From Foreign Policy, something funny has happened to the price of oil: It no longer reflects reality. The reason is that "financial players have seized control of the oil markets". From Brown Journal of World Affairs (reg. req.), an interview with Fareed Zakaria on the Age of Petrostates. Exxon what? PetroChina is the new No. 1: A $1 trillion market cap, the world's largest, crowns the Shanghai trading debut of the Chinese state-controlled energy company. An interview with Steve LeVine, author of The Oil and The Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea. Why the economy has absorbed high oil prices fairly easily, and why it may no longer. From Financial Times, Martin Wolf on the world of runaway energy demand; a look at the limits of a smaller, poorer China; and Gideon Rachman on Russia and China’s challenge for the west. A review of: Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance — And Why They Fall by Amy Chua (and more).
