| The silver lining in the recent financial market turbulence has been the continued decline in the price of oil, which is down about 25 percent since June. In addition to creating a windfall for U.S. consumers — one analysis reckoned the savings could amount to $600 per household — the drop, if sustained, will place considerable pressure on three problematic petrostates: Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
The aggressively anti-American foreign policies pursued by all three countries in recent years have been financed in large part by soaring oil revenue. Though separated by culture and continent, the regimes of Vladimir Putin, Ali Khamenei and Nicolás Maduro have in common autocratic government and ambitions to dominate their regions...............................................Full Article: Source
|