China is phasing out US-made…
Kazakhstan is actively expanding its…
Iran fears losing its influence…
The boycott of Iran has been more successful than I had anticipated, with Iranian oil production and exports down significantly from a year ago.And even stronger additional…
With Bin Laden and Gaddafi out of the picture, the geopolitical headline is now shifting to Asia/China. The most recent excitement came from a 3-way bitter territorial feud over eight…
Double, double toil and trouble. All the elements for a larger regional conflict are slowly falling into place, just as the witches’ ingredients in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, as the fateful day,…
In this week’s weekly recap we look at what is happening in Syria, how it differs from Libya, and recap the situation Gazprom now finds itself in thanks to the…
By now, the world is well aware of China’s insatiable global search for reliable energy resources to feed its seemingly unstoppable economy. From Sudan to Canada, Chinese energy companies are…
Pres. Juan Manuel Santos Calderón of Colombia is working toward the start of negotiations to end the protracted civil war with FARC and to essentially end FARC’s significant position in…
The Iranian oil sector may be lagging because of declining revenue needed to keep the domestic sector afloat. The country was hit with economic sanctions during the summer amid growing…
As the U.S. repositions its military forces to assume a great role in the Western Pacific, the state Department has taken a position to defend the contested Senkaku islands, which…
It was so much easier when it was just the Soviet Union, a clear enemy, even a fun game. So with the 9/11 disaster, America’s spy agencies were made to…
The surge in jihadist attacks on US diplomatic missions in September 2012 largely obscured the complex realities around a number of individual incidents and locales, particularly the Libyan situation.
As the United States and International Security Assistance Force military campaign enters its eleventh year in October, it is apparent that the military campaign against the Taliban and al Qaida…
As the United States prepares to head for the finish line in an election year the period between now and the time when the next administration assumes the helm of…
People often ask me why the West doesn’t attempt a Libya-style intervention in Syria. After all, things are going so well in Libya. Oil production is up. But oil production…
Gazprom has Europe’s natural gas market in a stranglehold and Europe is attempting to fight back, first with a raid last year on the Russian giant’s offices and then with…
The announcement of the death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — possibly a month after he actually died — starts to focus the growing confluence of events in the…
After losing its empire to the Western powers at the close of WWI in 1918, Turkey is now making a comeback in the region, a policy that has many people…
You can’t fight piracy on the high seas with naval power and clever security solutions alone, you can only shift the balance temporarily. Today’s pirates are all about modernization, and…
The recent oil transit deal between Sudan and South Sudan, which is expected to come into effect by the end of this month, does not symbolize a fundamental change in…
Saudi Arabia has gone on the offensive against Iran to protect its interests. Their involvement in Syria is the first battle in what is going to be a long bloody…
Adding Syria to the Baghdad-Irbil equation makes for a rather interesting geopolitical sum, but there is no clear winner emerging just yet as everyone from international oil companies, Western governments,…