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Todd Royal

Todd Royal

Todd Royal has a master's in public policy from Pepperdine University. He was a co-author on a Duke University study on the furniture industry and is published by the US Library of Congress on topics such as the fracking industry and the geopolitical implications of expanded US oil and gas production. He is a consultant on geopolitics, energy, and US state and local government.

China Opinion

China must tackle its unreported internal problems

Todd Royal Todd Royal

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government has numerous serious issues that need to be dealt with before the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), where he will attempt to consolidate his power. This will make him a Mao-like figure in total control of an economic dynamo. This will be a power that subdues his citizens into complacency, but continues to deliver false economic growth that will hinder world growth and eventually put China on the path to further foreign adventures...

China Opinion

Why it’s difficult to trust China or Russia

Todd Royal Todd Royal

Interpreting and understanding political movements and societal disruptions usually don’t occur in large macro-settings like the recent Group of 20 Summit. Other than bashing Donald Trump along with China and Germany for their unwillingness to take on larger global roles from the United States, nothing significant happened. To track global movements it is the micro, internal actions of nations that should be followed. There are two recent examples, both of which illustrate why China and Russia still can’t be trusted on...

Transportation Opinion

Understanding the limitations of the electric vehicle market

Todd Royal Todd Royal

Practically every day, headlines expound the narrative that electric vehicles (EVs) are revolutionary and will replace those driven by internal-combustion engines and rid the world of carbon emissions from tailpipes. While the use of EVs is growing, they have nowhere to go but up, compared with  other forms of transportation. Gasoline-powered automobiles have the dominant share of world markets, so their growth is minimal compared with EVs, which are projected by most reasonable estimates to account for only 8% of automobiles on the roads...

Middle East Opinion

Decimation of Mideast Christians a threat to peace

Todd Royal Todd Royal

The Christian population in the Middle East is being decimated. Repeated attacks by Muslim extremist groups along with indifference by Middle Eastern governments have resulted in this religious minority fleeing their historical homelands in record numbers. But it is not only Christians who will suffer if this exodus continues: It will eventually result in loss of Muslim lives as well, since Christianity has been a positive influence for centuries in the region. Maria Abi-Habib, a Middle East correspondent for The Wall...

energy OPEC

Oil prices continue to slide as US fossil-fuel supplies build

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For the first time since 2008, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in early June that total stockpiles of crude oil and gasoline in the United States have reached their highest levels. Additional stress was placed on oil markets when Opec said production rose through revived output in Libya, Nigeria, and Iraq. The political climate in the three countries has improved, helping to increase production. And they are also exempt from the extended Opec production cuts that began last November...

Environment Global warming

The global warming boogeyman

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes in The Social Contract, “Free nations, remember this maxim: ‘Liberty may be acquired but never recovered.’” Today’s environmental movement’s aim is the elimination of freedom through banning carbon emissions and fossil fuels – whereas real evil isn’t confronted. In 2005, as the movement was gaining steam, journalist Chris Mooney wrote a book, The Republican War on Science, which validated the false arguments of climate catastrophe. But Mooney took it a step further, dismissing arguments questioning global warming...

Diplomacy The Great War

President Trump’s foreign tour recharges US global strengths

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The Great War of 1914-18 was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. Theory suggests that if the United States had accepted Article X of the Versailles Treaty in 1919 establishing the League of Nations and if today's enlightened countries accepted the ad-hoc authority of the United Nations, then war would be a thing of the past. And despite the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war, it failed to prevent history's deadliest conflict: the Second World War. Under the...

Iran Opinion

Obama should be made to testify over the Iran nuclear deal

Todd Royal Todd Royal

Another damning revelation was recently brought to light over the deal former US president Barack Obama negotiated with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The latest discovery revealed that Iran will soon launch two brand-new domestic satellites into space, which is likely cover for the test-firing of advanced intercontinental-ballistic-missile (ICBM) technology that could be used as part of Iran’s nuclear program, according to US national-security insiders. Not surprisingly, Iran continues, in defiance of the P5 +1 nuclear agreement, to test ballistic-missile technology, tests...

South Korea North Korea

The election of Moon Jae-in could mean war in Asia

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In canto 32 of Dante’s Il Purgatorio, the voice of God comments: “Oh, my poor vessel, how badly you’ve been loaded.” While God was speaking about state religion on Christianity, the good Lord could’ve been speaking about the disastrous decision of the South Koreans to elect Moon Jae-in as their new president. Predictably, the man of the left believes that through sheer force of personality and being on the side of the angels, he can, like former US president Barack Obama, convince...

China US

The deep, entrenched fallacy of the ‘Asian pivot’

Todd Royal Todd Royal

China doesn’t have the economic ability, societal will or political transparency to lead the current world order. Even the Chinese would concede that an open, liberal post-World War II system led by the Xi Jinping government, instead of America and Asian allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, would collapse. This is because additional, unambiguous liberalization threatens the entire communist house of cards, particularly the Chinese system of a controlled market economy with iron-fist-rule. It’s under this cloud...

Russia Opinion

Why the once-fearsome Russian bear is on life support

Todd Royal Todd Royal

What the United States missile strikes on Syria on April 7 illustrated was that neither the US nor China respect the so-called Russian bear. When Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping were having dinner during their first face-to-face meeting, Trump ordered the strikes against Russia’s client, Syria. It is unclear whether the US missiles bypassed Russia’s deadly S-400 air defense system or the Russians chose not to deploy. But one thing was clear – the US attack went ahead even though the...

Military Strategy India

‘Leading from the back’ is no remedy for India-Pakistan nuclear standoff

Todd Royal Todd Royal

As the presidency of Barack Obama recedes into history, there's a geopolitical canard in vogue that suggests the old rules of deterrence and balance of power don’t work. Great powers, it goes, should “lead from behind,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin should get a bright red "reset" button as a symbol of new relations with the West. But Pakistan and India aren’t following these facile tropes. Instead, they believe nuclear deterrence should be pursued aggressively. The current geopolitical mess goes...

energy oil

Geopolitics becoming main driver of global oil prices

Todd Royal Todd Royal

The first summit earlier this month between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping focused on the North Korean nuclear threat and trade accords between the two global superpowers. The impact of the two-day meeting will also affect fossil fuel and related energy policy for Asia and the world more than any action by Opec or the prices set by major oil producers. China is now the largest buyer of US oil exports, according to Bloomberg. And since Beijing has blocked...

Asia Diplomacy

There’s no choice for Asian security — America must take the lead

Todd Royal Todd Royal

The world is beset by regional conflicts, civil upheaval, and instability that seem to defy ready solutions. The civil war in Syria continues to shock with daily reports of heavy civilian casualties, forced migration of refugees and disastrous consequences for succeeding generations. Iran seems determined to pursue a troubling strategy to broaden its influence in the Middle East. A resurgent Russia persists with its aggressive moves in eastern Ukraine, driven by the territorial ambitions of Soviet Federation President Vladimir Putin who believes...

Northeast Asia Opinion

Japan should acquire nuclear weapons to deter China and North Korea

Todd Royal Todd Royal

Since the end of the Second World War Japan has relied on the US-led liberal order for its prosperity, peace, and security. However, with the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and China's claim to a large part of the South China Sea, the hostility towards Japanese national security hasn’t been this virulent since the war years. And now, with the US pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which had been in negotiations for more than nine years,...

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