by Thomas W. Lippman There are several possible explanations for the tweet President Trump sent out on Wednesday criticizing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for the continuing rise in the price of oil. One is that he simply… Continue Reading
by Michael Klare The plunge of global oil prices began in June 2014, when benchmark Brent crude was selling at $114 per barrel. It hit bottom at $46 this January, a near-collapse widely viewed as a major but temporary calamity for the… Continue Reading
by Sara Vakhshouri On Saturday June 21, Iraq’s largest refinery at Baiji finally succumbed to the forces of the radical Sunni militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, often referred to as the Islamic State in… Continue Reading
Shadow banks may control about 25 to 30 percent of the world’s financial system. They may be about 50 percent of all banking assets in the world. I say may in both of those sentences because it is hard to… Continue Reading
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich George Santayana wisely said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Oblivious to history and its lessons, the United States and its Western allies are repeating their actions from the 1950’s–that of imposing an… Continue Reading