Oil now up 4 to 117. I follow this mkt, and i can’t tell you what a huge move that is in the light of the reversal of momentum of the heretofor accelerating drop from 145. Putin has already defrayed a good chunk of cost. Gold up nearly 20 –also a major reversal of accelerating momentum. All the metals are reversing. All the reversing commods are Russian exports.

Michael Economides (oil & gas expert & author & Russia/Putin watcher) just on Fox says the real object of all this is to stop the proposed “Nambuka” (sp?) gas (nat gas, ”natty”) pipeline under the Caspian to western terminals. He said Gazprom, the world’s largest oil & gas company by a factor of six times, will not tolerate this pipeline being built, and Russ foreign policy is in Georgia in part –in large part –to kill that pipe in the crib.