Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 8:05 | Jonathan Singerton in EA Global, Europe and Russia, UK and Ireland 
Given all the tensions between Russia and Britain, how can there be a thaw in the frozen diplomatic relations?
The answer is simple.
Gas --- and the company BP.
Plans to exploit Iraq's oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world's largest oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents show.
The papers, revealed here for the first time, raise new questions over Britain's involvement in the war, which had divided Tony Blair's cabinet and was voted through only after his claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
The minutes of a series of meetings between ministers and senior oil executives are at odds with the public denials of self-interest from oil companies and Western governments at the time.
Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 6:35 | Scott Lucas in EA Global, EA USA, UK and Ireland, US Foreign Policy, US Politics 
Relations between Britain and America have improved as the oil has dissipated in the Gulf, but what we see is not a progressive, liberal trend from either Obama or from the Liberal Democrats in the British coalition. Instead, what is emerging is an American-style big-society, small-state conservative and neo-liberal reshaping on British welfare, heath care, and education. The American charter school system is entering Britain through new "academies"; in October 2010, Geoffrey Canada, the founder and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, travelled to Britain to meet with Minister of Education Michael Gove to discuss charter schools and education reform and the alleged threat of unions to such reform, as well as to address the Tory Party conference.
As Britain awaits the next round of Tory-Lib Dem cuts to balance the budget, rein in the deficit, and punish the poor in 2011, those meetings and our looks across the Atlantic are likely to continue. President Obama may be entering his third year, but it is "what they are doing on the Right" that may be more important.
China "Open to Foreign Firms": Vice President Xi Jinping has said that China is taking vigorous steps to create a more open, optimal environment for foreign enterprises.
Xi made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2nd World Investment Forum in Xiamen City in southeast China's Fujian Province.
Foreign direct investment this year is set to "surpass $100 billion", compared to $90 billion dollars last year, an official with China's Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday.
Moving in the other direction, China is now fifth in outbound direct investment with a total volume of $56.5 billion, compared to a ranking of 12th in 2008.
BP, Britain, Chevron, Chong Quan, Prince Andrew, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping 
