ODU's Yetiv Featured Prominently in National Media

Steve A. Yetiv, the Louis I. Jaffe Professor of International Relations at Old Dominion University, was a guest on Al Jazeera America on Thursday, June 12, speaking about energy security in the wake of recent instability and insurrection in Iraq.

Yetiv was interviewed by David Shuster on Al Jazeera America's 4 p.m. Newshour program, part of a flurry of media interest in the scholarship and writing of Yetiv, a nationally renowned scholar in the areas of energy security and foreign policy.

Yetiv was interviewed about the threat to the global supply of oil from clashes between the militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Iraqi security forces over control of oilfields in the northern part of the country.

Yetiv told Al Jazeera America that ISIS has expressed an eagerness to continue the flow of oil, uninterrupted, even trying to sell oil to the Iraqi government.

"The problem is that the biggest disincentive to foreign investment in oil is political instability. And Iraq needs extraordinary amounts of foreign investment in order to exploit its oil resources. It needs big oil companies to want to come in there," Yetiv said.

He added that global oil markets are going to have to reschedule their idea of how much oil can come out of Iraq, therefore pushing prices up. A recording of the interview is viewable HERE.

Also this month, Andrew Revkin, who writes "Dot Earth," one of the most widely read blogs for the New York Times, cited an analytical essay in the Journal of Energy Security - written by Yetiv and Lowell Feld, a former high-level analyst for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Yetiv and Feld argue that while we think energy forecasts are so critical, they are usually quite wildly wrong. They demonstrate this in their article by comparing energy forecasts to real outcomes. The Revkin blog, with the link to the journal article entitled "Why Energy Forecasting Goes Wildly Wrong," is available HERE.

The article fits into a broader theme of Yetiv's soon to be published Oxford University Press book, "The American Oil Boom: What Does it Mean for U.S. and Global Security."

In the book, Yetiv explores America's massive boom in oil production, which began in 2007, and examines how the boom - which may make the United States the biggest producer of oil in the world by 2020 - has impacted global energy security. Yetiv sketches a sensible energy policy in the book and argues that the energy boom should not distract the United States and other countries from longer term sustainability practices.

This week, Yetiv also was interviewed by Mike Gooding, military affairs reporter for ABC affiliate WVEC, about the need for a measured U.S. response to the military buildup in Iraq, helping to stabilize the situation however possible.

"The more stable Iraq is, the less likely Iraq is going to have conflict with neighboring countries," Yetiv told WVEC. "A stable Iraq can help prevent terror groups from building a safe haven there. Third, a stable Iraq is important for global oil security."

That report can be viewed HERE.

The author of seven books, including 2013's "National Security through a Cockeyed Lens: How Cognitive Bias Impacts U.S. Foreign Policy," Yetiv won a 2012 Outstanding Faculty Award, which is sponsored by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. He has published more than 250 op-eds in national publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor.