Re: [Biofuel] Bio Engine Oil
Hello Keith and all. I can answer that question. A few years back I visited a company recycling engine oil and they managed to remove the inorganic content (water, metals, old additives etc) from the oil ending up with a clear and bright base oil which was analyzed as such (viscosity etc) and then sold back to the lubricant manufacturers as base oil. It seems that the base oil is very stable but this recycling should not be possible for indefinite time, since nature has its course, eventually cracking the oil into different other products. ItĀ“s a way of prolonging the life of the petro industry. Best to you all Jan W - Original Message - From: Keith Addison [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 1:54 AM Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Bio Engine Oil Hi Zeke Is filtering all that's required? Filtering what, I wonder, little bits of engine that get worn off? Isn't that what the oil is supposed to prevent? By the time it needs changing, isn't the oil itself somewhat worn out, having been subjected to all that heat and high pressure? Just asking. Regards Keith Bio based, no... but I have seen, in the last few months, introduction of a whole line of recycled engine oils in the local auto parts stores here. I'm not really sure what the recycled content is percentage wise, but apparently it's using old engine oil, filtering all the bad stuff out, and adding back in the additives that have been used up. It's supposed to meet the same standards as new petro-based engine oil. Z On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 7:29 AM, Jan Warnqvist [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello Keith et al. I am not surprised on the market non-introduction of castor oil lubricants. Castor oil, although a classic, is not ideal as a raw material for lubricant formulations. The castor oil has two hydroxyl groups on the fatty acid (ricinic acid) chain which will want to polymerize and releasing water into the system, giving the lubricant an unnecessary short life. What attracts the lubricant inventors is the high viscosity and the expected high viscosity index of the oil which both looks promising enough. But I would prefer a more stable material to start with and then adjusting the viscosity values chemically. A good lubricant consist from a base oil and then added a number of additives in order to adjust the properties of the lubricant. It is then preferable to bring as favourable properties already in the base oil in order to minimize the addition of additives. Best to you all Jan W - Original Message - From: Keith Addison [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2012 2:13 PM Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Bio Engine Oil Hi Chris and Dawie The answer seems to be No. Sorry to say. It was first discussed here in 2001. Lots of interesting stuff in the list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ Try bio engine oil or biolubricant. (Don't forget, the whole thread is hotlinked at the end of each find.) If you do a web search, you'll find lots of talk, lots of products that are simply biodegradeable, green lubricants to replace the likes of WD-40 or 2-stroke oil, and a few commercial bio engine oils, with claims that they're made from renewable resources but they don't say what, or they're a marriage of renewables (pig fat) and nano-tech, or whatever, but nothing DIYable. I knew some people in Japan who were making bio engine oil from castor oil. They wouldn't tell me how they were doing it, but they gave me a bottle of it. Clear, light yellow, sort of oily smell. But after a while it started degrading, whisps of cloudiness started appearing. Not perfect, and they never brought a product to market. Still, castor oil is probably the best bet. It's strange stuff - give this a read: http://www.georgiacombat.com/CASTOR_OIL.htm IIRC Brazil's Petrobras had plans for producing castor oil-based engine oil, but I can't find any details. HTH, and good luck - best Keith This is something I've also been wondering about.-D From: C Pinelli [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Saturday, 21 January 2012, 1:56 Subject: [Biofuel] Bio Engine Oil Hi all. I'm still new to biofuels but have been making biodiesel and ethanol for my vehicles for a few months now and am thrilled with it. However, I can't stand filling up my gas tank with home made, environmentally friendly fuel, then changing the oil with expensive petroleum. So, I have been doing some research into making Bio-Engine Oil, it seems possible which makes me very enthusiastic. Does anybody know anything about making vegetable based motor oil? Or does anybody have any experience with using it? Thanks very much
Re: [Biofuel] Learn To Make Terror Your Friend
