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Geopolitical Energy: Centered on the Caspian Sea (Part 2 of 2)

Fitzman, I haven't read the book, altho it definitely sounds interesting, so I don't know the timeline of talks with the Taliban. I'm sure funding for Afghanistan dropped significantly after the Russia pull-out however, and we couldn't ignore the terrorist aspect after 9/11. For the years in between I need more information.

WRT Iranian nukes, it's probably a combination of motivations. Close neighbors (including Israel and Shiite-run countries) are definitely part of it, but upsetting the U.S. would be a good side-affect for them.

Mythbuster - We will still use fossil fuels in the future, but the idea that the U.S. can support its current rate of use by North American supplies (let alone just U.S. supplies) is a dangerous fallacy. Efficiency and conservation are the first two steps we should take for immediate improvement, then renewables, including geothermal and improving the grid to handle varying loads of wind power. Recharge electric cars overnight. Battery R&D. These are things to improve the American economy, not thinking that drilling is our only solution.

Geopolitical Energy: Centered on the Caspian Sea (Part 2 of 2)

Good article, good food for thought. But I disagree on the Talibans - I think they were considered our friends while they were fighting Russia (there is the line of thought that the bankruptcy of U.S.S.R. from low oil prices during the Reagan years and their military defeat in Afghanistan is what allowed Poland and the Communist Bloc countries to break free of Russia). Once we no longer needed the Taliban to fight Russia, we lost interest (see Charlie Wilson's war), in the subsequent vacuum they joined up with Al Qaeda and bin Laden. They always treated their women and history badly, but only after 9/11 did we agree they were really terrorists and actually enemies.