MenuOn June 28th, leaders of the G7 announced that they agreed to explore the possibility of imposing a price cap on Russian oil to reduce Moscow’s energy revenues. While many view this as political exigency or a futile return to price controls, the truth is far more complex — with reverberations beyond the war in Ukraine or
Category Archives: Energy Security
China’s Energy Vulnerabilities Drive Xi’s Policies
The long-anticipated 20th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, widely seen as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s stage-managed coronation for a third term, began with Xi delivering a two-hour speech focusing on security, further global outreach, and staying the course domestically. None of this surprises China analysts, who predicted these trends far in advance. China’s domestic policy
Asia’s Hunger For Energy Will Not Save Russia’s Economy
Over the last year, the West imposed sanctions on Moscow, cut back its purchases of Russian hydrocarbons, and sent military support to Ukraine. But the world’s largest democracy, and one of the United States’ biggest allies in Asia, India, hasn’t done any of that. Rather, India has seized the opportunity to purchase cheap Russian energy to
The Coming Hurricane: Russian Energy-Giant Gazprom Is Creating An Army
Ukrainian intelligence has reported that Russian energy giant Gazprom is establishing its own private military company (PMC). The rationale for an energy company establishing a security force is at least vaguely plausible given the need to defend fixed assets in trouble spots. Western energy companies like Exxon and BP do the same. However, Gazprom is not establishing
US Grid Is A Magnet For Terrorists: How Can We Solve This?
Many people take the security of our national grid for granted. They should not. Since the days of the Soviet threat during the Cold War, the US grid was in the scope of foreign militaries. In addition to China and Russia, Iran and North Korea drew contingency plans to destroy our sources of electricity. Yet,
The Biden Administration Should Learn Japan’s Painful Lessons On Hydrogen
Clean hydrogen has long been a promising but unrealized green energy source. A bipartisan infrastructure bill introduced last year suggests allocating 7 billion dollars to create clean hydrogen hubs. Read more here.
Tesla’s Crash And Musk’s Acquittal Is Good News For Electric Vehicles
Elon Musk was acquitted by a US district court over a tweet that forced him to resign as Tesla’s executive chairman in 2018. Now, fresh off his victory in acquiring the very same Twitter for an inflated price, Elon Musk and Tesla were slammed by a historically low 2022 earnings report which prompted a 70% decline in stock in 2022.
McCarthy’s Concessions May Endanger Biden’s Energy Policy
Kevin McCarthy’s quest to become Speaker of the House ended after 15 votes with many concessions granted to the hardline, America first, Freedom Caucus within the GOP House delegation that prevented his unchallenged ascent. The extent of these concessions took weeks to emerge and drew controversy. Notably, Marjorie “Jewish space lasers” Taylor Greene received seats on the powerful Homeland
The Future Battlefields: Rare Earth Elements
Sweden’s state-owned mining enterprise LKAB may have given the West hope in its quest for energy independence and containing China. Two weeks ago, LKAB announced it had discovered nearly one million metric tons of rare earth elements (REE). Read more here.
African Energy May Save Europe
After 2022-2023’s unusually warm winter, Europe may be winning its energy struggle with Russia, but a lasting solution for energy-hungry Europe has not arrived yet. While Europe’s ad-hoc responses to Russian embargos have succeeded in changing one of the cornerstones of its economy, they are neither systematic nor sustainable. Read more here.