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30314.htm Creating American Terrorists By Philip Giraldi January 21, 2012 CNI -- Defenders of the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, which declares the entire world to be a battlefield against terrorism and authorizes the U.S. military to detain indefinitely anyone suspected of being a terrorism supporter, have claimed that the White House will only use its new power carefully and with due process. Opponents note that the White House has never hesitated to use any new authority, no matter how outrageous, and that the trend of law enforcement and security agencies is to expand on powers granted, not to rein them in or limit them. The track record of the Obama administration on civil liberties is particularly bad, as it has broadened its definition of war powers, reneged on its promise to close Guantanamo Prison, and supported numerous dubious terrorism prosecutions. It has also become adept at silencing critics through the repeated exploitation of the state-secrets privilege, which effectively dismisses any case accusing the government of abuse or malfeasance. So let us accept that the government now has the power to send a team of military police to anyone's home in any state in the Union and can demand that that person surrender without any recourse to a lawyer or judicial due process. The military can then detain the individual incommunicado for any length of time and can presumably send him to Guantanamo for special confinement, claiming that the reason for the detention is support of terrorism, which can be almost anything, including a letter to the editor of the local paper complaining about the goonery of the Transportation Security Administration. Once in detention, the suspect only has such options as are granted to him by the military. He cannot see a lawyer, cannot invoke habeas corpus or other constitutional privileges, cannot confront any witnesses against him, and cannot challenge any information prejudicial to him even if it is hearsay or fabricated. In other words, the accused can be arrested for no reason and held indefinitely without any protections that enable him to push back against being detained. Most people would consider a criminal justice system that permits such detention ipso facto a police state. Now let us accept for a moment that the White House and Justice Department are well-intentioned and will not use their newfound authority to detain anyone in a questionable fashion. The expanded powers will only be used to detain foreign terrorists who are caught in flagrante, more or less. That would be fine, perhaps, but for one small problem. Because the definition of a terrorism supporter has become enormously elastic, it can be stretched to include anything. If the whole world has become a battlefield, speaking out or acting against powerful vested interests can be dangerous because those interests can turn around and exploit the system to label one a terrorist. And once you are labeled a terrorist, your constitutional rights vanish and you might as well sit around and wait for that knock on the door - or, rather, for the door to be kicked in. That is what House Resolution 3131 is all about. It is titled, in part, To direct the secretary of state to submit a report on whether any support organization that participated in the planning or execution of the recent Gaza flotilla attempt should be designated as a foreign terrorist organizationĀ. The bill then goes on to assert that the two flotillas in 2010 and 2011 opposing Israel's blockade of Gaza were terrorist actions. But the only problem is that it relies on information from the Israeli Intelligence and Information Center to do so, meaning that Congress is deferring to a foreign government organization to make a judgment that directly impacts that selfsame government. And the Israelis are not shy about calling someone a terrorist, if it suits the narrative they are trying to present. They describe a Turkish organization involved in the first flotilla in 2010, known by its acronym IHH, as linked to al-Qaeda and Hamas based on evidence that no one else in the world accepts, apart from Congress, that is. The Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara was clearly aiming to take on the Israeli navy, armed to the teeth with 100 metal rods, 200 knives, 50 wooden clubs, and a telescopic sight for a gun. In reality, the rods were torn from the ships rails when the heavily armed Israeli commandos boarded at night from helicopters. The knives were pocket knives and utility knives from the vessel's galley, and the clubs were broken from deck chairs to repel the attackers. I will not speculate on the telescopic sight, but there was not a real weapon anywhere on board. The Israelis killed nine Turks, shooting several in the head at close range, including an American citizen. Congress has yet to express its outrage at
Re: [Biofuel] Learn To Make Terror Your Friend
http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2011/06/19/will-israel-kill-americans-again/ Will Israel Kill Americans Again? by Ray McGovern, June 20, 2011 Stuffing my backpack before setting out to board The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat to Gaza, I got a familiar-sounding call from yet another puzzled friend, who said as gently as the words allow, You know you can get killed, don't you? I recognize this caution as an expression of genuine concern from friends. From some others-who don't much care about Gaza's plight and/or who do not wish us well-the words are phrased somewhat differently: Aren't you just asking for it? That was the obligatory question/accusation at the end of a recent interview of me that was taped for a BBC-TV special scheduled to air this coming week as we try to