And second, the new and growing boom in hydrocarbon production in the United States and elsewhere promises to push peak oil decades, if not centuries, into the future.

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"It's nothing new --- humanity has been facing these problems for centuries, if not millennia, " he said.

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In music, if not in business, Mr Sacher was a man for all centuries.

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Centuries ago if a business went bust, the proprietors could lose not only the money they put into the enterprise but also everything else they owned.

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War among the great powers was a common, if not constant, occurrence in the long periods of multipolarity from the 16th to the 18th centuries, culminating in the series of enormously destructive Europe-wide wars that followed the French Revolution and ended with Napoleon's defeat in 1815.

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But now, after two centuries of factional infighting, misgovernment and corruption, not to mention 32 coups (33 if you include Mr Aristide's ousting), Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.

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