Evading a Mongoose in the Bahamas
“His body was found in a small boat adrift offshore.”
The Future of Biofuels
“Despite advances in the interim, biofuels still labor under some of the same limitations that have stunted their ability to take over a greater portion of the overall energy picture.”
A Dispatch from Crimea, Part II
“Moscow claims jurisdiction over what vessels can pass through the Strait, below the Kerch Bridge, and into the Black Sea. As should come as no surprise, Kiev considers this a violation of international water access as contained in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The US, UK, the EU, and NATO agree with the Ukrainian position. British naval vessels have been the latest to challenge Russian claims.”
While Eyes Are Fixed Elsewhere Problems Intensify in the Persian Gulf
“Last week, I completed my latest round of discussions concerning Persian Gulf strategic and policy issues. It was in some respects one of the most exhausting and disappointing exercises I have had in some time.”
A Dispatch from Crimea, Part I
“In late February of 2014 Russia began the process of annexing Crimea from Ukraine with the introduction of Russian troops. The move was highly condemned (then and now) by Kiev and all of the West, ushered in another round of sanctions against Moscow, and brought about a lingering civil war between Ukrainians and the dominant Russian ethnic population in eastern Ukraine.”
Reassessing the Chinese Debt Trap
“The Chinese would advance significant loans to the host’s central government and major national oil companies and then use the indebtedness to extract other objectives. Now, Beijing could care less where the producing companies would sell its oil abroad. Instead, China came to control the proceeds from those sales in payment of the loans.”
The Strange Tale of Pavel Borodin in Moscow…Geneva…and New York
“As post-Soviet change intensified so also was the board altering on which the power game was being played. More of this had to do with the surreptitious pilfering of Russian public money and its movement abroad. I had been tracking Russian money for years, especially when it involved KGB/SVR financing of foreign projects.”
A Renewal of the Brexit Loop
“In the current climate, this problem is even more acute as historically high natural gas prices combined with accelerating delivery problems are threatening to inflict widening losses on the British economic landscape.”
Collateral Damage in Poti
“Sometimes, being thrust into affairs created by others will haunt you. Especially if the nightmares involve the deaths of people whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
What The Santa Claus Bounce Really Means
“As a further observation, a private survey – one having some impact on how insiders view the markets – circulated last week concluded that more than 56 percent of the analysts contacted believe a major market correction is coming, with over 80 percent of those suggesting it will be 10 percent or more.”