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GM's marketing strategy for the new SUV, the Chevy Tahoe, which is in showrooms. 1) Defining the market segment- people with many children, a dog, a trailer, people who would otherwise need two cars to do the same job transporting kids. 2) Addressing the fuel efficiency concerns, showing how the fuel management system works. Fuel economy of 22mpg for the Tahoe. 3) Providing detailed training to salespeople handling these SUV's, checking that its working, and making sure it addresses the customer concerns. It took 12 days to sell a ChevyTahoe in U.S. showrooms in February 2006, according to Power Information Network. Links: see Maugeri of ENI in Foreign Affairs, April 2006 on refining constraints Yergin in same global issues in energy security Bush India nuclear deal for civilian energy Niall Ferguson on China and recession, affects future Chinese demand, Hoover Digest, Winter 2006 Links on Biofuels, Ethanol Offsetting this Links to geopolitical areas- Nigeria, Iran, Saudi, terrorism or other political risks, and declining production Iraq and Mexico links....

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Problems in the Niger Delta region that have proved so intractable. Disarmed militias are not likely to stay that way for long unless jobs are found to make up for the money lost from stealing oil from blownup pipelines. Problems of corruption, neglect, and few opportunities show the problems faced by resource rich regions still trapped in poverty. America gets 12% of its oil from this area.

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Dana Milbank points out the real reason Hagel was asked to step down- the reverses in Syria and Iraq. This was not even mentioned in the gathering of officials where the president announced his departure and praised Hagel. Hagel looked weary of the event throughout and must have been relieved to get though it, says Milbank. As even former president Carter says the U.S. acted too slowly, and even Rand Paul calls for aggressive action against the Islamic State, president Obama now has to engage in military action from which he wanted to exit. President Obama looks for a new defense secretary to provide better guidance for the new situation he faces.

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The British parliament defeated a measure put forward by prime minister Cameron for military response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria in August 2013. The vote against British intervention was 285 to 272 with members of his own party and Liberals voting against the measure. The case put forward by Cameron was based on humanitarian grounds, and to prevent the use of chemical weapons in the future. Under pressure from politicians from all parties Cameron decided to put this to a vote in parliament following a debate on Aug. 29, 2013. In calling for the vote Cameron said he was deeply mindful of the deep concerns about Britain's intervention in Iraq in 2003.

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Age ol trading patterns between UAE and Iran separated only by 70 miles of ocean and the US sanctions on exports of sensitive items to Iran.

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Ghannouchi of Tunisia's Ennahada Party puts forward ideas for a pathway that Islamists could follow to integrate into the political life of Middle Eastern countries- compromise, working together with non-Islamist parties for the common good, focussing on economic development, pursuing moderate Islamist ideas, bringing in those excluded from the political process thorough a new inclusiveness, and respecting the opposition. He sees the successful election in Tunisia in which Ennahada worked with the opposition parties to ensure a smooth transition, as a model for other countries and the Arab neighborhood. In 2014 another process of smooth transition after elections, and respect for the opposition, happened in Indonesia with the election of Jakarta governor Widodo to be the new president. This set another model of respect for democracy, fair elections, respect for the opposition, focus on economic development and inclusiveness, for Muslim countries in another part of the world. Pakistan is another Muslim country which is working to create a model in the presence of much violence from Pakistan Taliban, and interventions by the military in politics. Assistance from the U.S. helped Iraq make the transition under the Bush administration till it unraveled with the policies of the Obama administration. Libya had the potential to make the transition with continued western cooperation and support- a change in administrations in the U.S. and France resulted in policies not supportive of a stable transition. The whole process now needs to be fostered carefully by western liberal democracies. Here Ennahada's Ghannouchi tells the world about the lessons learned by Islamist parties themselves for pathways to embrace for more inclusive societies focussed on economic development and progress....

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A journalist embedded with American forces in Anbar province in 2007, describes the situation in 2015 after the many sacrifices of Iraqis and American soldiers. He tells the story of one Iraqi police captain he calls Ismail, who helped the U.S. forces turn the tide in Anbar province, and now finds himself a refugee in Baghdad.

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Theresa May, the new British prime minister, announces her choice for cabinet positions- Liam Fox is new minister for International Trade, David Hammond is the new Chancellor of the Exchequer replacing Osborne. Hammond was Foreign Secretary under Cameron and helped negotiate the Iran nuclear accords. David Davis, a former minister for Europe, is in charge of a new ministry created to arrange Britain's exit from the EU. Boris Johnson replaces Hammond as Foreign Secretary. Johnson was Mayor of London and was a key figure in the Leave campaign. Michael Gove is out. David Davis and Johnson were in the Leave campaign and are now given responsibility for working on Brexit, a move that puts to rest any doubts about steps to be taken for Brexit, and is an effort to reunite the Conservative Party. With Osborne out, a principal architect of the austerity budgets of the 6 years of Cameron's government is now replaced by Hammond, who will now reflect the desire of Theresa May to come up with policies that "benefit everyone" and fight "burning injustice" to use May's first words as she assumed office at 10 Downing Street.  ...

