The other news of note is that Russia is sending a friendly delegation to the OPEC conveniton for the first time. This opens up a real can of worms in balance of power consideration. Russia sponsors Iran's militarism and is traditionally at arm's length, to say the least, with the Saudis for whom the US is their power agent. Interested in participating in future price spikes and power games over oil, Russia is feeling their way into amicable relations with OPEC, possibly in consideration of getting past their peak-oil supply years, who knows. But it sure complicates things and simply reinforces the motivation for the US to move rapidly toward energy independence.


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