break-or at least draw attention to-Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza and the suffering it inflicts on the people there. I also have been cautioned by a source with access to very senior staffers at the National Security Council that not only does the White House plan to do absolutely nothing to protect our boat from Israeli attack or illegal boarding, but that White House officials would be happy if something happened to us. They are, I am reliably told, perfectly willing to have the cold corpses of activists shown on American TV. I mention this informal warning for the benefit of anyone who may have harbored hope that the U.S. government would do something to protect us American citizens from the kind of violence used by the Israelis against last year's flotilla. It seems best to be up-front and realistic about what to expect. Two millennia ago, Civus Romanus Sum automatically won lawful treatment and free passage for Roman citizens in trouble. It was a matter of pride and a benefit of being part of a powerful empire. Today, the contrast could hardly be starker. It is sad fact that Civus Americanus Sum would engender ridicule, rather than respect, if invoked in an attempt to secure basic rights for those of us working for justice for the Palestinians. Americans also face the reality that they are put in harm's way by the view held by millions around the world-and especially in the Middle East-that the United States is partly responsible for the injustices and the humiliations that Palestinians face daily. So I want to turn around the question/warning to me about safety and direct it to fellow citizens who will not be aboard The Audacity of Hope: You know you can get killed, don't you?-if the U.S. government continues to enable Israel in keeping a million and a half Gazans in a densely populated open-air prison with few prospects for a normal life. It is a no-brainer. The longer that goes on the more likely it becomes that many more Americans will become the target of terrorists seeking to inflict some pain on the great power that stands behind Israel whatever it does. Oppression of Gazans: Catalyst for Violence We already know of two suicide bombs famously targeted against Americans that can be traced to outrage at U.S. support for Israeli oppression in Gaza. The 290 people aboard Northwest Flight 253 were spared on Christmas Day 2009 when the underwear bomber was prevented from setting off an explosive over Detroit. A week later, seven CIA officials were not as lucky. They were killed by a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan. More about these two incidents later. In recent interviews about Gaza and about my reasons for going on The Audacity of Hope, I have avoided focusing on pragmatic/utilitarian considerations like exposing injustice, inducing change, and thereby making Americans more secure. Rather, I have called attention to what is more bedrock for me-the oft-repeated biblical admonition to show special concern for the widow, the orphan, the refugee. All too often, I have watched eyes glaze over and overheard muted comments regarding what planet I might be coming from. For most folks, such concern or compassion, if any, seems to stop at the water's edge. After all, the widow, the orphan, the refugee might be a terrorist. Bedrock American virtues like honesty and honor seem in very short supply these days, having been pretty much sacrificed on the altar of fear and overweening concern for security. Americans have been so desensitized by years of multi-colored terror warnings and politician demagoguery that nothing is now more important than the safety of the American people. Most citizens utter not a murmur as they watch their tax dollars enable the worst kinds of brutality abroad. Or they train themselves NOT to watch, preferring the diversion of late-breaking news on Congressman Anthony Weiner's photogenic junk. It is mostly to such folks that I include the facts that follow, acknowledging that many of you readers are likely to be quite familiar with some or all of them. It is for the nonreaders, like perhaps some in your own family or your
Re: [Biofuel] Learn To Make Terror Your Friend
http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2011/12/04/are-americans-in-line-for-gitmo/ Are Americans in Line for Gitmo? by Ray McGovern, December 05, 2011 Ambiguous but alarming new wording tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and just passed by the Senate is reminiscent of the extraordinary measures introduced by the Nazis after they took power in 1933. And the relative lack of reaction so far calls to mind the oddly calm indifference with which most Germans watched the erosion of the rights that had been guaranteed by their own constitution. As one German writer observed, With sheepish submissiveness we watched it unfold, as if from a box at the theater. The writer was Sebastian Haffner (real name Raimund Pretzel), a young German lawyer worried at what he saw in 1933 in Berlin but helpless to stop it since, as he put it, the German people collectively and limply collapsed, yielded, and capitulated. The result of this millionfold nervous breakdown, wrote Haffner at the time, is the unified nation, ready for anything, that is today the nightmare of the rest of