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“The media remains relatively low profile on it's coverage of this Muslim man's cowardly attack on two of America's unarmed warriors in the name of jihad.” Starman417

Really?? Strangely, other people manage to note that the MSM did cover the story in some depth: http://bluecollarrepublican.com/blog/?p=2739

But if you only watch Fox News and Billy O’Reilly then I guess you may have missed it?

The problem pre-WWII was that most natural rubber came from Asia, which with the Japanese running around invading most it, put supplies under threat. Since the Japanese are less able (and inclined) plus the US Navy is more than capable of sinking anything threatening shipping on the Pacific, supplies should be more stable.

The other good news on natural rubber will be that it might (just might) boost GDP in countries like Congo and other West African states (which would come on stream and keep Asian suppliers from gouging everyone!)

isn't one of the factors about the cost of diesel that it sells less than gas?
For the producer it therefore costs more to produce/store/ship it around as a 'specialty'.
For the retailer the limited volume means it costs more to purchase, more to store, and the volume margins are lower than gas so they charge a premium.
Once diesels take off in the States it will turn around as greater demand increases supply to the point that retailers see the opportunity to increase volume by lowering their margins.

"In reality, it was the Communists above all others who prevented revolution in Spain. Later, when the Right Wing forces were in full control, the Communists showed themselves willing to go a great deal further than the Liberals in hunting down revolutionary leaders."

One might suggest that in the case of Spain, Stalin, saw an opportunity to work with Franco as an opportunity to diffuse German influence. Faced with the inability of Britain & France to take the threat of Nazi German seriously, he could have seen cooperation with Franco as a price worth paying if it kept France from fighting on three fronts (Germany, Italy & Spain). It was the smart (but heartless) move but credited the French with more ability than was due, given what we see of France in 1940.

I glad that we live in this most perfect of all perfect worlds, but please spare me another Michael Crighton book!

I think I would rather eat Al Gore!

Jude24 - you are truly the Patron of Lost Causes! the two items you claim prove the existance of WMD were claims made before the invasion.

The subsequent developments are that no-one has found them and the administration (well, Dick Chenney) claims on a regular basis that they did exist, but that Saddam had a big tag-sale before we got there, or swept them under the (Persian) carpet.

Surely this still doesn't answer the problem that the process will remain over-expensive because the demand for platinum would escalate the price even further than the exisitng catalytic converter demand has (admittedly that would drop if fuel cell cars removed the need for exhaust treatment).

There is also the question of whether it makes sense to expend a finite resource like platinum in automotive applications....

interesting.... Saves about $2bn, then. Still seems a shame that the money is going to credit blenders rather than producers of ethanol - more money for Big Oil's refinery operations.

"there are no subsidies to grow corn. The ethanol boom has eliminated corn price supports."

So there were 'price supports' (a.k.a., subsidies) for growing corn, but now the price has risen on the back of subsidies for ethanol production, which have produced a boom in ethanol... - Did I get that right?

PSA has definitely come a long way in recent years in terms of design, and people who've bought one seem pretty loyal, so they can't be all bad.

I drove two Renaults for a combined milage of 70K in 5 years working in England. The only problems I had with either car was the off-side rear bearing on both cars (might be my cornering style?).

I had was lousy dealer service, but that is pretty standard with every manufacturer.

thanks for the clarification - I saw there was a bit of a dynasty but hadn't followed them all the way down!

In that case, I would suspect that A.T. Mahan demonstrates the rule of the open flank (i.e., there is always an open flank, if you can reach and attack it)?

It is not a question or reductionist readings any more than one of extrapolative reading.

Not being familiar with the full content of Mahan's works I could only find a bibliography of his texts (are any still in print?), but to judge by the titles it appears that he was an engineer who applied civil engineering to fortifications.

The history of warfare is one of static forces in fixed positions surrounded and overwhelmed by more mobile forces as demonstrated in the 20th century by (a) Western Front WWI 1918, (b) France 1940, Soviet Union 1942, (c) British North Africa 1941/42, (d) Germany Eastern Front 1944/45 (e) 1st & 2nd Gulf Wars.

Thus, Mahan's works on entrenchments and fortifications are interesting for light they might shed on defensive patterns of enemy positions, but ultimately they were redundant by the end of the 19th century (cf., the US Civil War vs the 2nd South African (Boer) War).

Where mobile forces clash it is the more aggile (and securely supplied) that wins. Fortifications will slow an enemy but unless you are capable of striking back at them (Battles of Kursk, El Alamein, etc), fortifications are a trap.

"Reagan was the first President to try and win the Cold War. The rest assumed we'd spend eternity at each others' throats (detente - is that a Fench word?). That vision saved more lives than the world's greatest manager could even count."

And yet Reagan, too, talked and signed treaties with the Soviets. Perhaps he followed Truman's dictum: "Talk quietly/ Carry a big stick!" ;-)

"To describe a work as of "purely historical interest" is no criticism at all in my view."

