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Links 10/31: High Oil Prices, British Announce Withdrawal from Southern Iraq, US Army Recruiting Hits Record Low, Grassley and Bush |
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Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, reports that oil prices are likely to stay high for some time:
In preparing the report, Birol said he had experienced "an earthquake" in his thinking.
"China plus India are going to dominate growth in the oil markets," Birol said during an interview at an oil industry conference. During the past 18 months, he noted, more than two-thirds of the growth in global oil demand came from China and India alone. Demand for oil in China, he added, would eventually equal the entire supply from Saudi Arabia.
Partly as a result, he added, the annual report would predict that oil prices, now at about $93 a barrel, could remain at levels much higher than thought possible in the past. This, he said, heightened the risk of a serious global economic slowdown.
British military forces in southern Iraq plan to hand over responsibility to Iraqi troops "by mid-December." Meanwhile, violence is down in Diyala, but fear and mistrust are not.
The US Army has the lowest number of recruits since the end of the draft.
Why is Turkey the most anti-American nation in the world?
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley sharply criticized Bush for threatening to veto children's healthcare again.
BLOGS
The Agonist dissects the Turkish Question.
BitchPhD on gender balance in the presidential campaigns.
Beau Sia
Anything else out there worth reading? The blogosphere's been boring me this week.
