There are several explanations we’re likely to hear about the outcome in South Carolina on Saturday. Most of them will involve the voters being silly and not knowing what’s good for them. (I especially like the variant that says South Carolina voters went for Newt Gingrich – Newt Gingrich! – because they’re right next to Georgia. Yeah, right. Gingrich is Mr. New American South.)
If the voters weren’t silly, they would understand that it has to be Mitt Romney, because, well, primary voters were silly Read More…

If you get your news from the mainstream media, you probably think that China – in spite of repeatedly opposing the Western sanctions on Iran – has effectively joined the sanctions effort by cutting oil orders with the Iranians.
In the context of Beijing’s deep involvement in the Iranian oil and gas industry, however, this media narrative is not just invalid, it’s wildly, grotesquely invalid. China is investing heavily not just in oil and gas, but in other industries in Iran, including arms manufacturing and railway development. The investment in the oil and gas industry is robust by itself, however. It is also geographically interesting, and financially interesting. Read More…
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Posted in Diplomacy, Great power geopolitics, Nuclear proliferation, Political commentary, Strategy, US Foreign policy | Tags: Asia, China, Geopolitics, Iran, Oil and gas, Russia, Sanctions, Strategy, Syria, The West