the world. Not a happy analogy. The Senate bill, in effect, revokes an 1878 law known as the Posse Comitatus Act, which banned the Army from domestic law enforcement after the military had been used - and often abused - in that role during Reconstruction. Ever since then, that law has been taken very seriously - until now. Military officers have had their careers brought to an abrupt halt by involving federal military assets in purely civilian criminal matters. But that was before 9/11 and the mantra 9/11 changed everything. In this case of the Senate-passed NDAA - more than a decade after the terror attacks and even as U.S. intelligence agencies say al-Qaeda is on the brink of defeat - Congress continues to carve away constitutional and legal protections in the name of fighting terrorism. The Senate approved the expanded military authority despite opposition from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and FBI Director Robert Mueller - and a veto threat from President Barack Obama. The Senate voted to authorize - and generally to require - the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons indefinitely. And such covered persons are defined not just as someone implicated in the 9/11 attacks but anyone who substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces. Though the wording is itself torturous - and there is a provision for a waiver from the Defense Secretary regarding mandatory military detentions - the elasticity of words like associated forces and supported have left some civil libertarians worried that the U.S. military could be deployed domestically against people opposing future American wars against alleged terrorists or terrorist states. The Senate clearly wished for the military's law and order powers to extend beyond the territory of military bases on the theory that there may be terrorsymps (short for terrorist sympathizers) lurking everywhere. Is the all-consuming 10-year-old struggle against terrorism rushing headlong to consume what's left of our constitutional rights? Do I need to worry that the Army in which I was proud to serve during the 1960s may now kick down my front door and lead me off to indefinite detention - or worse? My neighbors have noticed, after all, that I now wear a longish beard and, sometimes, even a hat like Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. And everyone knows what a terrorsymp he was. If you see something, say something! Worse still, a few of my neighbors overheard me telling my grandchildren that President Obama should be ashamed to be bragging about having Awlaki, an American citizen, and later his 16-year-old son murdered without a whiff of due process. If you hear something, say something! A Lost Respect Citizens of powerful countries used to have their rights widely respected - at home and abroad. I am a Roman citizen - civis Romanus sum - once counted for something. Even more respect tended to greet I am an American - because of our power abroad and our once-famous adherence to a written Constitution at home. Adherence? Lately not so much. Not since power-hungry politicians set out to exploit 9/11 so that everything changed, including even the rights formerly guaranteed us by the Bill of Rights and the habeas corpus protection in the Constitution itself. Awlaki's is an interesting case in point. A Muslim whose moderating influence was sought by the Washington establishment in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, he became radicalized by our warring on his fellow Muslims. By noting that little-known fact, am I showing support for al-Qaeda,
[Biofuel] WVO contaminated with polyester resin
Hi I am new to this list, but have been making my own biodiesel for about three years. I have recently been given about 400 litres of WVO which unfortunately was put into drums that had contained fibreglass resin, I have let this stand for about 3 months and drawn oil from the middle of the drum. This oil titrates @ 1.4g/Lt KOH, I use a base amount of 7.7g/Lt (the KOH is 90% pure). When processed all seemed OK with the oil and glycerine separating well with no intermediate layer. However when washed with a mist spray the biodiesel became very frothy and I lost a lot of the oil in the wash, what remained eventually settled into 3 layers - water/a white layer a bit like cream/biodiesel. Is there anything I can do to either remove to resin or neutralise it's effects? Any ideas would be helpfull Mike Erdman -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20120122/d1950ca3/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Demise of the petrodollar
Interesting take on the petrodollar. http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/iran-crisis-follow-money-it s-all-about.html IRAN CRISIS / FOLLOW THE MONEY, IT'S ALL ABOUT ... -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20120123/36fd1dad/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] national biofuel use may be just around the corner
http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=trct=jq=what%20war%20with%20iran%20might%2 0look%20likesource=webcd=2sqi=2ved=0CD4QFjABurl=http%3A%2F%2Foriginal.a ntiwar.com%2Fgiraldi%2F2012%2F01%2F11%2Fwhat-war-with-iran-might-look-like%2 Fei=644cT9nPNdD0mAX24p2FCgusg=AFQjCNF2_2hZm1ukMUhKBoVNRvxCho3tKA What War With Iran Might Look Like by Philip Giraldi -- Antiwar.com -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20120123/99390509/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Demise of the petrodollar
