it will never happen. Any attempt to reduce oil below $50 is going to cost more than the margin compared to current prices.

Sad truth is that you’ll just have to accept the reality.

Mr. Kasparov is a political juggler, his statements are controversial, his arena is the chessboard. He became champion thanks to Soviet Union and its system and now he is fighting a bigger fruit (Russia) from the same root.

He still can’t get over how Deep blue won him! Mr. Kasparov needs to accept the reality on both of these realms (oil supply vs. its demand and human against superchip speed)

He can go against the roots, beware of him!

Russia equals Gazprom these days, our government has forget that we need to run the largest country in the world with 150m people. We have one of the largest corruption levels in the world, our medicine and education is getting worse every year. Corruption, lies, “1984″-style media and dirty oil/gas business, that’s it.

Expect more and more emigrants from Russia.

Once the Air Force certifies FT fuels for government use, a simple executive order mandating purchase of FT at market prices with a hard floor of $35 for the next two decades will change the rules of the game. The official goal is for the AF to certify all its planes on FT fuels by 2010 (http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123066920). Until the USG can flip over its fuel mix at the stroke of a pen, we’re going to be in a holding pattern. Once we can guarantee a viable market, the coal producers are going to go all in and there’s no market manipulation that is going to drive coal based fuels out of the market.

Yes, I’m aware of the environmental issues. I don’t care. Breaking oil’s stranglehold is one problem, a clean planet is another. If we can only solve one of the two, we should do it instead of having dictatorships holding us hostage over our energy supplies any longer than absolutely necessary. The compromises they force us into compromise our national honor.

This is key to understanding Putin policy. Unfortunately, Kasparov’s confidence that “the Putin regime will collapse before 2012″ suggests that he doesn’t really understand the implications of the truth he’s uttered. Ditto for the folks who worry that Putin will attempt to finagle another term in office, when all too soon, it won’t even matter.

Too few realize that Putin has been preparing to retire as permanent Oligarch-in-Chief for years, even though that ambition is an instantly clarifying lens through which to view his career. He won’t need to be President much longer, or worry about who is, once he consolidates absolute, personal, control of Russia’s oil & gas.