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Russia was strong, but the Cold War took it's toll on Russia and it broke apart leaving Russia a shell of it's former self. Their economy is 80% oil and the rest is arms sales and Vodka. When oil prices swelled Russia's economy took off again and they started getting stronger and bolder in the past few years.

The Ukraine has been a flash point. The Ukraine has old ties to Russia and it was also looking at possibly joining NATO. The U.S. and Russia were trying to court Ukraine to gain influence there. Ukraine had elections and elected a leader who decided to dump the West and side with Russia sparking protests from the pro West crowd. It got so bad that the new leader fled the country. Russia says the U.S. was behind all the protests secretly and that they wouldn't allow that to continue.

As we know Russia annexed Chimera. The said they did it to protect their assets there and to protect the Russians there that were being targeted. There is a cat and mouse game being played with Russian troops crossing the border and supplying weapons to pro Russian militants willing to fight against the Ukraine pro West people.

From what I have been able to understand we have been meddling in the Ukraine and so has Russia. The two old Cold War enemies have restarted the Cold War and their are fighting over the Ukraine this time. It makes me think of Vietnam and Korea where we fought to stop Communism from spreading. You don't want to be a country that the U.S. and a Communist Super Power is fighting over. Bad things happen.

It looked like Putin was winning when he was able to annex Chimera without much response from the West, but then the U.S. piled on Russian sanctions and oil prices began to fall like a rock. OPEC has alway hated when prices drop and they almost always respond by cutting production to get prices up again. Not this time. Also the U.S. with their new found oil supplies from fracking in ND have increased oil production to the point where the U.S. is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world now. Btw supposedly there are vast oil supplies supposedly in the area of Chimera. Some say that is what Russia was seeking.

Some say that OPEC and the U.S. worked together to lower oil prices intentionally to squash Russia. I think OPEC does what it wants and I think they are allowing oil prices to fall for more than just Russia.

Fracking in the US is expensive. Oil needs to be $65 a barrel to make drilling profitable. Now that oil is lower than that the huge oil boom in ND is slowing down and that is what I believe OPEC is hoping for. They want to hurt everybody else making oil since OPEC makes money on oil over $30 a barrel because they get it the easy way with no fracking.

Obviously there is a huge game of chess being played on a global scale. Lower oil prices hurt Russia more than anybody else since 80% of their income comes from it and that along with the sanctions is destroying the Russian economy. The low prices are hurting the fracking business some, but overall not so much and low oil prices is a boon for the rest of America. America's economy is starting to really purr now and that has to really piss off Russia.

Putin is a smart guy and he needs the support of the Russian people so today he has announced that Russia is lowering the price of Vodka. Keep them all drunk and happy and that will make them support you I guess. I have been reading where Putin is making some speeches that give the impression that he is about to do something bold militarily. There is no animal more dangerous than one backed into a corner. I am concerned that Russia is about to do something stupid.

What do you guys think?

And interesting read on the subject.

http://20committee.com/2014/12/23/bewar ... r-in-2015/

I'm always bummed out when gas prices go down. The fact is that we have a limited amount of oil left on this planet, and it isn't enough to last much longer. I'm 35 and I may see the day when we completely run out of oil. If not me, my (future) kids will see that day for sure. I want gas to be $8 a gallon or whatever it takes for people to moderate their consumption. Blah blah, free market, yeah yeah. The free market here is going to do the wrong thing. This is a resource that will NEVER come back, and once it's gone, we are completely fucked. I don't think we should let a "free market" decide what to do with it, because the free market will just sell it for what will someday be seen as laughably cheap prices and then it'll be gone.

I think we will make oil consumption obsolete before it runs out. I hope so. Deep down I think sucking all the oil out of the ground changes the DNA of the world and somehow we will pay for it. I think big oil and even coal has done a pretty good job at making sure we don't invest too heavily into alternative fuels over the years. It's obviously not good for their business if we stop using oil so, business wise they are just protecting their turf. I was just looking for it and couldn't find it, but I seem to remember OPEC or Saudi Arabia threatening the US over it's quest for alternative fuels a while back when Obama was pushing for development. There has always been a lot of money trying to keep us addicted to oil. With oil prices skyrocketing it made plenty of Americans interested in saving money at the pump and Prius sales have shot through the roof in the past several years. Ten years ago how many cars were hybrids? Now even the luxury cars are going hybrid or electric. There are two new cars coming out that are Hydrogen this year. The demand for cars that get better mileage has surged.

I am ok with the market setting prices. I go to work where they send me and there is no moderating. Let us save some money at the pump while we find ways of phasing out oil. I have a feeling OPEC wants the price to drop for awhile to squash ND fracking and to get people to start to forget about saving fuel and buy cars that consume more oil. I think it's too late. The ball is rolling and technology is opening more and more doors.

Take for example Graphene
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/23/tech/inno ... e-battery/

As well as being super-strong -- 20 times stronger than diamond, 200 stronger than steel and six times lighter -- it is also remarkably conductive, both electrically and thermally.
Graphene: The strongest material on earth
If that wasn't enough, it is also almost perfectly transparent, impermeable to gas, and its properties are, scientists say, easily alterable.

The most surprising aspect of the research, however, found the membranes could be used to extract hydrogen from the atmosphere. The scientists said such harvesting could be combined with fuel cells to create a mobile electric generator fueled simply by hydrogen present in air.

Can you imagine never having to fill up as long as there is air around?

"Ever since the Nobel Prize was awarded for its discovery, experts believe graphene to be the miracle material that will enable revolutionary applications such as bendable touchscreen displays, rapid charge batteries, super-capacitors, low cost solar cells, extreme high-speed semiconductors, biosensors, as well as water purification."

China has the graphene market almost to themselves, but some University students from Santa Barbera have figured out how to make graphene from natural gas.

I'm something of an expert on graphene. I used a graphene calculator in my high school calculus class! :-p

The world is heating up and I'm not talking Global Warming.