The Black Vault

...we'll just see which principles really have merit when the pudding is cooked.

This recent news story that illestrates what I am talking about if petroleum goes under inregards to Israel. Even without the oil going away the fact that Israel has taken a such hard line towards Palestine recently has caused American public support for the US supporting Israel drop from 71% to 44% in a single year ( http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2 ... ent-s.html ). Peace must be sought in the Middleast before petrloeum becomes a minor play or support may find itself negliable for the entire region IMO.

That is what we are headed towards anyway my friend, sooner or later. When the world no longer needs oil, the middle east F-ed in the A. We aren't going to put up with their crap anymore. People like Ahmadinejad will find a quiet horizontal existence pretty fast. Same for the Tally Ban. If the US was energy independent it could pay off China, but don't hold your breath waiting for that. The FED is doing what it can to prevent that, raising the US debt to astronomical levels, even aliens from planet Gold couldn't pay for.

I don't know how much longer China keep its toxic pollution problems under check without it hitting its populace hard. I see instability in its future at this time.

Well, instability in China would translate into instability in the US, and Europe, pretty quick. That's why all those years of deficits and debt were a really bad idea. A century+ of oil addiction like its cocaine was a really bad idea.