I heard a bit of an NPR interview with the author of this book. It was quite animated!

He said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was due to gas falling to $10 a barrel, but later he said he was corrected by a Soviet economist. It was because before that gas had been $80 a barrel and the Soviets overextended themselves and they couldn't maintain that on $10 a barrel gas. He says Iran is in the same position today, as are many regimes of gas-rich countries we don't much care for.

Interesting interview.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94385403

Hi.
Sorry I just wanted to post in a thread ps <3 u pan! Whatup Fyyr if you still kickin it. And I miss the ring even if the last post was 9 months ago =(

Hey Drake! I haven't seen Fyyr on here in awhile.

I read most of the exerpt before my eyes glazed over. Started off strong then, well - my eyes glazed over. Now, I'm going to go look for the $10/barrel gas story you talked about. :D

You can hit the "listen" button at the top and hear the interview. :)

I went and found a few articles on Oil prices causing the fall of the Soviet Union. Good stuff! I was in my teens and twenties when that all took place but I wasn't aware (was anyone?) that falling oil prices was the exact cause! As I recall, everyone thought it was a combination of bad crop years and a ression, not deflation of oil pricess spurred on by Saudi Arabia. The Saudi's brought down the Soviet Union!!!

I wanted to share with you an e-mail I received the other day. I thought it was topical for this thread :)

Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008, 1:28 PM
> GOOGLE it or follow this link. It will blow your mind.
> _http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911_ (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911_)
> (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911 (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911))
>
> The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April
> ('08) that only
> scientists and oilmen knew was coming, but man was it big.
> It was a revised report
> (hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil
> was in this area of the
> western 2/3 of North Dakota; western South Dakota; and
> extreme eastern Montana ...
> check THIS out:
>
> The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since
> Alaska's Prudhoe Bay,
> and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence
> on foreign oil.
> The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at
> 503 billion
> barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at
> $107 a barrel, we're
> looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.
>
> 'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could
> practically see their
> jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.' says Terry
> Johnson, the Montana
> Legislature's financial analyst.
>
> 'This sizable find is now the highest-producing
> onshore oil field found in
> the past 56 years,' reports The Pittsburgh Post
> Gazette. It's a formation
> known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly
> referred to as the 'Bakken.'
> And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North
> Dakota and into Canada.
> For years, U.S.oil exploration has been considered a dead
> end. Even the 'Big
> Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells
> decades ago. However, a
> recent technological breakthrough ha s opened up the
> Bakken's massive
> reserves... and we now have access of up to 500 billion
> barrels. And because this is
> light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost
> Americans just $16 PER
> BARREL!
>
> That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy
> for 41 years straight.
>
> 2. [And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then
> this next one should -
> because it's from TWO YEARS AGO, people!]
>
> U.S.Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!
> Stansberry Report Onli ne - 4/20/2006 Hidden 1,000 feet
> beneath the surface
> of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil
> reserve in the world is
> more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President
> Bush mandated its
> extraction.
>
> They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside
> our borders, than
> all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the
> official estimates:
>
> -8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
> -18-times as much oil a s Iraq
> -21-times as much oil as Kuwait
> -22-times as much oil as Iran
> -500-times as much oil as Yemen- and it's all right
> here in the Western
> United States.
>
> HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this!?
> Because the
> democrats,environmentalists and left wing republicans have
> blocked all efforts to help
> America become independent of foreign oil.
>
> James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've
> got more oil in this
> very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2
> TRILLION barrels.
> Untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves
> of crude oil in the
> world today, reports The Denver Post.
>
> ----
> Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even
> with this find? Think again!
> It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has
> to.
> ----
> [Got your attention/ire up yet? Hope so! Now, while
> you're thinking
> about it ... and hopefully P.O'd, do this:
>
> 3. Forward this to=2 0all your thinking friends. If you
> don't take a little
> time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next
> time you want to
> complain about gas prices .. because by doing NOTHING,
> you've forfeited your
> right to complain.

Speaking of Oil...

Well I have attempted to add a link to a very funny Austrailian interview with a politician - however I cannot seem to figure out how to link the file. It is a winamp file. Anyway... sorry :)

Speaking of Oil...

Well I have attempted to add a link to a very funny Austrailian interview with a politician - however I cannot seem to figure out how to link the file. It is a winamp file. Anyway... sorry :)
Was it this interview: Front Fell Off (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg)?

Even if it's not, that one is pretty good. The same guys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clarke_(satirist)) do some other funny interviews as well. Search on Clarke and Dawe (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Clarke+and+Dawe+&search_type=&aq=f) on YouTube and you'll find plenty.

Yes!! The front fell off!! Is that not hilarious? I swear I thought it was a skit from Monty Python at first :) Thanks Klath!