World civilization is based on oil. The world is running out of economically accessible oil. The oil companies and governments are not telling the truth about how close we are to the end. Dick Cheney knew about peak oil back in 1999 when he spoke to the London Petroleum Institute as Halliburton CEO. He predicted it would come in 2010. After that it's just a matter of years before it runs out. Whoever controls the remaining, accessible oil determines who lives and who dies.
Sixty percent of this oil lies in fields within a triangular area of the Middle East the size of Kansas. In that speech Cheney said: "The Middle East with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies."
This small Middle East triangle encompasses the oil fields of northeast of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the southwestern part of Iran, along with Kuwait, Qatar and the Emirates. The US controls Iraq. It has friendly governments in the other states.
Iran is the exception. The US now surrounds Iran.
Controlling an area the size of Kansas shouldn't be a problem for the U.S. military, except that it is heavily populated and many people in the triangle don't want the Americans there and are willing to fight.
It's been known for at least thirty years that America needs alternative energy sources. But instead of an alternative energy plan we got the invasion of Iraq by oilmen wedded to a dying business, willing to kill hundreds of thousands to cling to the last drop. The US is never leaving the region or withdrawing from Iraq. McCain is right about staying, but 100 years is too long. The oil won't last that long.
Iran is next. Lieberman set up Petraeus to testify last week that Iranian-backed groups are murdering hundreds of American servicemen in Iraq. On Friday Gates called Iran's influence in Iraq "malign" and Bush said if Iran keeps meddling in Iraq "then we'll deal with them." They are building their case for war with resolutions in the Senate and at the UN. It's only western Iran, from the Iraq border to 150 miles inside the country that the U.S. will have to occupy. That's where Iran's oil is. But the U.S. will have a nasty battle on their hands in Iran even if they restore a Shah-like puppet in Tehran 30 years after the revolution.
The Saudis would not mind seeing the Iranian regime go. But the Saudis may also be on the list. The US may have to destabilize and control Saudi Arabia some day too. The Wall Street Journal a few years ago revealed that in the 1970s under Nixon, Kissinger had plans drawn up for the US invasion and occupation of the Saudi oil fields. Those plans can be dusted off.
The American oil wars are being launched out of weakness, not strength. The American economy is teetering and without control of the remaining oil it will collapse. There will be massive chaos in any case, when only enough oil remains for the American elite and whomever they choose to share it with.
That will leave an oil-starved China and India, both with nuclear weapons, with no alternative but to bow to America or go to war.
It's not about greed any more. It's about survival. Because the leadership of this country was initially too greedy to switch from oil to solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable alternatives, it may now be too late. Had the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into the invasion and occupation of Iraq been put into alternative energy the world might have had a fighting chance. Now that is far from certain.
What is certain is that these wars are not about democracy. They are not about WMD. The coming one will not even be about Iran's nuclear weapons project. It's about the oil, stupid.
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Unilateral U.S. sanctions haven't dented said trade all that much, either...c
Considerin
Also, the Strait of Hormuz, which lies under Iran, is the economic aorta to the globe. War anywhere near it would involve eventual $250/barre
All of that said, the powers that be feel cornered economical
For the home, an exercise machine that simulates the act of climbing stairs and pumps air with every stroke. The air goes into a storage tank. A 10 minute workout results in an extremely powerful store of compressed air, the controlled release of which, generates a significan
All we need to do is wake up America's engineers. They're overlookin
Try, um, "reading" before you pop off next time, m'kay?
http://rat
So we would be bringing democracy to a democracy?
O wait. Oil. Never Mind.
Of course it's about oil. If the mullah's weren't using their oil revenues to fund terrorism and build nukes, if they were used to benefit the Iranian people and not to serve their revolution
That is such an idiot comment. Saddam Hussein was not interest in religion. He damped it. Iran was doing fine from the viewpoint of Iranians until America and the British decided they had to get rid of the insanely democratic government they had developed which was interested in Iranians. Americans were not on the list and they didn't want to kow tow to the west. The Saudis are second only to the Taliban and they are good buddies of America because they keep pumping oil and within this writers memory they set Bus2 up in his losing business. No problem with Wahabbis in the minds of Bush et co. Osama bin Laden is a Wahabbi. who forgot he had to bow to America. Of course the Saudis use the oil revenue to fund the Saudis who have multiplied like cockroache
As for the Shah, he was "moderate" only in that he was friendly to the US. His SAVAK was a particular
Now these wingnuts are claiming the elusive WMD were shipped tio Iran, and Iran will attack us if we don't attack them.
The wmd assertion is propostero
Try a google search on the truth about islam and or mohammed.
I have studied Islam. I missed the part about Imperialis
Now TBA, in his post below, is probably also correct in a sense... religious extremists suffer a similar condition, but I'd challenge his propositio
Like Iraq.
I'd love to know who truly was responsibl
If it were indeed the CIA and the Iranians knew as much, under the current circumstan
http://ira
I think the MAJOR reason US is hostile to Iran today is because of the "CRIME" of Indepence. Same reason it suffocated Castro in Cuba. This has nothing to do with Islam or Communism. It has to do with countries which have popular revolution
But this clip puts it in context about the 1953 Coup there, which we Americans should all learn about. In fact Albright apologized for this:
http://you
I give her major props for acknowledi
1953 was yesterday by comparison
And to the few fools here who insist that Iran has no oil so that is not a factor.
Crack a book for once and look at a map of the region. The Strait of Hormuz is a highly strategic valuable shipping lane that is part of Iran. Too risky for the long term as far as our oil grabbing leaders are concerned.
Speaking of our leaders. Where do Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton stand on the issue of oil as it relates to Iraq and Iran?
in the name of god and oil
Every soldier in the Middle East is a protroleum soldier and that's all they are. The writer is correct when he says that we may have stood a chance if we had begun serious alternativ
When the Neocons worshipful
Believe it if you want to, but your gas tank and oil burner will be nearly empty.
The US is no longer capable of fighting a war - we can't even effectivel
Can we bomb Iran? Maybe. But what would be the point? It will achieve nothing and simply give the Iranians the incentive they need to incite the Iraqi militias to attack vulnerable US forces.
This whole thing is reminiscen
We import 60% of our oil, which is a finite resource we don't control. Simple laws of physics are playing out and we find ourselves no longer in control of resources or events.
Sad but true.
Arianna, this is bigger than global warming!!!
Perfectly stated, thank you.