Mahan was completely eclipsed by the theories of Blitzkreig and Defence In Depth. Of these, both create problems with logistics (is there a theorist on military logistics?), but I would argue that Defence In Depth worked best.

I would agree with your later point about naval power, but without the ability to project force inland (across a continent if necessary) it is like "the elephant wrestling the whale", as Napoleon commented on France vs. England.

"Mark Steyn would be delighted to see an enormous upsurge among the numbers of Taiwanese and Ugandans - people who have show remarkable imperviousness to Islamic recruitment."

Apart from that awkward North Eastern Corner of Uganda, that is....

"I've heard rumors that the drop in oil prices is a combination of lower demand AND increased production by the Saudis, in order to hurt the economy of Iran..."

Interesting point, but the effect on Saudi is worse than Iran (they have customers that other countries can't /won't supply).

The depreciation of the Dollar was having an effect until Iran switched to selling oil in Euros. They have had an from that as the Dollar depreciated through last year as they export oil to other Gulf states with excess refining capacity sell petroleum back to them (to meet about 20-30% of Iranian demand that Iran cannot supply domestically). The Gulf states have pegged their currencies to the Dollar (because their oil /refined products are sold in Dollars), so the Iranians have hedged their bets and mopped up.

If the Dollar does it's annual 10-15% ressurrection in value by April then the Iranians will find they have different problems to deal with. If it continues to weaken, they won't care.

What cost energy independence?

Suck up all that natural gas for methanol conversion and what will people heat their houses with? What will the petrochemical industry use to produce the raw materials for industry? They are already screaming about the price of natural gas and the US is slipping from being an export of petrochemical product to being a net importer.

The domestic manufacturing would get yet another double whammy as it's raw materials prices spiked and foreign producers costs fell as all that oil & gas no longer consumed in the US was dumped onto the world market.

A policy of 'Energy Independence' is like the goal of a trust fund baby who doesn't want to live off their parents but hasn't actually figured out that it means paying the bills!

I agree that when it was formed it was a cartel with an agenda, but their world has changed radically. Talk to people who live in KSA or other Gulf states and you find that the locals are just as worried about some of their more radical neighbours. Talk with people in the oil business there (and closer to home) and, sure, they like some increases in the price of their basic commodities (it's a way of growing profits), but they don't like rampant inflationary prices that force buyers out of the market. Nor do they like the effect on the value of their revenue when the Dollar takes a tumble (down 10-15% against the Euro in 06).

The simple fact is that these days they are too large and too diverse a group (Nigeria + Angola have different priorities & no nationalised extraction companies). There are also far more players in the market producing (Khazakstan) and buying more stock in volume (China, India, etc), as their economies develop. Add in the development of drilling/refining for heavy crude stocks and it means that whilst OPEC is still the most important group, it is only one part of the market.

Instead of trying to bring down OPEC, the West would be better served by assisting the development of other producers' reserves and, most importantly, alternatives. If those alternatives need a little tax incentive to encourage their take-up, so be it. It's hedging our bets against future price rises, Middle East wars, another Katrina, etc. If people don't like paying the taxes to fund the development of alternatives they should walk the 1/2 mile to the store and cut consumption. That would lower prices at a stroke.

A math lesson for you, Little Ray: If more people live in the unseasonally warm New York city (pop. 8.1 million) turn down their heating, than live in Colorado (pop. 4,665,177), who turn UP their heating, which will have the greater impact on the price of energy?

Now subtract demand from the poor souls in Colorado still waiting for the utlities to reconnect them.

OPEC is most certainly trying to prop up prices but don't credit them with that much ability!

The real problem they have is that they are producing more than they can sell. When the market looked short of supply (thanks largely to Katrina), they ramped up production - but it takes months to take effect.

Large chunks of the developing world hasn't been able afford to buying oil at the prices of the last 12 months and then subsidise it for domestic consumption. The net effect of these subsidies is to create artificial demand. (Indonesia spends up to 30% of GDP on this sort of thing and Iran is desperate to increase their refining capacity to allow them to meet their own domestic demand for gasoline and stop having to re-import refined product!)

Oil priced at anything over $45 a barrel cripples the developing world's budgets so they have reduced demand by reducing domestic subsidies (good news since it means their production costs rise and US industry is more competitive). That has created shrinking demand as production ramps up. Add a mild winter in the biggest markets (US and Europe), and you have a glut.

It's not about nobbling alternative fuel ventures, it's simple supply & demand.

Privately held companies like BP, Exxon & Shell manage their supply. State owned national oil companies cannot cut production to follow demand and therefore oversupply. At a guess, I would say this probably creates a 15% margin for error in crude prices. If they had talked about cuts 6 months ago, it might have had an effect.

And if the US was energy independent, then the price of oil would be around $10 a barrel for the next 10 years and no-one would be able to afford to develop any reserves, let alone alternatives!

If you want to complain about the value of the Dollar, talk to guys who have been throwing money and pork around these last 10 years!