Huge Amount Of News Today -- Mostly International / National -- Not Sure How To Capture It All -- June 5, 2017

But first this breakfast note: we lived overseas for thirteen years, much of that time in close proximity to Belgium. Over the years, I've tasted a lot of waffles, including "real" Belgian waffles. But I have to say my favorite waffles are the little Mickey Mouse waffles I have almost every day, that I make from Bisquick, using the recipe on the box. Sophia and I make about 14 at a time, freeze them, and they last about ten days.

Now that we have that out of the way, back to all the news hitting the airwaves today.

The big story is the diplomatic tiff in the Mideast. That took me by complete surprise; clearly out of left field as they say. I have some initial thoughts but am waiting for a more in-depth story from the WSJ to get a better understanding of what's going on and what it might mean. No links for now; story everywhere.

Coal? The other big story of the day comes from John Kemp, London-based Reuters analyst, who notes that natural gas prices tumble as power producers switch back to coal. I thought coal was dead.

Donald Trump continues to tweet that after terrorist events in London, the city's Muslim mayor said "there is no reason to be alarmed." The question that folks are missing: was the Muslim mayor reassuring Londoners in general, or was he reassuring the families and co-conspirators of the terrorists need not be alarmed.

Back to Qatar. Time to get out the maps. Saudi Arabia says it will shut down sea, airspace, and land crossings with Qatar.

Air conditioning: BBC link here. Climate change. Air conditioning "changed" the US. Now, it's about to change the world. At the very end of a very long article:

Then there's the electricity that powers air conditioning - often made by burning gas or coal - and the coolants air conditioners use, many of which are powerful greenhouse gases when they leak.

Air conditioning technology is getting cleaner and greener.

But demand is growing so quickly that - even if the optimists are right about possible efficiency gains - there will be an eightfold increase in energy consumption by 2050. That's worrying news for climate change. When will we get inventions to control the outdoor weather, too?

Summer electric grid reliability in very, very good shape -- EIA. Graphic at link. Worth a quick look.

Saudi's official selling price for Asian-bound crude oil for July may have been set too high -- traders. Platts.  Saudi Aramco raised the OSP by 35 to 95 cents/bbl compared to the June OSP. 

Saudi predicts success: at Platts -- Saudi's Falih says that we will see impact of cuts in July, 2017. 

Libya: at Bloomberg -- Libya's rapid increase in oil production is heading toward a hard ceiling.
Wood Mackenzie says Libya's ability to pump more oil will son reach a limit -- and won't be enough to upset an oversupplied market.

The drawdown: