TIA, the oil industry in Russia is far older than that in the US. A cursory glance at the history of Baku will tell you that.

For years Russia was the greatest producer and exporter of oil. It wasn't very efficient but it didn't have to be. And guess what TIA, it all ran without US dollars as a currency, it all ran without US expertise, and it didn't give a damn about US patent rights.

But tell us TIA how would the US "control" the flow & direction of the world's oil? Exactly what could the US do if for whatever reason the rest of the world switched from trading for oil in US dollars to trading in Euros, what would the US do TIA to control that? You seem to agree with Barry that they could do all this, in which case you must have some idea how they would do it.

I, on the other hand say that they cannot beyond switching to an alternative fuel in order to collapse the market by creating a glut. This would be rather short lived as no doubt China and India would take up the slack in the market.