If one is gifted with "energy superiority" and proclaimimg to be deploying it aggressively going forward, while at he same time asserting - the continuation of - superiority in space... is it not a bit dumb to hand over leading the global norms in the domain where cyber is/ will be taking place to another player?
But for now, we are back to the 'boring old oil' - see end of this contribution
According to the new working methods of the EU Commission, Joseph Borrell, the EU's new foreign policy chief will brief fellow commissioners weekly, as part of commission president Ursula von der Leyen's efforts to make the executive more geopolitically aware
... looks like a good thing that the new president did an apprenticeship as defence minister
exit from Middle East[?... time to remember the previous campaign's promises
]
"Today, I am going to ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process."
Yeah, after the UK was kicked out from the driver's seat in 1956, just someone reversing "it" overnight
- NATO Europe is, of course, not just the UK
Go back to the oil shock of the 1970s caused the oil supply curve to shift fundamentally to the left, but over a relatively longer period of time the demand curve also shifted to bring in a new demand supply position at the global level.
The Arab oil embargo during the 1970s had a significant impact on the oil and gas industry and in particular the trading segment of the industry.
The supply did not improve overnight to negate the impact of the rising prices. It took a significant period of time (3 to 5 years) and was facilitated by reinvesting the accumulated revenues caused by the sustained higher prices.
World events and crude oil prices?
Every time a major event occurs, the crude oil price is the first casualty.
= the price skyrockets, only to be corrected when the supply side strikes a balance by enhancing production. As trading, substituting hydrocarbon supplies pretty much by their 'calorie" content in the market pricing, now instead of years, the correction can be within days.
However, to create new capacity by building new infrastructure, exploring, and adding
refining capacity (light vs. heavy; sweet vs. sour, as inputs, and adjustability between them is very limited without further investment, which will not happen -even if decided - overnight) and thereby either de-bottlenecking, or bringing totally new production assets on line.
- can only be facilitated by reinvesting the accumulated revenues (read:sustained higher prices)
- so, the industry input is now (that the primary supply is more domestic) based on a vertically integrated industry view; the current US Administration is listening (as otherwise at the primary production end, without he higher prices, it might need to open the cheque book) and the message to the Trump voters is, at the pumps, this will hurt for a little while, but is will be for the Patriotic Cause... will that play in the elections, come the end of the year that has only just started?
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)