The Tri-Polar Balancing Act: Why Commerce and Infrastructure Dictate Iraq’s Geopolitical Energy Strategy
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s recent swing through Washington and Houston yielded 48 agreements with major U.S. firms—ranging from Halliburton and Shell to GE Vernova—signaling a potential $100 billion influx of foreign direct investment into Iraq’s energy sector. However, analyzing this development purely as a victory for Western commercial interest overlooks the structural dependencies that govern […]
Clean Energy Traverses Through Some Dangerous Waters
Is the green transition just trading one geopolitical risk for another? For decades, energy security meant oil pipelines and the Strait of Hormuz. As we pivot to renewables, the map is changing—but the chokepoints aren’t disappearing. My latest column for the Boston Herald (marking 4 weeks of consecutive coverage!) dives into the “Geopolitical Tax” of […]
The Resource Curse in Real-Time: Iraq’s Flaring Crisis and the Iran Dependency
By Ken Silverstein Iraq is currently a study in geopolitical irony. It holds the world’s fifth-largest proven oil reserves, yet it cannot reliably keep the lights on in Baghdad or fully pay its government workers. As I explored in my latest column for Forbes, the “resource curse” is no longer just an academic theory—it is […]
The Infrastructure Contest That Will Decide Global Power
While reporting from the Panama Canal recently, I watched massive container ships navigate the Gatun Locks—a century-old testament to American engineering and global influence. But standing there, it became clear that the geopolitical contest of this century has shifted. It’s no longer just about military might or political ideology; it’s about “connectography”—who builds the ports, […]
Global Natural Gas Markets: A Bigger Crisis Than Oil
My latest reporting, featured on Yahoo Finance and Forbes, examines the unprecedented shift in global natural gas markets. While oil often dominates the headlines, the overnight strikes on Qatar’s LNG hubs have disrupted supply with no strategic reserves to fall back on. This crisis mirrors the energy weaponization I have covered regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, […]