The consensus conclusion of the witnesses: the United States is in deep, deep trouble, facing the emergence of an “axis of oil” that threatens to recreate the bi-polar world of the Cold War, complete with Russia as a principal actor.
Whenever relevant — as now — I have been fond of saying that regarding the "Cold War", let's see who actually won it when all the historical data have been accounted for.  

It's obvious that the West won the Cold War and that the chief beneficiaries are the previously oppressed population of the hard-line Communist States. One can easily draw an analogy with WWII after which Germany and Japan reigned supreme among their former enemies, following a painful recovery period. I applaud Russia's attempt to govern the exploitation of their petroleum resources and hope that they are still pumping well after the peak. We need a bumpy plateau, not a cliff.

Re: It's obvious that the West won the Cold War...

Right, my friend, you keep on thinking that...

Since I am interested in history, I like to take the longer view of these political events...

I just watched the 2 hours and it was enthralling. Also the first time in my life any politicians have managed to hold my interest for that long. I felt some Senators tried to hijack the debate a few times but never managed it. They did of course use up precious time.
The other reviews here cover the debate well, however regarding the Cold War, this "we won" thinking by the Americans is the problem, they are not playing from a position of strength, but of weakness. The expert witnesses acknowledged the need for dialogue & diplomacy and the Senators wanted to bomb something. It was as if they were having two different conversations.
Maybe if they let Russia join the WTO it would alleviate some of the tensions. The alternative is probably a re-united USSR.

This guy Putin looks like a bad ass poker player.

Gentlemen! The game is Texas Hold Em..Ante up.

I think he looks like the villian in a Bond movie.

With apologies to "Fiddler on the Roof": I went to my rabbi and asked if there is a blessing for Vladimir Putin.

"A blessing for Putin? Of Course. May God bless and keep Vladimir Putin--far away from us!"

Have you seen either "Children of Men" or

"The Good Shepherd" ?

I'd be interested in your thoughts on those movies. I'd be interested in your thoughts on a lot of movies. But you are a wanted man and I just thought I'd submit those two for your consideration.

The Good Shepherd.

My take. The agent's son blew away the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Who paid for this? His soon to be wife. Thrown out of an aircraft.

I think Ed Wilson(wasn't that the agent's name) should have paid for being such a schmuck regarding his son. He gets a free ride while Cuba becomes a communist state. The son appears to be a mental retard.
If I was JFK I would have had Ed Wilsons head on a plate.

'Skull and Bones' takes on some clout I suspect is mostly BS.
A bunch of sophomoric asses pretending to be earth shakers.

Other than these two bits of stupidity the movie was worth watching.

Someone needs to do a movie on Operation Mockingbird.
Free press? Free to lie. Free to distort.

Nice one. DeNiro and me gotta talk about, right Hothgor? It's a tough one, airdale. It's always like this. The director wants me to fuck all these girls, but I can't do that for various reasons. So we gotta subcontract out to SAT. But SAT likes to chill in his hottub with knitting and the rhyhmes. Whatever.

I'm watching a lot of old movies now. Highly recommended:
1. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
2. "Young Frankenstein"
3. "You Can't Take it with You"

Hunter Thompson 1958. When he still had hair. Pre-Hell's Angels. Nice Photo, Dave. It's almost as good as the one I took of Beckham's wife with no shirt on at St. Tropeis. Sean Connery playing me right now. (of course)

Illya Kuryakin.

I always thought he looked like Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) Man from Uncle.

Hmmm...I do not want a dictatorship in the US. I fear that the namby pamby way we elect or leaders is the biggest problem. We need campaign contribution limits yesterday. This would reduce the ammount of "favors owed" to campaign supporters. Likely hood of passing = 0. A test for voting rights would never fly...Hollywood would have a hissy fit because some actors couldn't vote...

I respect Putin for what he is doing. He is under absolutely no obligation to sell oil at below world market rates to anyone and he shouldn't. This gives a 'tax like' credit to be wasteful. He has the power and is using it(like anyone else wouldn't).

I think we are screwed in the long haul. We don't have the will power...and our leaders have thier balls in hock to someone else.

we are one party away from being a dictatorship. our choices may appear to be many, but the fact remains we are either democrat or republican. the third party libetarian is a long long way off.
sounds scary doesn't it? but think about it for a moment. just one party away from a dictatorship. right now it's King George, but soon it'll likely be Queen Hillary! and what about if slick willie secures the position of Secretary General at the United Nations?

And i use to worry about Peak Oil!

As the Germans say: Scheitze!

Separated at birth?

Did you want Coffee or milk with your Pulonium 210?