Archive for the Category » big oil «

August 24th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

If you remember back to June, I posed the possibility that the real motivation for our invasion of Iraq was to regain American control of their oil fields, which Bush has finally accomplished. I’ve also been sounding off that Iran is just as good a target, for the same reasons, despite political rhetoric to the contrary.

Well, this article in the NY Times provides some additional motivation.

Oil production has begun falling at all of the major Western oil companies, and they are finding it harder than ever to find new prospects even though they are awash in profits and eager to expand.
Part of the reason is political. From the Caspian Sea to South America, Western oil companies are being squeezed out of resource-rich provinces. They are being forced to renegotiate contracts on less-favorable terms and are fighting losing battles with assertive state-owned oil companies.

And much of their production is in mature regions that are declining, like the North Sea.

The reality, experts say, is that the oil giants that once dominated the global market have lost much of their influence — and with it, their ability to increase supplies.

Bush has only got 148 days left to make big oil happy. Think he’ll get the job done?

Category: Bush, Iran, big oil, war | Leave a Comment

War with Iran

August 11th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

At the risk of repeating myself again and again, I can’t just sit back and shut up. Joe Parko says Bush must be stopped before he starts a war with Iran. I say there aren’t enough people in Washington who can see past the next election. James Madison said, “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”

Parko issues this warning:

The instant we attack Iran, oil prices will double, perhaps triple. This price increase will devastate the U.S. economy. The ensuing retaliatory strikes by Iran on Israel, as well as on U.S. military installations in Iraq, will leave hundreds, maybe thousands, dead. The Shiites in the region, from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, will see an attack on Iran as a war against Shiism. They will turn with rage and violence on us and our allies. Hezbollah will renew attacks on northern Israel, while Hamas increases its attacks in southern Israel. And the localized war in Iraq will become a long, messy and protracted regional war that, by the time it is done, will most likely end the American empire and leave in its wake mounds of corpses and smoldering ruins.

Is he wrong? Go read the whole articl e.

Category: Bush, Iran, big oil, war | 3 Comments

Writing on the Wall: War in Iran is a Certainty

June 30th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

At the behest, I’m sure, of some back-room strategist from the Bush regime, the news is now full of stories that point to the coming war with Iran. Perhaps the thinking is that people will get tired of hearing about it, so when we invade, Americans won’t care. Then again, this is Bush. Maybe he really believes he can convince someone we need another war zone. Just google war and Iran, and you’ll have reading material for the summer. Here’s a sampling.

The latest Newspeak out of Washington is that CIA operations, which legally require disclosure to congressional leaders, are really military operations, which don’t need disclosure. Specifically, escalated covert operations in (you guessed it) Iran are nobody’s business but the Commander-inChief’s. [Picture Bush sticking his tongue out, and saying, nah-nah-na-nah-nah.] Of course, the military generals are also left in the dark, which tends to hinder the war on the ground. The New Yorker has an in-depth article on all this, and it will undoubtedly turn your stomach.

The House is in the process of passing Resolution 362, the “Iran War Resolution.” The Senate is working on the similar Resolution 580. One of the key passages calls for an economic blockade to pressure Iran. A unilateral naval blockade without UN sanction is an act of war.

We mustn’t forget the Israeli point of view in all of this: “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,” Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

This whole package, not surprisingly, has led to another exchange of threats.

Chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards: “It is natural that when a country is attacked it uses all of its capabilities against the enemy, and definitely our control of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz would be one of our actions,” Jafari said.

Vice-Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff, commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet responds:
“They will not close it … They will not be allowed to close it.”

And, once again, we get to the crux of the matter: oil. Specifically, BIG oil. If you substitute “weapons of mass destruction, Iraq, and Saddam Hussein” for the current “development of nuclear weapons, Iran, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” you can’t help but notice a pattern.

Could it be that Bush’s plan is to topple another odious leader of another very oil-rich sovereign nation? Could it be that Bush thinks he owns all the mideast oil, and he’s got the military to prove it? Or maybe he’s thinking of his mark in history. Maybe he wants to go down as the first president in the history of the US who started three separate wars. It doesn’t really matter what his justification is. War is still war, and the price is still death.

Current cost of oil in Iraq:

civilian deaths: 85,325 – 93,067
US coalition deaths: 4,427
US wounded: over 29,000

Interesting link: A CENTURY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS by Dr. Zoltan Grossman at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, has charted the US tendency to invade other nations. This is a digest-it-in-a-minute, suitable-for-Americans-who-don’t-have-time-to-read national history of war.

Category: Bush, Iran, abuse of power, big oil, libertarian, war | Leave a Comment

More on the Fruit of the Bush Tree

June 24th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

A couple days ago, I sounded off about the big oil companies moving back into Iraq. I just discovered a Mother Jones article that did the same thing, except Tom Engelhardt is even more suspicious than I am. He points out that only unimportant people were skeptical of Bush’s reason for invading Iraq. Some 11 million – 30 million of them were running around with signs that said silly things like: “No Blood for Oil,” “How did USA’s oil get under Iraq’s sand?” and “Don’t trade lives for oil!”

Update on the price of oil:

4422 military deaths
29,000 military wounded
85,153 – 92,883 civilian deaths

Category: Bush, big oil, war | Leave a Comment

Bush Bears Fruit

June 19th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

(Matthew 7:15-16) Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

Or, if you prefer a more colloquial expression, if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

What is the real fruit of the Bush administration? Is it the “War on Terror” that continues to mock the Bill of Rights? Is it the 84,723 – 92,414 civilian deaths in Iraq? Or maybe the 4414 military deaths and 29,000 military wounded? What about the torture scandals that continue to violate everything America used to stand for? No, those are only some of the by-products of the Bush tree, the pollen that gets scattered along the way.

Bush’s real fruit, the purpose behind all that pollen, is finally coming to light. Today’s NY Times tells us that a deal will be announced on June 30th between Iraq and several western oil companies. These are “no-bid” contracts, something unheard of in the oil industry.

This story also tells us that 36 years ago, Exxon/Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — were booted out of Iraq when Saddam Hussein nationalized the industry. But now they’re on their way back.

So let’s look at this chronologically, leaving out all the lies and justifications.

1) American big oil gets tossed out of Iraq by Saddam.

2) Bush invents a reason to invade Iraq and get Saddam killed.

3) American big oil moves back into Iraq.

Who says Bush is incompetent?

Category: Bush, abuse of power, big oil, libertarian | 2 Comments