Is Russia Plotting To Bring Down OPEC?
President Putin's recent moves in the Middle East—to shore up Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria through deployment of combat aircraft, equipment, and manpower and build-out of air-, naval-, and ground-force bases, and the agreement in the last week with Iran, Iraq, and Syria on intelligence and security cooperation—could contribute to Russian efforts to combat the myriad negative pressures on Russia's vital energy industry.- Tuesday, October 6, 2015