The impact of energy on global security and economy is clear and profound, and this is why in recent years energy security has become a source of concern to most countries. However, energy security means different things to different countries based on their geographic location, their endowment of resources their strategic and economic conditions. In this book, Gal Luft and Anne Korin with the help of twenty leading experts provide an overview of the world's energy system and its vulnerabilities that underlay growing concern over energy security. It hosts a debate about the feasibility of resource conflicts and covers issues such as the threat of terrorism to the global energy system, maritime security, the role of multinationals and non-state actors in energy security, the pathways to energy security through diversification of sources and the development of alternative energy sources. It delves into the various approaches selected producers, consumers and transit states have toward energy security and examines the domestic and foreign policy tradeoffs required to ensure safe and affordable energy supply. The explains the various pathways to energy security and the tradeoffs among them and demonstrates how all these factors can be integrated in a larger foreign and domestic policy framework. It also explores the future of nuclear power, the complex relations between energy security and environmental concerns and the role for decentralized energy as a way to enhance energy security.

America's energy security paradigm has collapsed. For decades, politicians have been barking up the wrong tree when it comes to oil. Over the last seven years, domestic oil production has increased, vehicle fuel efficiency has increased, oil imports have decreased, and yet the amount Americans spend on oil imports - not just per barrel but in total - has skyrocketed. We drill more, we use less, and yet we spend more. In the wake of the Arab Spring, we can expect OPEC to keep turning the screws to drive prices higher. On the bright side, a revolution in extraction technologies has opened the door to unconventional natural gas. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, but only if we wake up, wise up, and send a message to Washington to shift gears from pork laden no-lobbyist-left-behind energy bills to Teddy Roosevelt style trust-busting. In a no-holds barred, fast paced, information packed sequel to Turning Oil into Salt, Gal Luft and Anne Korin spell out the pitfalls of an oil market dominated by a cartel and sketch a clear blueprint for getting America out from under its thumb.

"Today, there is growing and increasingly unmistakable evidence of the existence of a nexus between energy and security. The latter should be properly understood to include economic and environmental security, as well as the more traditional aspects of national security. And each is being threatened by serious vulnerabilities associated with America's dependence on foreign supplies of oil." (From Frank Gaffney's "The Perilous Nexus)

Beer, Bacon and Bullets: Culture in Coalition Warfare from Gallipoli to Iraq by Gal Luft examines how culture can impact the relations between Western militaries and their non-Western allies. Military forces of dissimilar cultures working together are committed to a similar end goal, but their cooperation could be marred by tension related to their different cultural backgrounds. Luft investigates five case studies of military cooperation, describing the squabbles between German advisors and their Ottoman counterparts in WWI, the difficult relations between American and Chinese generals during WWII, how American generals in Saudi Arabia bent over backwards to curry favor with their hosts, and how the Israelis' misunderstanding of their Lebanese allies shaped today's Middle East. Provocative and original, Luft's book suggests that by understanding other military cultures, the performance of military coalitions can be improved. "Although scholars have long written on aspects of culture and warfare, this book is unique in both the cases selected and the author's insight derived from having served in a coalition environment. ...]this book is a valuable resource for soldiers, scholars, policymakers, and civilians who want to better understand the significance of culture in planning and executing coalition operations. The lessons offered will become increasingly important as coalition operations become the norm." Joint Forces Quarterly

Throughout history the pursuit of strategic commodities has governed world affairs. Centuries ago salt enjoyed a monopoly over food preservation, and securing access to the white mineral shaped the great empires' international behavior. Today, it is oil that monopolizes our transportation system giving those who control it inordinate power on the world stage. Breaking the oil cartel and oil's monopoly over transportation fuel is the only way to bring about energy independence, insulate our economy against future oil shocks and win the war on radical Islam, argue two of America's leading energy security advocates Gal Luft and Anne Korin in Turning Oil into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice. Energy independence is not about the amount of oil we use or import; it's about turning oil from a strategic commodity second to none to just another commodity. In an unvarnished and lucid manner Luft and Korin chart a realistic way to do so while addressing the barriers on the road.