While it’s true that Silicon Valley continues to be excessively naive about renewables and over-hyped electric vehicles, it’s also true that the current oil price has nothing to do with Putin being “brilliant.” In reality, the Russian economy depends on hydrocarbons because Putin has utterly mismanaged the Russian economy. It’s little more than a kleptocracy in which meaningful investment rarely occurs because no one feels secure enough to invest heavily in the future. Russia needs to keep selling oil because it’s so weak, not because there’s a Grand Plan to destabilize the USA. In fact, Putin understand that the USA is over; all he needs to do is spend a tiny amount of money on social media and he can continue to encourage US citizens to undermine their own nation. It’s easy to pretend there are grand clever conspiracy theories, because that’s so much more soothing than realizing that nearly everyone is stupid and inept. But the reality is that nearly everyone is stupid and inept, chasing myopic short-term goals. There is no Grand Plan. Just insecurity, ineptitude, and economic weakness all round.