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Several factors make it likely that oil prices will remain low for an extended period of time into 2016 and beyond. As Ailworth points out nobody is blinking. The Saudis plan no change to their high production. U.S. oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico have already made investments for deep sea drilling wells following the end of the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf. Many of these wells are producing at very low marginal cost as most of the investments have already been made. It makes economic sense to produce even in a low price environment, according to Andarko. Shell continues to invest in the deep waters of the Gulf. Its production is up 10% to 250,000 barrels a day. American shale oil drillers have not cut back as much as expected, partly because many companies with large debts need the cash flow to pay interest on debt. And some of the 1200 wells that were drilled but left untapped may also be brought on stream to slow production declines. As a result the overall production of American crude, according to monthly federal information, has declined by about 3% to 9.3 million barrels from the peak reached in April 2015. This helps the U.S., Europe, China and India, at a time when their economies are experiencing different problems. It hurts Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iran. Russia is coping as its exporters convert dollars into rubles after the sharp depreciation in the ruble, and helps local industry including steel producers, as well as wheat exports. Venezuela's economy is the worst hit. And Iran now has to produce at high levels in 2016 to improve its economy following the lifting of sanctions....

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Defense Secretary Gates does not see Russia as the threat it was in the Cold War, first because Russia's conventional forces are a "shadow" of what they were during the Cold War, and Russia has adverse demographic trends that will diminish Russia's ability in conventional forces. He sees the Georgian war in the context of Russia's seeking to exorcize, as he puts it, past humiliations. And Gates sees opportunities in the relationship with Russia. Such things as Russia's willingness to work with the US on Afghanistan. Evidence of this is Russia supporting the renwal of the UN resolution on Afghanistan. Another indication is that Russia he says is very worried about the drugs coming out of Afghanistan, and has been supportive to provide alternative routes for Europeans to get equipment and supplies into Afghanistan. These views come across in an interview on December 17, with Charlie Rose, a five time elected Congressman, for the PBS Charlie Rose show. They are also reflected in an article in Foreign Affairs journal's current issue. Gates was a CIA analyst and has some insightful observations. Gates told Charlie Rose that he does not see the Islamic radicals and violent Islamic extremists as a threat in the same way as the threat in the Cold War years. This threat is not as big as the threat to freedom during the Cold War. He says the failure in strategic communications was huge as agencies of the US government engaged in activities in other countries, like the Agency for International Development and the US Information Agency, were neglected starting in the in the 1990's. Communications in other countries of what the US represented and stands for was left to the Pentagon, a role the Pentagon was ill-suited for. He sees the Islamic terrorism as more of an ideological conflict. Speaking at a town hall meeting at the Balad Air Force base in Iraq, in December, Gates pointed to these communications failures as a real challenge for the new administration. But he now sees a huge opportunity in this past failure, and ways of addressing it creatively, in addition to commiting resources and people to this effort. Walter Pincus wrote this article, and its part of the fineprint analysis effort at the Washington Post in which speeches, reports, and other documents are examined by people like Pincus, to catch the really important things, uncovering the fine print that really makes the headlines. Another aspect of this fineprint effort is that there are a huge number of reports, and speeches and documents that had a tone reminiscent of the Cold War during the Georgia war and yet they do not correctly reflect the real situation about Russia, as Gates sees it from his analysis of what is actually happening. Gates has used Foreign Affairs, the Dec 17 Charlie Rose Show on PBS in which he was interviewed, and the speech at the Balad Air Force base in Iraq, to communicate his views and analysis. They are important to underline and emphasize precisely because they show that all that cold war hysteria reporting and speeches may be misleading and lead to improper conclusions and mistakes in policy, wasted effort, wasted resources, and lost lives. And just as the US strategic communications was starved of resources and effort, so also this necessary work to retrieve and give emphasis to the important things is neglected. One additional link to this is the speech, discussion, and QA session in Washington DC at the time of the G20 summit in which President Medvedev and the new administration's elder statesman and diplomat Marilyn Albright, former secretary of state, expressed their hopes and plans for a new era in Russian-American relations. ...

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This editorial in the Wall Street Journal says the U.S. presidential election in 2016 now looks like a referendum on safety after the Paris attacks. Rand Paul's chances are seen as nill because his policies, says the Journal, most resemble U.S. president Obama's. Hillary Clinton's comments about the need to defeat not just contain terrorism are seen as distancing herself from Mr. Obama, but the situation in Libya is seen as happening under her watch. The WSJ editorial lists a long list of the situations it has warned against in 2012-2015 since the Arab Spring led to the current situation in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the millions of refugees in camps in Jordan and Turkey, and the refugee movement to Europe.

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Tom Friedman makes the case for a gasoline tax. As the US engages in Afghanistan, Iraq and considers the cost of health care and a large deficit, he argues that 45 cents of each dollar of agasoline tax should go to paying down the deficit, 45 cents to pay for healt care, and 10 cents to pay for cushioning the burden of agasoline tax on the poor and people who need to drive long distances to work. Energy Economist Phil Verlager says that a$1 tax on gasoline and diesel fuel would raise $140 billion a year. Mention of the gasoline tax is considered risky by politicians of both parties though it would reduce gasoline consumption and dependence on imported oil.

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Opec cuts by 2.2 million barrels a day on December 17, 2008, and forward curve for Nymex crude oil prices which goes up $10 to $50.64 for the May 2009 contract and $70 from late 2012, offers liitle support in terms of higher oil prices. Some of it is explained by costs of storing oil on tankers and some of it by higher credit costs, and prices beyond 6 months do not have as much significance as the situation is uncertain. With Russia needing oil revenues and Iran and Venezuela also in the same situation, it looks increasingly unlikely that the strict reduction in production will hold. And things like higher inventories with a steeper downturn in 2009, can keep prices down for a long time.