After threatening to set up an air defense identification zone, what might the economic impact be if Beijing went one step further and closed off the entire area inside its so-called “nine-dash line”? Read Here – The National Interest
China’s true interest in the South China Sea has much more to do with history and politics than with oil and security. The South China Sea dispute is not about China’s interpretation of international law. It’s about China’s interpretation of itself. Read Here – Aljazeera
An international Court issues its ruling Tuesday on a challenge brought by the Philippines to China’s claim to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea. The report by the tribunal in The Hague—which will decide on at least seven of 15 Philippine submissions—is likely to be filled with jargon related to maritime disputes. Read […]
Misconceptions and outright misrepresentations of the role of oil in the Iraqi debacle remain, spawning conspiracy theories about conflicts from Libya, Syria and Gaza to Afghanistan. The corrupt and sclerotic energy sector continues to hold back the economy and blight the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Searching the Chilcot report to justify decade-old slogans of “no […]
Nearly twelve months after Iran’s diplomatic victory with the JCPOA, Tehran is still embroiled in four different major regional conflicts, and a fifth may soon break out. Read Here – The National Interest
British and U.S. plans envisioned using nuclear weapons as an option in Iran and Iraq, according to declassified documents, and the secret oil denial policy lasted at least until the Kennedy Administration. Read Here – U.S. National Security Archives
The prince, who’s the son of King Salman, is leading Saudi Arabia’s biggest-ever economic shakeup, moving to cut subsidies and diversify the economy away from oil by generating an extra $100 billion in non-oil revenue by 2020. Read Here – Bloomberg
Two years ago, President Vladimir Putin decided to wait out Western attempts to isolate Russia economically and politically. This year’s St. Petersburg Economic Forum — an annual event informally known as Russia’s Davos — showed that his patience is gradually paying off, but business as usual still isn’t within reach. Read Here – Bloomberg
Since the conclusion of the Iranian nuclear deal last July, the perennial antagonism between Riyadh and Tehran has reached a dangerous pitch, fuelling the violence that rages in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen and the undercurrent of instability that saturates the region. Read Here – Brookings
The price stabilization may have precluded a true test of the Saudis’ future strategy, though there is ultimately little reason to believe that maintenance of high supply has been abandoned; it has merely been recalibrated to make the Kingdom a price taker rather than maker. Read Here – The National Interest
looking beyond borders 