Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• Standing Up to America’s Allies on Iran - Bloomberg

  "Israel and Saudi Arabia, the strongest U.S. allies in the Middle East, are maddened by the efforts of President Barack Obama’s administration to reach a diplomatic settlement on Iran’s nuclear program. This disagreement is unfortunate, but the White House shouldn’t be deflected. "

  tags: iran saudiarabia israel lobby negotiations

• Speech Isn’t Free When Terrorism Is Involved - Bloomberg

  "The real culprit here is not the 1st Circuit but the Supreme Court in the Holder decision. By allowing Congress to outlaw nonviolent speech made within the U.S. by U.S. citizens, it drastically reduced the scope of free speech from the traditional Brandenburg standard. The fig leaf of coordination is only meaningful if it creates real protection for independent speech. But the thing about a fig leaf is that it’s hard to make it stay on. In Mehanna, the court’s new doctrine is visible, bare for all the world to see. "

  tags: freespeech freedom civilliberties policestate oppression ridiculous

• Temasek unit snaps up Africa LNG blocks from Ophir Energy for $1.3bn - FT.com

  "Singapore on Thursday made a bold move to secure supplies of liquefied natural gas for energy-hungry Asian economies after the city-state’s investment company snapped up a $1.3bn stake in a large LNG block in Africa from the UK’s Ophir Energy. "

  tags: energy singapore uk investment o&g oilandgas

• Shell – when size becomes a problem | Nick Butler

  "It seems bizarre to say that a company which will generate cash this year of between $40bn and $45bn has a fundamental structural problem. But the latest results from Royal Dutch Shell show just how weak the correlation between size and performance has proved to be. Capital expenditure is so high that even cash at that level may be insufficient to cover spending and dividends. The company looks lost – a lumbering dinosaur in a world where the prizes go to the quick and nimble. "

  tags: shell oandg o&g energy exploration upstream

• Dubai to repay debt as economy strengthens - FT.com

  "Dubai state-owned entities are closing in on deals to purchase indebted domestic assets controlled by Dubai World, the restructured conglomerate, as the government takes advantage of the rebounding economy to relieve its debt burden. "

  tags: dubai debt gcc uae economy growth

• The four big truths that are shaping the Iran talks - FT.com

  "The best the international community can hope for is that, in return for a relaxation of sanctions, Iran will make a judgment that it is better off sticking with a threshold capability. To put this another way, if Tehran does step back from the nuclear brink it will be because of its own calculation of the balance of advantage. The fourth element in this dynamic is that Iran now has a leadership that, faced with the severe and growing pain inflicted by sanctions, is prepared to talk. There is nothing to say that Hassan Rouhani, the president, is any less hard-headed than previous Iranian leaders, but he does seem ready to weigh the options."

  tags: iran israel unitedstates iaea nuclear energy

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