A Review of "The Colder War" | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
I recently read The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped from America’s Grasp, by Marin Katusa. An old friend read and recommended the book and now I know why. The author, son of Croatian immigrants, was a math professor, and subsequently worked in the energy and mining industries before becoming a hedge fund manager.
The central thesis of the book is that Vladimir Putin’s goal is to make Russia the dominant power in the world by controlling its energy sources. The author wastes no time in making his case, portraying the years between the fall of the Soviet Union and Putin’s ascendency to power. There is an “inside baseball” detailed account of the post-Soviet oligarchs, their rise to power, and the subsequent fall, of those who opposed Putin. While informative, I found this section slow going. Nevertheless, Katusa moves quickly to the economic aspects of geopolitics and presents one of the most concise, clear and cogent explanations of monetary systems I have ever read. It covers the evolution from barter to petro-dollars in four pages!
Fortunately, concision, clarity and cogence characterize the entire book. Katusa’s business background is readily apparent in that he realizes the necessity of making one’s point convincingly and quickly. Like a good business presentation, charts, maps and graphs are used to good advantage. He also offers excellent side bar information, lucidly defining key terms and concepts and explaining why they matter. For the oil and gas veteran some of these are unnecessary, but they are an excellent tool for everyone else. However, some of us with an oil and gas background do not know that much about nuclear energy, so I found this section especially enlightening.
The last part of the book deals with the latest episodes of “The Great Game” as Rudyard Kipling described the struggle between East and West. The impact of Afghanistan is discussed, and a country by country examination of the major players in the energy game is included.
The book was published in 2014 so it is timely. However, the oil price collapse of recent months occurred after its publication, and consequently is not covered. While the author did not foresee this, neither did most industry analysts.
Overall, I highly recommend the book to anyone who seriously follows world affairs, is involved in international business, or the energy industry. While I did not find it reassuring, it is informative and provocative and therefore well worth the time it takes to read it.
