The callous greed in the oil patch seems to know no limits. Here we have a company, Royal Dutch Shell, bursting with earnings, at the apogee of its yearly returns, going after the last dollar or Euro to make things fatter still. This to the cold dismissal of the brave Iranians who rose en masse in 2009 to rally for free elections only to be put down brutally by the Mullah's goon squads, financed in large measure by the plenitude of oil revenues streaming from Iran's export oil loadings. The world was outraged, but helplessly stood by as the slaughter continued. From far and wide came calls to impose sanctions on Iran and to impose embargoes on Iran's products. One would have thought any responsible organization would have desisted its activities with what had now evolved into a murderous regime.
Clearly conscious of the public outrage that would result from its moral turpitude continuing to enrich the Mullahs, Shell did all it could to hide its transactional baseness with the Iranian dictatorship. As example in March 2010 the Wall Street Journal reported that the tanker Front Page left the port of Fujairah, U.A.E. to sail on to Saudi Arabia.
All well and good. But wait, tracking information revealed a very different course. The Front Page made an unreported stop along the coast of Iran to load a cargo of Iranian oil. Who was the charterer of this brazen attempt to hide their continuing 'business as usual' with an Iranian government in the midst of imposing draconian oppression on its people. Yes, Shell Oil.
Since that time very little has changed, if not in becoming more grotesque. Shell's gorging on Iranian oil continued ongoing. Just this past week CNBC reported that "Shell Scrambles to Pay Huge Oil Bill for Iran Oil".
We learned that Shell is struggling to pay off $1,000,000,000 that it owes the National Iranian Oil Company, the equivalent of about 8 million barrels of oil. Apparently Shell has become Iran's second biggest oil buyer, having been outdistanced only by France's Total, who however has ceased its Iranian oil purchases at the end of last year.
But it seems Shell toils on, now having to navigate through the labyrinth of financial sanctions in order to placate their Iranian pushers. And as the CNBC report would have it, "Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC."
All of which of course raises the question, given Shell's willingness to help sustain the murderous Iranian regime, should we as consumers exercise our individual initiative in solidarity with the oppressed people of Iran (one needs remember the deeply poignant death of Nedā Āghā-Soltān on the streets of Teheran on June 20, 2009)? In our daily lives perhaps it is now necessary to decide where and from whom we buy our gasoline!
Oh yes, by the way, another point of focus. Should we be comfortable with the imminent ruling our government agencies, especially the U.S. Department of the Interior, are about to make permitting Royal Dutch Shell to drill off Alaska's Beaufort and Chuckchi Seas? Vesting that responsibility with a corporation of such vacuous concern?
Follow Raymond J. Learsy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondLearsy
The Mullah's of Iran have been around 1400 years and they will continue to be there if we like or not. That is an Old Iranian institution, which has survived the Mongols, the Arabs and the western pressure all this time. The word "Mullah" means "the learned one" or a "teacher". They have different specialties and practice in different fields and Iran's history is full of them. One common and famous is "Mullah Nasrudin". His collections of Jokes and stories are very famous in Iran.
As a nation the Iranians will do what it takes to protect themselves and survive these illegal sanctions. They are a signatory to the NPT and the IAEA inspectors are still there and are in charge of the Iranian LEU. They have not threatened us and they have no intention of doing so.
Get real.
FACT 2: The oil companies are making a PROFIT from the Iran sanctions, which has driven UP the price of oil internationally
Aren't we all aware by now that corporations are prostitutes with loyalty to nothing except the all mighty dollar (or Euro). We the people fight wars for these institutions and they in turn ship factories off to China.
They are what they are. Their only mandate this days is STOCKHOLDER RETURN!
As long as we know that they can never be trusted to do the right thing and that we have to regulated them to force them to do the right thing. What's sickening is that the Teapublicans are trying to cram this idea of deregulation down our throats, which would just allow the corporations to trash the environment completely in the chase for profit.
Look what they are doing to our politics right now. They've always exerted politital influence, but since the Citizens United case their influence will grow exponentially.
We're on our way to, if not already there, to being a Corporatocracy.
You seem to be complaining about corporations, but you don't offer any alternatives. Personally, I cannot see a way of sustaining our economy and standard of living without corporations.
Name the Corporations that operate on a triple bottom line.
BTW, it is a shame you call yourself an atheist as you are what the late and great Christopher Hitchens would call a shameful sadomasochist as you DO NOT appreciate the freedoms and liberal values afforded to us in the west. You spit at the very freedoms granted to you and support the most brutal of terrorists and oppressors.
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brmiddleeastnafricara/652.php
Post 1979 revolution of Iran, the new Iranian government selected brotherhood with the Muslim countries. They attempted to align their foreign policy along regional nation-states. Most of these alignments were to bring about a better understanding with Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This was in contrast with the pre-revolution Iranian government under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi whose foreign policy was along with the western regional interests.
The war began when Iraq with full encouragement of the President Ronald Regan invaded Iran on September 22, 1980. During the war Arabs, along with some of the European nations (England and Germany), and the United States supported Arabic Iraq against Aryan Iranians and Kurds.
Many Iranians questioned their government’s motivation for alignment with Arab nations. Instead they identified their own national identity as an Aryan nation belonging to Indo-Iranian societies.
Iranians have urged their government to purge their society from any Arabic influence and return to Persian core values and culture. They are getting a better understanding that the cultural divide between Arabs and Aryan Persians would not be mended by a common Muslim religion.
Unfortunately, the West has used this cultural divide between Arabs and Aryan Persians as an instrument to weaken the Iranian society.
And to be blunt, Mr. Learsy, I personally find your blogs to be more vaucuous than I perceive the concerns of any big oil company. After all, they are working amidst very challenging, whereas you seem to only string together a few thoughts that have already been published by others. Anyone can make shallow claims. I suggest you find something of greater substance.
Oh...wait...the US does that as well. I guess we have to come up with a new definition of human rights.