SAUDI ARABIA AND THE ENERGY MARKETS
Since the KSA plays a pivotal role in both global energy markets and the Muslim world its helpful to have a good handle on both of those roles. The Department of Energy has just released its latest Country Analysis Report on Saudi Arabia – these DOE -EIA pages are one of the best, concise, open source, quick references on economic intelligence available anywhere. Long before the invasion of Iraq they had reported on the sanctions-violating French and Russian
” precontracts” with the Baathist regime for various undeveloped Iraqi oilfields. I’d put this site up there with Jane’s defense and intelligence reports in terms of quality ( and it’s free).
(Hat tip Crossroads Arabia )
January 11th, 2005 at 8:22 pm
Very good recommendation.
I can only add I know the two guys who do MENA region personally – sharp and persistant (and they’re both liberal democrats… wink wink).
Pity they’re so straightlaced they refused to leak me info ahead of schedule. Or perhaps my morals are degrading.
Collounsbury.
January 11th, 2005 at 8:40 pm
Well, politics and scholarship are two different things, your friends are quite sharp,if I am any judge. Hard to get info this timely and accurate for free.
If only the MSM was half as good as they are the newspapers would be worth the time to read.
January 12th, 2005 at 1:26 am
Well, only one is a friend, very good friend. All about standards, of course, not ideology.
However, you should know they have access, in writing these things, to intel, not just public source. Not sure how useful that is, however. Unfort. my amigo is so bloody straightlaced as to not give me a sense.
My own guess is the intel helps in the most non transparent environments, but his and Lowell’s grey matter count more.