Crude oil is now worth less than half its July value. But as central banks and consumers rejoice, socialist oil-exporters like Russia and Venezuela are in “dire straits”. Justice Litle says desperate times could prompt desperate measures from the firebrand leaders of these countries. And this “geopolitical time bomb” could send crude skyrocketing once again.

This from Taipan Daily:

The petrocrats were richly rewarded as crude oil climbed to new heights. Now a sharp decline in the price of oil threatens to tear their world apart. A time for drastic action could be at hand…

Today I want to talk about a situation that feels like a ticking time bomb - a time bomb that could go off sooner rather than later. It starts with this chart…

After climbing to nearly $150 a barrel earlier this year, the price of

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The closest thing to an ETF market in the Middle East at this point is Turkey, where there are five ETFs from two asset managers

Abu Dhabi, the major Middle East financial center, says it's preparing to create a platform to launch exchange-traded funds.

In detailing plans on Thursday, Rashed Al Baloushi, the deputy chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Exchange (ADX), credits increasing ETF demand by retail and institutional investors in the Middle East for the exchange's decision to build an ETF-specific platform.

Across the Middle East, ETFs and other traded securities are proving more popular and catching the attention of exchanges. The Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), as well as exchanges in Oman and Saudi Arabia, have also shown interest in adding ETFs.

The latest ETF plans are also part of ambitious efforts by many Middle East markets to diversify away from oil wealth and become true, global financial centers.

Earlier this year, the Abu Dhabi Securities Market

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Even when all concerned are on the same page, bringing product to market is a difficult process. Add in a few people and/or conditions that are not pulling in the same direction, and the entire process can become a major headache. Some markets are more oriented toward the headache end of the spectrum but are generally that way because there is a tremendous payoff when the product does make it to market. An investor who wants a big payoff is an investor who is willing to ride the ups and downs of a tumultuous development process to a profitable end.

ERHC Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration and development company, works to find and exploit oil and gas deposits primarily off the coast of Central West Africa. Although the company has rights to several development blocks off the coasts of the Democratic Republic of Nigeria and the Democratic Republic

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