Once again, the week's most important energy news has gone unreported by media in the U.S.
Most of the U.S. news media still doesn’t understand that the important energy news is happening outside the United States. Once again this week, cameras rolled as the White House and Congress bickered for partisan advantage, this time over offshore oil drilling. Meanwhile, half a world way, three events – one indicative of the growing risk of a shooting war over energy – were completely ignored.
By far the biggest overlooked event took place at the Russian shipyard in Severodvinsk exactly one week ago. There, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency, Vladimir Putin said Russian oil production was down in the first quarter and the industry was now at a “critical juncture.” The statement was ominous because Putin was at the shipyard to observe construction of Russia’s first Arctic oil drilling rig. He told his audience Russia would “defend our national interests.” Three days later, the AFP reported, “The Russian Navy on Monday said it was boosting its combat presence in the Arctic, including near the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, amid increased international interest in the region.”
Compared with the growing risk of a shooting war over oil in disputed areas north of the Arctic Circle, the news from Pakistan last week probably seemed none-too-exciting to American outlets that generally only report on Pakistan when violence breaks out. The news was that Pakistan’s energy crisis was rapidly worsening, with even “elitist areas,” as one newspaper described them, now suffering hours-long blackouts. “(O)ne shudders to think (of) the fate of rural areas,” the newspaper noted. And yet, it’s exactly in those rural areas that the Taliban keeps getting bigger and bolder. As Pakistan’s energy crisis worsens, how long might it be before anarchy overwhelms a weak central government, turning all of Pakistan into a new Afghanistan, a new haven for terrorists?
Last but not least, there was an item from a Middle Eastern news organization about how sales of Ford (NYSE: F, Stock Forum) SUVs were up 21% in the Mideast in the first half of 2008. The article quoted Ford’s Middle East Sales and Marketing director about how he expects huge sales in 2009 for Ford’s “full-size crossover,” the Ford Flex.
Last week the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, the world moved closer to a war over energy – and the U.S. media reported none of it.
