2026-07-23
1 小时 46 分钟The first thing to know about the two wars now in progress in Ukraine and in Iran is that they're
about energy because Iran and the countries around Iran produce about 20 percent of global oil supply.
Russia, meanwhile, produces about 12 percent of global oil supply.
So these are the biggest energy producing regions in the world.
And the wars have gravely affected their ability to produce
that energy and to ship it anywhere else and to refine it for that matter.
So that's the first thing to know.
The second thing to know is that energy is the same as prosperity.
The more energy a country uses, the richer it is.
There is a one-to-one correlation between energy use and the size of your economy, GDP roughly measured.
I mean, look at the list of the countries
that consume the most energy and put it side by side the richest countries, and they are directly connected.
The country that uses the most energy per capita on the planet is Qatar,
which is also, by most measures, the richest country.
Tiny population, 350,000, massive natural gas supplies, huge per capita wealth in that country,
and huge per capita energy use, about roughly 19,000 kilowatt hours per citizen.
On the other end, the poorest country in the world, arguably South Sudan.
Their energy use per capita, 51 kilowatt hours.
United States, by the way, about 12,000 kilowatt hours.
Now, for the past 15 or 20 years, maybe 25 years,