Can Energy Independence Be A Catalyst For A Third Party?
by Steve Newsweek’s Michael Hirsh runs a great piece today on our energy future, from a geo-political perspective. Hirsh notes that high prices are here to stay, in part because as supplies of oil diminish, more and more nation states will take steps to control their own reserves and their energy futures, rather than allow Big Oil to continue plundering them. These countries want the wealth that comes from selling their reserves, rather than see it transported offshore, and from that wealth will come more economic power. Hirsh cites the experience in Russia, where Vladimir Putin has taken steps to eliminate private oil ownership and empower the state to control its own oil and natural gas supplies, as well as the steps taken by Hugo Chavez and now Bolivia’s newly-elected leftist president to nationalize his country’s natural gas resources just this week. This presents a stark future for a country that recklessly consumes fossil fuel without pursuing policies that reduce consumption and
