Well, yeah I guess so.

Great strategic thinking; just "thousands of little tactical errors" as somebody said.

I've been mulling over a little epiphany I had the other day (now that I'm re-interpreting modern history in light of the oil peak).

I was struck by the odd symmetry between the USA and Russia :

• USA : oil men take over the government, by fair means or foul
  
• Russia : government takes over the oil men, by fair means or foul

Khodorovsky is rotting in jail, and what was his crime? Standing against Putin? No, trying to internationalize Russia's oil industry (in particular, with US partners).

Putin has been strikingly more successful than Bush in his oil strategy : he's created a powerful geopolitical tool, which a "free market" would have taken out of his hands.

Interesting times, indeed.....

Westexas, I have to congratulate you, as I have slowly but surely come around to your theory, as outlined above (and previously). Still hope you are wrong, but no longer think so.

I appreciate westexas' theory on BCR.  I have had a had time putting the pieces together.  His theory helps in that egad.  I just read the Asia Times article about the failing BCR agenda.  I was a bit shocked at the orchestrated insult to Hu during his White House visit.  As a funny aside, I had dinner with an old buddy of mine during Hu's DC visit.  He was back in town interviewing for a Dept. of Homeland Security job.  He is a good friend but totally unqualified for the job, but when did competence come into play for BCR gov't jobs. Anyway, we wrapped up our dinner and were heading back to his room at the Washington Hilton along Conn. ave just as Bush's motorcade came down the street, returning from a reception at the Chinese embassy.  He waved happily and I flipped Bush off, happily, at the same time standing side by side.  I just hope Bush saw it but I doubt it.  lo, I digress.

The insult to Hu I suspect was to harden Chinese resistance to sanctions against Iran.  The BCR clan can then claim diplomacy has failed and we have no choice but to move unilaterally against Iran.  Cheney's insult to Putin the other day was another calculated attempt to piss off Russia so they too will block any sanction vote in he UN against Iran.

Perhaps the bigger picture is coming into focus.  Any thoughts on my theory?

"BTW, I postulated a theory regarding BCR (Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld) some time ago, to-wit:  they knew about Peak Oil from day one; they knew the federal debt would never be repaid; therefore, why not run the debt up and in effect borrow the money to deploy a permanent military force to the Middle East, with the aim of securing the oil fields in Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the most valuable real estate in the world in a post-Peak Oil age?  In addition, I theorized that BCR would in effect renege on the debt, either explicitly, or through inflation and/or by crashing the dollar."

Jeffrey, I don't doubt that you could have come to this conclusion on your own.  But for the record, this is what Mike Ruppert has been telling his subscribers for the last 5 years.  While Ruppert is not infallible, I have made a windfall 400% profit investing on the insights gained from his "map" of what is going on in the world.  Of note, the subtitle of Ruppert's book, "Crossing the Rubicon" is "The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil".  Of course the rest of the story is about the means utilized to mobilize Americans in favour of an invasion of OPEC.