Missed this story over the weekend. Apparently the oil squeeze is being felt around the globe:
JAPAN and China were due to hold “peace talks” this weekend amid rising tensions over violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in China and a mounting dispute over oil and gas reserves.
Nobutaka Machimura, the Japanese foreign minister who is due to visit Beijing tomorrow, said he hoped the trip would defuse tensions, but the bitter rivalry between the two countries looked set to intensify after Japan announced plans to drill for oil in a disputed area of the East China sea.
. . .
Protesters in Beijing are threatening a further mass demonstration against Japan this weekend, after a rally last week in which several thousand demonstrators pelted the Japanese embassy with stones and bottles, and smashed the windows of Japanese shops.
Not the same thing, but wasn’t oil a contributing factor in a war way back when? I don’t suspect we’ll go there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see oil strain international relations on a number of fronts in the next 20 years.
With the North Koreans rattling their sabers, and the riots in China I have to say things from my view look rather bad. A powderkeg ready to blow.