Crude Ambition: This is the story of power

37 Saddam Hussein's war for Kuwaiti oil

The Cold War is over, oil is cheap, and everyone thinks energy crises are history. Then at 2 a.m. on August 2nd, 1990, a hundred thousand Iraqi troops roll into Kuwait and shatter the illusion. This is the episode where Saddam Hussein gambles on annexation, the world's dependence on the Persian Gulf snaps back into focus, and the first post-Cold War crisis turns out to be all about oil. Episode 37 of Crude Ambition covers the invasion that proved the prize was never safe.

36 The 1986 Oil Price Bloodbath

Saudi Arabia has had enough. This is the episode where the kingdom's oil revenues collapse from $119 billion to $26 billion, quota cheating tears OPEC apart, and the Saudis finally stop propping up the price and threaten to flood the market. Episode 36 of Crude Ambition follows the brutal price war of the mid-1980s and the question haunting every oil capital on earth: how low can it go?

35 How Wall Street broke the oil giants

The greatest oil boom in history ends with a billion-dollar shale project killed overnight and Colorado ghost towns sprouting weeds. This is the episode where the fever of thirty-four-dollar oil gives way to glut, conservation proves more powerful than anyone imagined, and OPEC watches helplessly as the world learns to use less. Episode 35 of Crude Ambition charts how the bust that followed the boom nearly turned oil into just another commodity.

34 The Hostage Crisis and Saddam's Oil War

"We're going down" are the last words from inside the American embassy before the line goes dead. This is the episode where Iranian militants storm the compound, take fifty Americans hostage for 444 days, and the second oil shock spirals into full-blown geopolitical crisis. Episode 34 of Crude Ambition follows the hostage drama, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the moment the world realized the shift in oil power was part of something far bigger.

33 The Iranian Revolution and Oil Panic

A single newspaper article mocking an exiled cleric sets Iran on fire. This is the episode where Ayatollah Khomeini's followers turn mourning into revolution, the Shah's regime crumbles in a relentless cycle of protest and bloodshed, and American intelligence insists the throne is safe right up until it isn't. Episode 33 of Crude Ambition tracks how the Iranian Revolution triggered the second oil shock and sent the world economy reeling all over again.