While net energy consumers seek to diversify away from oil, authors Sven Brehendt and Joesph Helou maintain that Arab oil producers in the Persian Gulf are also seeking long-term diversification strategies that would lead them away from oil dependence.  But what are the long term implications of growing Gulf State wealth in the form of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) on oil market security for Western consumers?  Will the advent of SWF's impact the oil supply policies of producing states?  Moreover, what impact does this wealth have on the foreign policy behavior of Arab Gulf States, and does the fact of this expanding wealth-power base have implications on the national and collective security of oil importing nations?

The specter of a potential new outbreak of violence between Hizballah and Israel has been raised with the discovery of a new natural gas field off of Israel's coast.  While resource conflicts have sometimes lead to outbreaks of violence between competing interests (states), the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean is a different asymmetric row between a state (Israel) and a decidedly non-state actor, Hizballah.    

In an era of hand-wringing about growing energy dependency on Russian gas across the European landscape, the Czech Republic provides some important, working examples of how this landlocked country has enhanced its own energy security. Some of these steps have included the diversification of energy and power infrastructure, adding alternative nuclear capacity, and diversifying source supply.  While more work certainly needs to be done, the country provides a positive example of how national determination and the willingness to place a premium on security over short-term cost considerations can bolster national sovereignty through strengthening national energy security. 

The Caspian is one of the most promising energy-rich areas of the world.  The Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumps a million barrels of oil a day from an Azerbaijani offshore field and transports it to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.  Paralleling this pipeline is the South Caucasus (gas) pipeline which enters Turkey from Georgia and then distributes the gas through the country's pipeline network.  Yet there could be much more regional oil and gas development.  One major barrier to potential development is disagreement regarding the legal status of the Caspian itself.  The sea's littoral states: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have collectively failed to come to a common understanding that would allow for further oil and gas exploitation.  Sohbet Karbuz explains why. 

Energy security is one of the most salient emergent issues that has forced its way onto nations' national security agendas.  From the 2010 US Quadrennial Defense Review to the national security strategies of the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation, energy and its security play a dominant role in shaping the security strategies of these and many other nations.  But integrating energy and national security is not an easy task.  Confusion often comes in weighing the human security impact of national security policy against environmental or climate change imperatives.  While all three issues (energy, environment and climate change) are not mutually exclusive, they all three have different departure points and focus areas.  This article explores how the gap between energy and national security policy can be closed with human security as the defining consideration in integrating energy into a broader national security framework. 

Turkey's unique geography as a bridge between Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East places it at the cross-roads of global energy.  Providing both East-West and North-South energy corridors, the infrastructure that crosses its territory is increasingly important to global energy producers and consumers alike.  By 2012 it is estimated that between 6-7 percent of the world's oil will traverse Turkey.  This in turn has given the country the aspiration of becoming an energy hub, which, according to many, is important for satisfying Turkey's increasingly hungry energy-consuming public and for meeting the energy demands of Europe  which lies to its west.  Yet, according to JES contributor Hasan Alsancak, the protection of infrastructure security, particularly pipeline protection, deserves more attention in Turkish circles.    

Thinking about cyber or information warfare has been a part of Chinese military thinking for the past decade.  Catalyzed by the first Gulf War, information technologies proved their usefulness in the quick and agile victory of the United States and its allies over Saddam Hussein.  Since then, cyber-tools to infiltrate electricity grids and IT networks of major oil and gas concerns, cyber-espionage and data collection have graduated and become part of a major offensive against energy systems and networks around the world.  CNRS researcher Daniel Ventre provides a compelling account of the development of this strategy, with a focus on how the multiple concepts of information warfare have contributed to Chinese military doctrine.

Internet communications are one of the best examples of globalization, yet the development of internet based technologies have far outpaced our ability to protect them.  From extensive blackouts in the United States and Brazil, to SCADA vulnerabilities wherever key control systems are internet-exposed, aka internet-linked, the race is on to protect  information and the cyber-superhighway.  If ever there was a life-support system on which energy and power depends, it is the very systems and networks that drive them.  Bruce Averill and colleague Eric A.M. Luiijf call on all industry and national government stakeholders to take these threats seriously and to work cooperatively towards their solution.