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This is great news. It'll free up capital for and encourage others to do even more oil sands exploration (knowing that there's a healthy market for even marginal properties, i.e. the kind that this company is presumably selling). This here is a fine example of free markets at work.

The contrast with the Chinese approach couldn't be greater - they encourage foreign investment in domestic oil exploration only to welsh on the profit-sharing agreement (typically cutting the foreign company out) once oil is found. The result is zero foreign investment and increasing Chinese dependence on imported oil. Encouraging Chinese dependence on imported oil is a good thing. That way, we can stop them in their tracks (after B-2's take care of the Chinese strategic oil reserve) when they finally pull a WW2 Japanese-style invasion of their neighbors.

Chinese dependence on foreign oil has been around since the 1990's, when China went from being a net exporter of oil to a net importer of oil. And the gap will only grow, of course.

But that's no different, than Europe, Japan, and the US in terms of dependence on foreign oil. Many of the world's developed countries are dependent upon foreign oil.

That way, we can stop them in their tracks (after B-2's take care of the Chinese strategic oil reserve) when they finally pull a WW2 Japanese-style invasion of their neighbors.

Actually, a Japanese style invasion of their neighbors won't happen. You can bank on that. China's growing economic size, her growing dependence on world wide trade, the internationalization of her currency, will put China in a position where she will slowly become a sort of a hub of trade activity. China can do commercially, what the Japanese tried to do militarily, and that is create a co-spherical prosperity world. Which is already happening as the economic gravity is shifting Eastward with China at the center.

And the US, ironically, set in motion, what the Japanese failed to do. And, of course, China is merely taking the helm from the US, via commercial ties.

By 2050, those B-2's you are talking about will have been outdated. And China's military expenditures of about 2% of GDP will have surpassed the US military expenditures of 4% of GDP in absolutely terms.

A shot will not have been fired :) By 2050, many of today's ultra conservative Americans who are extremely hawkish of China, would have either grown old or passed away. And a new generation of Americans will know only of a China that is influential in global affairs and fully accept it without viewing China in a hawkish way. Much like 20th century British have long accepted an America as the global power without ill will towards America, unlike 19th century British towards the US where there were some animosity.