By the time this column is read, Ariel Sharon, the stroke-stricken Israeli prime minister, could be with us still. Or not. If the world's focus has suddenly shifted to this latest crisis in the Middle East, it is for good reason, and a ponderous one at that: the broader peace, or conflict, in the region, will no doubt affect the rest of the world. For such are the interconnections these days, in geopolitical and geoeconomic terms.

And then there's oil probably the world's most unwieldy element in every nation's calculus of its national interest. As oil's global reserves rapidly dry up and its price soars, for supply and war and terrorism reasons, only the most powerful nation-states will clamber over each other to source the black gold if their fuel-dependent industrial-age economies are to survive the 21st century turmoil of growing uncertainties.

But what has Ariel Sharon to do with oil? Everything.