I found this at the U.S Energy Information Administration website, it looks like a fairly good analysis of Russian liquids production going forward, given that many large fields are 60% depleted and not much new production coming on-line soon, it looks like with a fair degree of certainty that Russian oil production has peaked. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Russia/Oil.html

AK responds: This is the symbol for Null. I believe it is a very appropriate representation of the philosophy of Sublime Oblivion, which I am currently writing up and the first chapter of which I hope to publish here tomorrow.

Climate Effort Could Be Stalled by Credit Crisis

In Europe, industries and some national governments are pushing back against the European Union’s goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions 20% by 2020, arguing that the midst of an economic crisis isn’t the time for costly new taxes on fossil-fuel consumption.

“Does it make sense to ask companies for such a large sacrifice, and risk hitting citizens’ pockets at such a delicate moment, all for environmental policy whose efficacy is questionable?” Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said through a spokesperson.

…

So you have a little pain (relatively speaking), and already politicians are trying to bail out (ha!) of taking concrete measures to cut down on emissions.

Now exactly where on the list of priorities is tackling climate change going to be if/when we have full-scale industrial collapse and looming food shortages?

Should the global credit crunch hit the Russian Main Street in a major way, as is looking ever more likely, I indeed think it quite likely that the government will take up the slack, primarily in infrastructure/investment.

Also, from the folks at Nikitsky Fund: http://nikitskyfund.com/files/tnb/Angst.pdf

“In our experience, Russia does best when reliant upon her own internal resources, and Russian interactions with global financial
markets have not always been a beneficent process. Whilst Russia requires substantial capital to rebuild her dilapidated physical
infrastructure, she continues to run a large trade surplus – quite sufficient to fund Putin’s
ambitious projects.”

They seem to be thinking along the same lines as we are.

I forgot to mention that the Soviet GDP expanded very sharply in the 30′s while western GDPs collapsed due to massive infrastructure projects.

I have been thinking along these lines for quite a while. How do you expect Russia to deal with the current economic downturn? I propose a massive public works/infrastructure campaign to keep the economy moving. For example: constructing canals, metros, rail lines, etc… Is their any rumblings of this in Moscow? As an example I was in Chelyabinsk this summer and their metro line has been under construction since soviet times (www.chelmetro.ru)! Its completion would clearly enhance the local economy, reducing traffic and lowering emissions, and saving money on the cost of transportation(electrified mass transit much cheaper than cars)

DJP