Geopolitical Opportunities; The hypothesis of Economic Warfare

Things are never what they appear to be, especially in geopolitics. Former Forbes writer and business and energy journalist Jim (or James) Norman, who wrote the book- The Oil Card, and blew the whistle on Enron with the SEC, argues that the United States manipulated the price of oil as a kind of economic weapon against countries such as Russia and China, implying that it overtly uses oil as an economic weapon of financial destruction, and that we, the  car drivers and gas consumers in the West are just collateral damage in this economic warfare game. In the futures exchange (NYMEX), an unlimited amount of money from pension funds was used to overwhelm short sellers of crude oil, as a way of running up the price, he explained.

China was hurt by higher oil prices much more than the United States, and has experienced reduced exports, the closing of factories, and massive unreported unemployment, he noted.

The opposite technique, the lowering of oil prices, is currently wrecking the Russian economy, Normansuggested. Russia  has little besides its natural resources, and the softening of the crude market could eventually force regime change there, and in China he said.The real reason America went to war with Iraq was because of China, and it had nothing to do with WMD or terrorism, Norman asserted. As sanctions were lifting in 2003, Saddam was going to cut a deal with China so they could acquire ownership of underground oil fields, and the US sought to prevent this, he said. While the US is propping up India as a foil to China, Russia is now moving in a direction of realigning with China, against the US and Western interests, he added.

Norman

provides some fascinating, logical common sense insights on what could happen next in the global geopolitical space. He gets you thinking about some probable what-if scenarios and what the resulting consequences might be and where the business opportunities might emerge.

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The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for managing your business in a recession Part 7 of 28  Geopolitical Opportunities; The hypothesis of Economic Warfare

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