Coal. Detestable coal.

Politically incorrect coal.

The stuff of Dickens' England. Black-lung disease. Strip-mining. And global warming.

Coal is the 'Rodney Dangerfield of energy forms,' because, like the late comedian, it gets no respect.

Have you ever heard of a positive association regarding coal? As a child in the United States, way back in the twentieth century, you dared not misbehave prior to the holidays, lest you get, coal in your stocking.

(No one ever spoke of a reprimand involving 'getting oil in your stocking.' No sir. Oil is considered 'black gold.')

Well, in the near future you and many others may look favorably on collecting coal, and a lot of it, if current trends continue regarding that other notable energy form, oil.

"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,'" Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday, using the Russian term for the Cuban Missile Crisis, in reference to the United States' Europe-based missile defense plan.

Putin's statement that U.S. plans to put a Europe missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic can perhaps be best interpreted as a rhetorical overstatement before Putin negotiates new economic and political agreements with the West, particularly with Europe.

Russia's oil and natural gas resources, foreign currency reserves, commercial development and +5% annual GDP growth rate have enhanced the nation's negotiating stance, on both economic and geostrategic issues. Sensing his stronger hand, Putin has used the increased leverage to propose, among other measures, European economic/commercial agreements that would be more favorable to Russia, while also making clear that international political agreements among the U.S., Europe and Russia on such issues as the Iraq War, Iran nuclear technology -- and a potential European missile shield -- would also reflect Russia's concerns.