to grow? Will it fade away as the cold weather settles in? Every media pundit seems to have his or her own explanation, but really there are no clear answers; there is no easy way to explain this leaderless movement that has attracted a grab-bag of interest groups (who don’t necessarily agree with each other on the ideal path forward) willing to ride on its coattails.…

]]> tylerhamilton@oilprice.com (Tyler Hamilton) Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:33:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Is-Occupy-Wall-Street-Just-The-First-Step-In-A-Global-Anxiety-Attack.html Putin’s New Vision of Eurasia http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Putins-New-Vision-Of-Eurasia.html Many western politicians have harbored deep suspicions of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimorovich Putin since he first emerged on the Russian political stage in 1999. This is hardly surprising, given his KGB background, though those with longer historical memories will recall that Yuri Andropov came from the same organization and that the West grudgingly found a way to work with him. While the worst aspects of the Cold War faded away with the peaceful collapse of the USSR in late 1991, twenty years later, trying to figure out Kremlin politics…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:50:52 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Putins-New-Vision-Of-Eurasia.html Turkey and Russia Spar Over Natural Gas Prices http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Turkey-And-Russia-Spar-Over-Natural-Gas-Prices.html While few people in the world have warm feelings for energy companies beyond perhaps their stockholders, Russia’s state-owned natural gas monopoly Gazprom has shown an unrivalled and unique capacity to alienate is customers over the past two decades since the collapse of the USSR. Nations unhappy with Gazprom’s bludgeoning tactics include virtually all of the new nations composing the post-Soviet space and beyond. Issues range from aggressive low-balling of purchase prices for natural gas exports (Central Asia post-Soviet states) through transit…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:12:58 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Turkey-And-Russia-Spar-Over-Natural-Gas-Prices.html Russia and Latin America - Deja Vu all Over Again http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Russia-And-Latin-America-Deja-Vu-All-Over-Again.html “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein Twenty years ago this month, a hardliner coup failed in Moscow. Four months later the USSR collapsed. Next month is the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., which set America off on a global campaign of revenge, centered on Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter referred to for more than a century as “the graveyard of empires.” There is more synergy between these events than might first appear – first is that the…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Wed, 24 Aug 2011 0:17:47 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Russia-And-Latin-America-Deja-Vu-All-Over-Again.html Gorbachev vs. Putin - Putin Wins a TKO. Gas and Oil Still Flowing http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Gorbachev-Vs.-Putin-Putin-Wins-A-TKO.-Gas-And-Oil-Still-Flowing.html This week has seen the sad spectacle of the 80 year-old last Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, Mikhail Sergeivich Gorbachev during an interview with the BBC's Bridget Kendal railing against Russia’s current Prime Minister and de facto ruler, Vlldimir Vladimirovich Putin. In the interview, conducted on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the coup that four months later led to the dissolution of the USSR, “Gorby” stated, "Putin and his team are for stability but stability kills development and results in stagnation. The electoral…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 19 Aug 2011 2:10:11 GMT http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Gorbachev-Vs.-Putin-Putin-Wins-A-TKO.-Gas-And-Oil-Still-Flowing.html