Uppsala University in Sweden says the IEA's annual World Energy Outlook 'drastically underplayed the scale of future oil shortages'.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has won Slovenia's approval for the South Stream pipeline, 'undermining European Union efforts to reduce dependency on Russian gas supplies'.  A deal was signed late on Saturday, marking the fifth and final signatory of 'all the European partners needed for this project to be completed'.  Gazprom could receive 'exclusive rights' as a supplier of liquefied natural gas to Singapore after the expiry of a current contract with British Gas.  RusAl is planning to sell a 10% stake to help repay its $14 billion debt, and may offer special ventures and access deals in a reported bid to help China take the lion's share.  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country's nuclear rights are 'not ...

Whilst opposition leaders may still be in up in arms about October 11's sweeping United Russia victory, Clifford J Levy in the New York Times wonders why it is that the furor about allegations of vote-rigging seem to have very little in the way of grass roots support:There was none of the sort of outrage on the streets that occurred in Iran in June, when backers of the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were accused of rigging the election for him. Nor the international clamor that greeted the voting in Afghanistan, which last week was deemed so tainted that President Hamid Karzai was forced into a runoff.The apparent brazenness of the fraud and the absence of a spirited reaction says a lot about the deep apathy in Russia, where people grew disillusioned with politics under Communism and have seen ...

What is happening in Iran certainly reminds us of another trial in a neighboring country.  From the New York Times:

The government should be ferreting out and putting an end to these abuses. Instead, it continues to conduct cruel mass show trials designed to intimidate the opposition and legitimize the illegitimate -- the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

During Tuesday's trial -- in which former officials, journalists and academics were accused of fomenting a foreign-inspired "velvet revolution" -- prosecutors went a step further and struck at the entire reform movement by asking the judge to ban the two reform parties.

The election and its violent aftermath have caused unprecedented fissures among the political and clerical elite. More repression is only likely to deepen the discontent. We hope more conservatives join the opposition in demanding punishment for those who abused detainees and that hard-liners reconsider their ominous threats to punish Mr. Karroubi and Mr.

...

Garry Kasparov's column in the Wall Street Journal today expounds on the significance of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choice of Moscow as a good place to during the electoral turmoil to prove his international legitimacy.  He argues that the alliance makes sense, as "autocrats learn from each other and from history how to hold onto power."  Well, if we are to judge by its friends, Russia sure is not having its best week - Hugo Chavez is about to bring the sledgehammer down on a TV station, Tehran is shooting its own people, while Berlusconi, arguably Putin's closest friend in Europe, is doing his best imitation of a Mediterranean Hugh Hefner (Alexander Stille predicted this last scandal ...

The financial debate during the past few days was dominated by President Obama’s sweeping revamp of financial market supervision, and this issue also occupies a number of slots in today’s Video-o-rama.

But it was not all about regulation, as pundits were also trying to figure out whether there were in fact economic “green shoots” and what the implications for financial markets might be. Commentators include Michael Lewis, John Rogers, Robert Kleinschmidt, Jack Welch, Barry Ritholtz, Nouriel Roubini, Stephen Roach, Mario Gabelli and George Friedman.

The compilation kicks off with author Michael Lewis discussing his article “The End of Wall Street”, and concludes with a fascinating analysis of the Iranian situation by George Friedman of Stratfor, geopolitical analysts.

You Tube: Michael Lewis - the end of Wall Street? “Author Michael Lewis discusses how his experience working at Salomon Brothers and writing Liar’s Poker influenced his article, ‘The End of Wall

...

TODAY: SCO wraps up in blaze of activity; Medvedev calls BRIC 'historic event'; no decision from US on defense system; German MPs agree Khodorkovsky trial is trial for Russian justice; Vaclev Havel speaks out against RussiaFor detailed step-by-step coverage of the SCO summit, see Ria-Novosti.  The countries endorsed the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov calling his visit to Russia 'symbolic'.  Yulia Latynina comments on long-standing collusion between Russia and Iran:  'Iran spends so much money on Russia that supporters of the Islamic revolution work in the Russian Embassy in Tehran'.   The summit also saw: the signing of a declaration affirming a multipolar world, castigation of North Korea, promises to help Afghanistan and ...

TODAY: Russia plays host to SCO and BRIC meetings; sidestepping protests at home, Iranian President Ahmadinejad lands in 'welcoming' Russia; is the US re-start set to stall?; Kremlin vetoes UN mission in Georgia; Russia holds record for journalist deaths in EuropeRussia has welcomed controversially re-elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Yekaterinburg for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit at which the country has observer status.  Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has called the violently-contested election: 'an internal affair of the Iranian people.'   The New York Times examines the difficulties awaiting Barack Obama in Moscow, particularly regarding hopes of Russian pressure on Iran.  Another article in the Times suggests that during the BRIC summit, Russia, the group's 'ideological provocateur', will be 'especially ...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose presidency is being hotly contested in Iran, will not be traveling to Yekaterinburg to meet with Dmitry Medvedev today on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, according to the Iranian Embassy in Moscow.  The leaders were due to meet to discuss Iran's nuclear program amid last week's rumors that Russia could change its stance on economic sanctions against Iran, but current political turbulence is preventing Ahmadinejad from performing his diplomatic duties.  Russia was due to be his first scheduled foreign trip following the elections.  

TODAY: 'Milk war' steps up a notch; Lukashenko absent from security summit in Moscow; rapid reaction force agreed upon at CSTO meeting; Kremlin hopes for larger role in Afghanistan resolution; third killing in North Caucasus in week of violence; US says WTO bid for three needs to be examinedBelarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has vexed President Medvedev by boycotting a meeting of the CSTO, the post-Soviet security bloc, without personally informing him.  Tensions have been high recently due to trade disagreements on dairy products.  Russia has emphasized that the milk import ban is a technical matter and has been over-politicized by Belarus.  Belarussian experts will arrive in Moscow today to continue discussions over the issue, which it hopes will be settled within ...

Israel may very well attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if the hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is re-elected tomorrow. Israel thinks that if elected, Ahmadinejad will continue to develop nuclear weapons.  And, Israel can’t afford to wait for international efforts to bring Iran’s enrichment to an end.

Detailed military plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure have long been on the table in Tel Aviv.

Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that Dennis Blair, the newly-appointed head of US intelligence, said Tel Aviv will eventually declare war on Tehran as a last-ditch effort to curb Iran’s enrichment capabilities.

And, former Israeli UN ambassador Dan Gillerman revealed that Tel Aviv is preparing a military offensive against the country.

War could be avoided if the Persian people elect the moderate political leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in tomorrow’s election.

Moderate ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi has emerged as Ahmadinejad’s main rival.  Mousavi believes Iran’s policy regarding its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.  

...