Yes and it will continue apace as we eventually traverse through peak oil; unless we get off this economy harming roller coaster, in favor of homegrown, endlessly sustainable alternatives.

Algae, energy created by converting waste to endless gas/algae to oil/diesel/jet fuel>ethanol; or, equally endless and very low cost hydrogen; created by utilizing the (vastly modernized) water molecule cracking method, and powering it via large scale solar powered thermal projects?

The only thing missing? the political will/wisdom and vision!
Rhrosty.

Yup, the US gets cheap oil, and in return the world gets Saudi funded Wahabbi extremist islam - and all the destruction that goes with it. Thanks USA

Oil from the very beginning was used as a weapon of war and since the beginning of the 20th century has been crucial to all armed forces across the globe. One of the primary reasons Germany and Japan lost the 2nd world war, was due to the fact they did not have access to enough oil.

I do not deny the great benefits that oil has brought to the world, it just a pity that its supply has become so lucrative, that it has ensured that greed, corruption, and aggression became the norm in gaining access to it. Even the briefest study of the politics of oil will confirm this to be the case. The borders of the Middle East were created with one of the aims being to siphon off the oil areas into smaller countries, which could more easily controlled. In the present we have oil interests desperately trying to confuse the issue of climate change, with I may say considerable success unfortunately.

The first war fought over oil that I am aware was the in 1932 when Bolivia invaded Paraguay to gain access to an oil rich area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaco_War

http://usawatchdog.com/wave-coming-too-large-to-duck-under-warren-pollock/ Warren Pollock does an excellent analysis of Global trends. He says with the recent visit by John Kerry to Vladimir Putin ,Russia could be changing allegiances because China wants to replace the USA as the world super power. Russia he says also fears China. So we have a complex system of power plays. There is no way the West can wage a conventional land war against China and win.

China has the power on the ground and the USA is in a wilderness of no leadership and is being destroyed by a financial system that gives power to a few elites and just like Rome is the latter stages of its decay.

It is a rather strange scenario with Russia being a member of SCO ,BRICS Nations and the Asia Investment Infrastructure Bank all initiated by China. Is Russia hedging its bets or just giving the West enough rope to hang itself ?

Hey Arjay,
Have you ever watched this show before?
I get more info out of this show in a week than the average person gets off the corporate media in a year.
http://youtu.be/GWszAQzEZes