[oil and gas] russia tells exxon mobil nothing doing

Exxon Mobil, by their own lights, have a right to expect a small sweetheart payback. After all, they have committed substantially, both upstream and in R&D and have shown themselves indispensable in terms of know-how. Nothing doing. With the discovery of new reserves near or at Sakhalin-1, Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry has told Exxon Mobil it will not automatically enlarge their license territory. It will go to auction. More here.

[hewlett packard] has patricia's luck run out

There's an old maxim, 'Be nice to people on the way up because you'll meet them again on the way down'. Las Vegas raised daughter of a showgirl and vaudevillian, Patricia Dunn was dealt a lucky hand and her recipe for success was preparation flavored with luck. But a gambler’s luck can also run out, especially when engaged in the tactics which Ms Dunn now appears to have engaged in. Just a little more.

[site poll] results of last survey

To the question of which was your preferred holiday destination [of three], responders said Venice [88%], Paris [12%] and Vienna [0%]. Current poll is now open.

[canada & china] the humiliation worsens

Dalai Lama [ Globe and Mail]

This thing between Canada and China has its antecedents. So it was always going to displease Beijing when the Dalai Lama touched down, scheduled to talk with the Conservatives, while the Chinese patiently waited in the ante-room to meet with the Foreign Office and there may be more than a little ‘sticking it up the Sinos’ in this. The Chinese prefer to call it ‘an accumulation of slights’ and I expostulate: 'To hell with them.'

[men and women] sad, sad times for the west

It is always the woman who holds the relationship together, the one who defines its nature – of that I am absolutely certain. And it is also the woman who destroys it - the man just goes along for the ride and does his protective, bring-home-the-bacon thing. Over here in the east, a girl of twenty-four I was with yesterday, pulling down a substantial salary as an uber-economist, was plotting how to get into the family making, devoted to a devoted husband and tempering her glittering career. Is she a dying breed? The Telegraph thinks so.

[middle-east] passing of ayotollah means crazies can now rule

Ayotollah Ali al-Sistari

Why would an Ayotollah’s passing be a matter of anything but glee to a cautious west? Because in this little noted case, as Sami Moubayed of the Asia Times comments, ‘It is the passing of the last voice of reason in Iraq.’ Now the Shi’ite militia crazies can rule. In a little trumpeted announcement, al-Sistani has now retreated into discussing solely religious matters and one of the west’s greatest reasoned influences in the region has been lost. The details.