There’s a lot at stake, but I don’t think the security of the US energy supply is one of those things. Unocal’s reserves are just not that significant. What is at stake is which 800 pound gorilla will exert the most influence: the central Chinese Communist government or the capitalism-embracing oil and gas company. I’m pulling for the latter because it’s one more brick out of the wall that separates the Chinese population at large from economic freedom…and where economic freedom leads, other freedoms start elbowing their way in.

Maybe I’m naive, but I see a lot of potential benefit, political and otherwise, of the US government staying out of this and letting the open market make the call. If the Unocal stockholders decide not to sell to Cnooc because they perceive less value in the offer, that’s one thing…and even that might be a positive because it will be an education to the Chinese about what it takes to compete in a global market. But if the feds wade in and muck it up for nebulous reasons, I fear we’ll have squandered an opportunity to give China a little push in the right direction.