In a display of optimism for its prospects at landing a huge U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tanker contract, Northrop Grumman Corp. Sept. 13 hosted representatives of some 100 companies that could become suppliers to the company if it wins. With a likely price tag of at least $20 billion to build a minimum of 100 refueling aircraft, the competition is fierce among defense contractors to land the order. As the only U.S.-based aircraft manufacturer, The Boeing Co. once looked to be a shoe-in for the contract. But now Northrop Grumman, partnering with the European firm that owns Airbus, is [...]
Mexico’s election-crisis, the U.S.-South Korea marriage and China’s economic tap-dance (or romp) through Africa all got op-ed attention in the world’s English-language press this week. Terrorism and the war in Iraq were also woven into an ongoing flood of commentary prompted by the passing of the five-year anniversary of 9/11. But it was a handful of off-beat articles that grabbed us most, beginning with Carlos Alberto Montaner’s reminder in the Sept. 12 Miami Herald that this week marked the start of a meeting in Cuba of world leaders associated with “a curious diplomatic entity known as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).” [...]
After the collapse of the Soviet empire, the Caspian states of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan generated a great deal of excitement because of their oil and gas fields, about which little was known. Despite falling oil prices, uncertain reserve sizes and a non-existent legal framework, an extraordinary volume of international investment poured into the region in 1997 and 1998. By 1999, more than 20 oil exploration contracts were signed in Azerbaijan alone, representing more than $30 billion in long-term capital investment and some $2.5 billion in committed investment. It was widely expected that the poorly explored, but high-potential Caspian oil reserves [...]
