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Dec. 2, 2008
Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world
Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack
Dec. 1, 2008
Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings
Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?
Nov. 28, 2008
Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be
Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?
Nov. 26, 2008
Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership
Andrea Simantov:
Shades of life
Nov. 25, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence
The Kosher Gourmet
by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!
Nov. 24, 2008
Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'
Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends
Nov. 21, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?
Caroline B. Glick:
Civilization walks the plank
Nov. 20, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness
The Kosher Gourmet
By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto
Nov, 19, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality
Elliot B. Gertel:
'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?
Nov, 18, 2008
Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason
Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?
Nov, 17, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason
Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?
Nov, 14, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia
Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead
Nov, 13, 2008
Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic
The Kosher Gourmet
by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla
Nov, 12, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers
Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks
Nov, 11, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?
Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate
Nov, 10, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?
Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist
Nov, 7, 2008
Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality
Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy
Nov, 6, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism
The Kosher Gourmet
By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes
Nov, 5, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors
Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie
Nov, 4, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law
Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East
Nov, 3, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?
Jonathan Tobin:
Was He Wrong About Everything?
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
June 7, 2007
/ 21 Sivan, 5767
Both parties suffering political schizophrenia
By
Bob Tyrrell
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Who are the major producers of oil in the world? The unsettling answer is Saudi Arabia and Russia. They produce about 9 million barrels of oil a day. And who are the world's major producers of natural gas? Again the answer is unsettling, Iran and Russia. There are students of geopolitics with a special knowledge of energy resources who worry about this. One, the economist Philip K. Verleger, Jr., believes that with regard to Russia and its energy reserves, we are in the second round of the Cold War.
As spring evanesces into summer and Americans take to the road in their gas-guzzlers, leaving their homes with air conditioners on high, it is perhaps an auspicious time to consider our energy needs. The presidential candidates, hustling for their parties' presidential nominations, tell us that they are going to make us "energy independent." At the same time they also tell us that $3-a-gallon gasoline at the pump is highway robbery. Some announce that they are going to investigate the oil companies. This is political schizophrenia. We cannot approach energy independence and maintain cheap oil prices simultaneously. In fact, in the near future neither goal is possible. America, with 5 percent of the world's population, uses 25 percent of the world's oil. And right now the world is consuming about as many barrels of oil a day as it is producing, which is 85 million barrels. In terms of oil production, the world is now at what is called "peak production."
The price of oil on the world market today is in the neighborhood of $70 a barrel, and Americans are complaining about paying more than $3 a gallon for gasoline. But by the end of the summer the world will be consuming over 85 million barrels of oil. The economies of the world's leading oil consumers, China and the United States, are that strong. Thus, oil experts such as Boone Pickens predict $80-a-barrel oil by the end of the year. He doubts that the world can produce more than 85 million barrels a day. That means the price of gasoline will be even higher than $3 a gallon. Verleger predicts $100-a-barrel oil before the end of 2008. Imagine what you will be paying for a gallon of gas then.
Russia might regain its old position as a superpower on the basis of its oil and natural gas holdings alone. Verleger cites a 2006 article in the Financial Times that suggests this is very much on President Vladimir Putin's mind. "As a city official in St. Petersburg," Neil Buckley wrote in the FT, "he studied part time at the city's State Mining Institute and wrote a dissertation entitled 'Mineral Raw Materials in the Strategy for Development of the Russian Economy.' In it he argued Russia's rich natural resource base would secure not only its economic future but also its international position."
So let the presidential contenders begin their debate on energy independence, or at least an energy policy. With oil at $70 a barrel and moving upward, energy alternatives are more feasible. Pickens mentions ethanol and biodiesel. His favorite is nuclear, as he noted this month in the Dallas Business Journal. "It's clean. There have been no accidents with it, and you can get rid of the waste." He calls it the "fuel of the future."
Peak production of oil, however, is here and now. The world consumes 30 billion barrels of oil annually. Producers have not been able to replace 30 billion barrels of oil into the world oil supply since 1985. There are no vast reservoirs of oil left. Simple market forces are going to coax the United States toward oil alternatives. In the meantime, however, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran are going to be prospering from our oil purchases, and Russia may emerge as a superpower.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Bob Tyrrell is editor in chief of The American Spectator. Comment by clicking here.
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