Don't Hate the Player...,

Last week, I posted an interview of Michael Klare discussing the rise of an energy driven New World Order. In his book, Rising Powers Shrinking Planet, Klare outlines the situation thus;

Surveying the energy-driven dynamic that is reconfiguring the international landscape, Michael Klare, the preeminent expert on resource geopolitics, forecasts a future of surprising new alliances and explosive danger. World leaders are now facing the stark recognition that all materials vital for the functioning of modern industrial societies (not just oil and natural gas but uranium, coal, copper, and others) are finite and being depleted at an ever-accelerating rate. As a result, governments rather than corporations are increasingly spearheading the pursuit of resources. In a radically altered world— where Russia is transformed from battered Cold War loser to arrogant broker of Eurasian energy, and the United States is forced to compete with the emerging “Chindia” juggernaut—the only route to survival on a shrinking planet, Klare shows, lies through international cooperation.

Former Russian president Vladimir Putin can very well be credited as one of the leading architect's of this New World Order - and he has also has written very clearly about the nature of the situation going back as far as his purloined 1997 PhD thesis;

Generally speaking, all of us should recognize and admit that “energy egotism” in a modern and highly interdependent world is a road to nowhere. Therefore, Russia’s attitude toward energy security remains clear and unchanged. It is our strong belief that energy redistribution guided wholly by the priorities of a small group of the most-developed countries does not serve the goals and purposes of global development. We will strive to create an energy security system sensitive to the interests of the whole international community. Basically, all it takes is for mankind to create a balanced potential in order to provide every state with sustainable energy supply, and international cooperation opens all avenues for that. Russia is ready to contribute actively to further progress in this direction.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a beloved, strong man leader of a reinvigorated Russia. Understanding this man, his background, credentials, and priorities - can help to understand a very great deal about why the U.S. has a Russia scholar for secretary of state, and much more importantly, about the possible shape of things to come as the pace and intensity of flux within the elite echelons of the Trans-European Project continue to unfold.