The United States and Australia: The new Qatar and Bahrain

Our energy future, and the prospects for peace and prosperity, keep getting better on the back of the American natural gas boom.

Whether it’s Australian, American, or Canadian gas that wins the race to the Asian market (and most likely, there is plenty of demand for all three), a few things seem clear:

(1) The long era in which the Middle East was the global supplier of hydrocarbons is coming to an end.

(2) A global switch from coal to natural gas is one of the most practical ways available for civilization to begin the transition to a new kind of energy market. Greens take note.

(3) Asia is not going to be self sufficient in either energy or food in the 21st century, which, from the standpoint of those who hope to see the world becoming a more peaceful and economically integrated place, is a very good thing. The rising Asian powers will need a healthy, stable and secure global system to feed their people and run their economies.

All true, and all great for global enterprise. So do not let our greens kill it off.

Geopolitical bonus: This shift will diminish the significance of the Indian Ocean -- today the most important lake on the planet -- and shift our greatest national security interest back to the Pacific. It will also hasten the day when the free world can go back to ignoring the Arab Muslim world and the Persian Gulf, which would be good news for all involved.