Current events confirm that the black gold spies have a great future ahead of them. But they also remind us that the spy business is well on the way to being privatised, meaning that, to paraphrase Montesquieu, the days when espionage might have been tolerated when exercised by honest people are gone for good. Given that the Western powers are not about to drop their double standards when it comes to the protection of their oil interests, the future does not look too bright.