Hi Bob I'm sure he's right. That's what Pepe Escobar says too (who Roland quotes): The Myth of Isolated Iran - Following the Money in the Iran Crisis By Pepe Escobar January 17, 2012 http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg76748.html There's a history, it goes back a few years (in the archives). Regards Keith Interesting take on the petrodollar. http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/iran-crisis-follow-money-it s-all-about.html IRAN CRISIS / FOLLOW THE MONEY, IT'S ALL ABOUT ... ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] The Great Pipeline Scam
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/19/the-great-pipeline-scam/ JANUARY 19, 2012 When Will Environmentalists Ever Wake Up? The Great Pipeline Scam by MICHAEL LEONARDI In another ridiculous moment of political trickery, Obama managed to dupe a major chunk of the American environmental movement yesterday by refusing to authorize the construction of the Keystone Pipeline now. The keyword in that sentence which seems like it is being largely ignored by the enviros is now, because what Obama did do is leave open the possibility of authorizing the construction of a pipeline any time in the future, say just after the election? And not that it matters much, as pipeline or not Tar Sands are already being refined all across the United States in increasing amounts. This great victory being celebrated by 350.org, Bill Mckibben and the no carbon crusaders out there is a complete farce to manipulate voters as we head into the latest corporate sponsored election. Why is it so hard for seemingly good and well intentioned people to see the reality in front of them? Climate change will not be reversed by temporarily stopping this pipeline and Tar Sands are still moving forward full steam ahead. The Petrolarchs will get their Tar Sands Oil to market anyway they can pipeline or not. As was widely reported in the mainstream media, the state department made sure to leave the door open for Trans Canada to go ahead with another proposal for the construction of the pipeline. Trans Canada says they are preparing to start construction on schedule, knowing full well that this is already a done deal. Is it Obama's nurturing language that fools them? The rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline's impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment, Obama said. How many times will these well intentioned people allow themselves to be fooled? It seems that many of these good folks often get swept away by the feel good headlines and rarely read beyond the first two paragraphs of an article. Obama should be thanking the idiot republicans for this one, as it was a good way to rally a part of his most gullible base. The celebration is on as headlines of Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline shoot across the screens, and Mckibben, like a good little foot soldier isn't missing a beat to rally the troops around the HOPE inspiring president. The Rockefeller front group and its flock rally to the news of Obama coming through in the clutch. They talk of tar sands and coal and fracking and the carbon foot print but never a mention of the safe and clean nuclear power from these folks. The very real dangers of our decrepit and crumbling nuclear power industry aren't on Bill Mckibben's radar screen it seems and just as with his buddy Al Gore, the issue of carbon seems solely on the radar superficially, maybe as a way to sell more books? One has to wonder. It's not at all difficult to dissect the situation here. Tar Sands is quite arguably the most destructive extraction of resources ever unleashed by man and it is wreaking havoc in the tar fields of Alberta Canada, where once intact and beautiful ecosystems are being ravaged. The Oil Industry which is a major share holder in our political establishment, is making a lot of money off this mess. Tar Sands are being refined all over the United States with major expansions ready to be implemented that will further increase the capacity of the United States to work with its halfwitted cousin Canada in the furthering of Tar Sands exploitation. The Keystone XL will be a part of this destructive web and Obama has put it on hold until the next election. As outlined by Tom McDonnell in his December 15th Mother Jones article There's No Hiding From Tar Sands Oil , with or without the pipeline, Tar Sands extraction is intensifying and expanding. In Toledo and outside of Chicago, billion dollar expansions of BP refineries are set to refine this crap and spew CO2s and extremely toxic byproducts laden with heavy metals and sulfur into the air, land and water around these facilities which are celebrated by the local Democratic Party Machines and the likes of congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. The ever more ridiculous liberals celebrate their elected leaders as progressive saint like figures leading us to the land of growth and prosperity while protecting our environment through working in partnership with industry and regulators to make sure all is done in compliance with unenforced regulations. Obama is now billed as a hero by the likes of Bill Mckibben who tweeted yesterday that: the president acted decisively and bravely-and he listened to people, not money. a good day. Those who point out the truth about what is happening here are ridiculed, called unloving, unrealistic, haters. We are told to join the team or shut up. We are told we
