How Oil Rents Fuel Populist Foreign Policy – Talk at LSE – Wednesday 21st January 2026

At a time when humanity should be coming together, we seem to be drifting further apart; I guess scarcity of resources and the insatiable avarice of the elites will do that.

With the recent US intervention in Venezuela and Trump’s repeated desire to take Greenland, the title of this talk seemed more relevant than ever. Unfortunately, the lecture was about smaller oil rich countries, and more about ‘data’ than agenda or philosophy.

To be blunt, it was boring, and reminded me of being at school, where you’re physically fighting to keep your eyes open as you doze off.

The only tid-bit of useful information was the fact that global reliance on hydrocarbons is increasing instead of waning, meaning we won’t hit ‘peak oil’ for another two decades! The catastrophic effect this will have on the environment is unfathomable. We’re rushing head first into an irreversible catastrophe, for what? Man’s insatiable desire for money and power.