ARTICLE: Iraq and China Sign $3 Billion Oil Contract, By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post, August 29, 2008; Page A08

In the brief, for years now, when I've done the A-to-Z slide on processing political bankruptcy inside the Gap, I've said we should have had 50k Russians in the follow-on SysAdmin force, 50k Indians, and 50k Chinese.

For the Indians and Chinese, the rationale was obvious, but needed stating: in the end, it will be their oil more than ours. Not a geopolitical statement, just an economic reality.

WRT the Russians ... well, better to invite than to let them crash. Idle hands ...

(Thanks: jarrod myrick)