[Biofuel] Resist U.S. Imperialist War Threats On Iran
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30317.htm World Peace Hanging By A Thread By Fidel Castro Ruz January 21, 2012 CubaDebate --0-- http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30321.htm Resist U.S. Imperialist War Threats On Iran By Sara Flounders January 21, 2012 IAC -- January 18, 2012 --There is growing apprehension that through miscalculation, deliberate provocation or a staged false flag operation, a U.S. war with Iran is imminent. The dangerous combination of top U.S. officials' public threats, the Pentagon's massive military deployment, continued drone flights and industrial sabotage against Iran provides an ominous warning. The corporate media have been more than willing to cheer industrial sabotage, computer viruses and targeted assassinations. War maneuvers with Israel scheduled for mid-January were suddenly postponed Jan. 15 until May or later. The U.S. Congress overwhelmingly voted to include binding provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act, and President Obama signed the legislation Dec. 31 ordering Iran's economic strangulation. These NDAA provisions demand that every other country in the world joins this economic blockade of Iran or face U.S. sanctions themselves. This itself is an act of war. Iran has directly charged the CIA for the Jan. 11 assassination of physicist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, which has outraged Iranians. Roshan is the fourth scientist killed in five targeted assassination in two years. Whether or not a war will actually erupt, it is essential to look at the powerful forces that lay the groundwork for such a conflagration. A U.S. war would kill hundreds of thousands of Iranians and create regionwide destabilization. It would cause a wild, speculative hike in oil and gas prices, devastating fragile economies of the poorest countries and unhinging the increasingly shaky eurozone. Revolutionary Marxists like Fidel Castro, political leaders in China and Russia, and even a hardened Israeli general have joined many political commentators to warn that a U.S. or U.S.-supported Israeli attack on Iran could quickly become a far wider war. While defending its sovereign right to develop energy self-sufficiency, Tehran has made every effort to deflect U.S. threats and charges. Iran has submitted to years of intrusive inspections of its research and industrial facilities to confirm its compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But Washington insists on stopping Iran's development - and not only its nuclear energy development to assure its future as oil production declines. For decades Iran was forced to import refined oil. Washington has tried to stop Iran from importing parts to build oil refineries, as it has tried to stop all Iran's development since the 1979 revolution. The myth of stimulus from war David Broder, Washington Post political correspondent for 40 years and news show pundit, described in an Oct. 31, 2010, article how Obama could deal with his weakened situation when the Republicans swept Congress. He argued that to fix the economy and regain popularity, the solution is obvious and unavoidable: War with Iran.rdquo Broder had more than 400 appearances on Meet the Press. He even won a Pulitzer Prize. Broder could be counted on to reflect political thinking and planning in Washington. Only the war machine can pull the U.S. out of economic stagnation, Broder argued. Look back at FDR and the Great Depression, wrote Broder. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II. [A showdown with the mullahs] will help [Obama] politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve. Upon Broder's death in March, Obama called him the most respected and incisive political commentator of his generation. (New York Times, March 9) Broder's statement shows an absolutely criminal mindset. It also shows a dangerous illusion. Broder calmly proposed the murder of tens of thousands of people, the devastation of entire cities, the destruction of a whole culture as a temporary economic fix to win a U.S. election. Others commentators just as coldly argued with Broder that war with Iran would not be large enough, because all the weapons needed already exist and are in place. So no surge of military orders would follow. A larger war would be needed to give a big enough push! In 1939 reviving shuttered U.S. steel, rubber and textile clothing plants with government orders for tanks, ships, jeeps, helmets, uniforms and life vests for sale to Europe was a big stimulus. The entry of the U.S. into World War II in 1941 provided an enormous surge of productive capacity that pulled the U.S. economy out of a 10-year economic depression. What worked as an economic stimulus 70 years ago, before the existence of the gargantuan, bloated, high-tech military-industrial complex, is long past. Today
