Doomsday timeline

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in general

A timeline of changes made to the Doomsday Clock, which symbolically counts down to nuclear Armageddon
In 1947 the Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists introduced the clock in order to convey the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. It was initially set at seven minutes to midnight.
In 1949 the clock was changed to three minutes to midnight [...]

Crude Oil: A Long Term Forecast

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Energy, Oil

In light of all the recent bearishness, it is worthwhile to ponder the Energy Information Administration’s recently released “Annual Energy Outlook 2007 (Early Release version).” Here are the two most interesting sentences out of the whole thing (in your humble editor’s opinion):
“Oil, coal and natural gas… are projected to provide roughly [...]

Petro-Power and the Nuclear Renaissance

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Nuclear, Oil

With global demand for energy constantly rising and supplies contracting (or at least failing to keep pace), the world is being ever more sharply divided into two classes of nations: the energy haves and have-nots, says Michael Klare.
Not “Islamo-fascism” but “Energo-fascism” — the heavily militarized global struggle over diminishing supplies of energy — will dominate [...]

General Gareyev: Russia changing its military doctrine

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Military, Russia

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin) - The Academy of Military Sciences will hold a conference in the Defense Ministry in Moscow on January 20. Its president, Army General Makhmut Gareyev, will deliver a report on Russia’s new military doctrine. Military leaders and academics will discuss the changes and amendments to this key document, [...]

The Bear is back in business

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Oil, Russia

In the last seven years, he has brought Russia back into international reckoning. Today, the Russians feel sufficiently confident to be able to cancel their production sharing agreement with Royal Dutch Shell in Sakhalin-2 and, Gazprom, the Russian energy giant has taken over. There is steely determination in approach, bordering on ruthlessness at times. Chechnya [...]

Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in China, Military

U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan. 11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.
The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government [...]

Australia, a longtime U.S. ally, drifting towards new suitor China

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Australia, China

So it may come as a surprise that a recent poll found that Australians feel about as warmly toward a new suitor in the region - China - as they do toward longtime ally America. Moreover, the poll found that Australians think China is the strongest power in Asia, eclipsing the United States.
The results [...]

Russia: Back to the future?

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Russia, general

It’s no longer politically incorrect to be skeptical about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In fact, said a leading European expert on Russia, speaking privately in Washington, “Russia is a far different political construct than the one we Europeans thought we were dealing with for the past five years.”
The authority’s other conclusions:
Parts of Russia are still stuck [...]