■"Executive Summary," by , World Energy Outlook 2004, Department of Energy, available online at http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/.

Here are the main points as presented:

The Earth's energy resources are more than adequate to meet demand until 2030 and well beyond. Less certain is how much it will cost to extract them and deliver them to consumers Ö

But serious concerns about energy security emerge from the market trends projected here. The world's vulnerability to supply disruptions will increase as international trade expands . . .

A central message of this Outlook is that short-term risks to energy security will grow . . .

Converting the world's resources into available supplies will require massive investments. In some cases, financing for new infrastructure will be hard to come by. Meeting projected demand will entail cumulative investment of some $16 trillion from 2003 to 2030, or $568 billion per hear. The electricity sector will absorb the majority of this investment. Developing countries, where production and demand are set to increase most, will require about half of global energy investment . . .

Reducing energy poverty is an urgent necessity . . . Developing countries are unlke to see their incomes and living standards increase without improved access to modern energy services . . .

It is clear from our analysis that achieving a truly sustainable energy system will call for technological breakthrough that radically alter how we produce and use energy . . .

Analysis such as this is why I always say that energy starts everything in terms of both security and development. For any of you who've forgotten, here's my "10 Commandments" of globalization, or what I often refer to as the Military-Market Nexus:

1. Look for resources and ye shall find, but Ö

2. No stability, no markets

3. No growth, no stability

4. No resources, no growth

5. No infrastructure, no resources

6. No money, no infrastructure

7. No rules, no money

8. No security, no rules

9. No Leviathan, no security

10. No will, no Leviathan.

Again, it all starts with energy in something akin to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You wanna shrink the Gap? Then you have to account for energy security first and foremost. What about food security? Frankly, in its that Decalogue if you look closely enough.

If you read only one government report every year, this is the one to read. It's that good and that important. Read it and the world's events will become a whole lot clearer to you. Plus, you'll never swallow Michael Moore's comically myopic bullshit ever again.