On Jan. 10, 2007, Dr. Flynt Leverett, Senior Fellow and Director of the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative at the New America Foundation, testified before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

In his opening remarks, Leverett declared:

In my view, the most profound challenges to America’s global leadership during the next quarter century are not posed by the risk of strategic failure in Iraq, further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or the growth and consolidation of extremist forces in the Islamic world. Rather, the most profound challenges to U.S. preeminence during the next 25 years flow from the strategic and political consequences of ongoing structural shifts in global energy markets, especially the global oil market. Most notably, cooperation between China and Russia on energy matters is bolstering Sino-Russian cooperation on strategic issues, effectively creating a Sino-Russian “axis of oil” as the principal counterweight to America’s global hegemony.

The prepared text of Leverett's full testimony is included below in PDF form.