■"A New Russia Leaves the Old in the Dust," by Seth Mydans, New York Times, 28 September 2005, p. A4.

When you join the New Core, you start remodeling the capital. I guarantee it. Beijing is doing it (along with Guanzhou and Shanghai and a few of those other 10-millio-plus cities they have over there). New Delhi is doing it (as is Mumbai). Moscow is doing it with a vengeance.

Many locals and foreign observers naturally lament the out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new mentality. "Preserve the past!" they cry out. But frankly, the past usually sucks in these environments. It's crumbling. It's not up to code. It's awfully hard to maintain, much less do modern business in. It just doesn't work for a modernizing city.

And frankly, Russians love big and new-always have and always will.

No doubt the younger capitalists drive this process most: they are rebuilding their world and they want a new cityscape to go with it.

Like I say below: watch the Gap emulate the New Core more than the Old Core, but watch the New Core emulate the New Core with a vengeance.

As one lamenting observer put it about all these "new rich": "They have no sense of their own identity [meaning they're not "Russian" enough for him]. They not only want to get as rich as the people in the West, they want to live in the same kind of buildings and drive the same kinds of cars."

This, in a nutshell, is what is driving the extreme ramp up of energy consumption in places like India and China: they want those cars, they want that lifestyle, and all that takes a lot of energy. That desire drives their foreign policies.

And if we're smart, we'll see the obvious alliances in that historical trend . . .